Re: [RC] [RC] "headsetting" Clarifying - Stephanie E Caldwell
I personally am a firm believer in proper head carriage. I have
seen some of the posts and I do not agree with some of them commenting on
how he may be tired from using new muscles and to just let him do what he
wants. Proper head carriage is very important.
I, too, believe in "proper" head carriage, but what's text book proper
doesn't work for every horse. Define proper head carriage for me? If you're
a dressage type person here in the US the answer is probably "horses head
vertical, properly breaking at the poll", H/J people "level relaxed neck,
vertical face", etc... Look at the horses that consistently win in
Dressage... The Germans, Austrians, etc... Their horses are only "collected"
in American terms in very rare super collected moments like Piaffe and
Passage, otherwise their horses usually have their nose a little ahead of
the vertical. My horse rounds her back, but her face is way ahead of the
vertical. She moves well, steps under herself.. Should I force her into
proper head set?
I do recomend using a German Martingale. They are much differnt
than a running martingale. If any of you have noticed the Germans do rather
well in Dressage. Anyway I have used German Martingales on all of my young
horses started here at Trail-Rite for years and they work wonderfully. It
works on the release method (give and take) As soon as the horse sets his
head properly it gives him a release. It is a wonderfull way of training and
they don't end up being dependant.
Have you ever seen a German use a German martingale? I rode for ten
years with German trainers and they despised the things, especially in
amatuer hands. Their extremely popular in Saddle seat and are responsible
for their head set. Anything that teaches "headset" is a gadget... Years of
work in a snaffle create good, balanced, relaxed, well muscled horses... Not
German Martingales and Draw Reins.
It dose the work for you and is a wonderful tool to use for the
trail horse as you are out on the trail for hours unlike the arena horse
that only has to work for maximum of an hour or so. The trail rider will
tire on collecting the horse on the trail... An hour in the ring ok....
If you're not strong enough to help your horse collect how sloppy is
your riding getting? I've put in two twenty something mile rides, so I'm no
expert at distance. But, I used to ride 3 - 6 horses a day, and I never had
problems collecting after 6 or 7 hours in the ring. I rode to Prix St George
and H/J to 4', I rode everyday. Different horses, problem horses, and I
never got too tired to collect my horses, nor did I ever resort to
gadgets!
For what it's worth, I purchased a working ranch horse. She was a
spanish mustang. You'll never know true light collection until you ride a
good working ranch horse!
