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Agreed on the training 100%. What is lovely is when you have one that you can train from day one that it isn't about running unless they are told to. One of the biggest problems about riding in the Sahara is that it is miles and miles of open desert and the wind just blows stupidity into the horses' heads. I need to trust my horses to walk out there when I tell them to and to go when I tell them to, so I do LOTS of walking and then gradually teach them to go faster on command. I'm working a 5 yr old right now whose mom has been with me since she was 4..she's 21 now but refuses to believe it. I learned from mom that a lot of Arabs don't actually like broken snaffles, but a nice snaffle-set Kimberwicke with a soft hand is just fine. The boy is doing wonderfully so far, will keep to a slow canter no matter who is passing or ahead or behind...and the first time I asked for a canter he had trouble believing that he was supposed to go that fast..

Walk, walk, walk...

Maryanne

On 10/14/07, aggiekris@xxxxxxxxxxxx < aggiekris@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Your power to stop your horse isn't in the bit - it's in his training. If
you don't have the basics for the horse to listen to you, changing to a
harsher bit will ultimately do more harm than good. If he's going to run
through the bit, once the novelty wears off, he'll still do it, and it's a
hell of a hard time trying to soften a horse's mouth after this.

It all boils down to consistency - NEVER let your horse get away with
pulling on you. It takes a lot of patience, and a lot of time, but
eventually it'll pay off. I like to use one-rein stops the moment i feel
them start pulling. If i'm in the arena, and gate-sourness is playing a
role, i switch the direction we start in each time as well.

I have a mare who i've had for 7 years now. Have never put anything other
than a snaffle in her mouth. She's headstrong, and can be a real pill, and
certainly loves to race; she used to never think twice about running away
with me (or anyone else) if she thought she could get away with it. Last
ride we did back to back 55s in a rope halter. At this stage in the game,
all it usually takes is me threatening to do a one-rein-stop, and i've got
her attention.

I've got another horse i hope to start competing on next season who, up
until i got him was ridden in a double twisted wire with 5" shank. Good
lord, i still cringe thinking about it. He wouldn't letyou put a bit in
his mouth for the longest time, and if you managed to get it in, you
couldn't really notice it. Fast forward nearly 3 years, he's going in a
Kimberwicke on the snaffle setting. He's very rateable, and i actually
prefer him to the mare sometimes because he's not such a big fan of
questioning authority.

> My goal is to ride both my geldings in either snaffle or side pull.   So
> far Ramsy is fine with either and I can use my tone of voice to get him
> to stop dead in his tracks.  I think he has the potential for race brain
> though.  The other gelding I just started riding again after a layoff
> and have a snaffle on him.  He is not so easy or sensitive.  What is
> better, keeping a snaffle but risking putting him in circles even during
> conditioning rides or to change bits?
>
>
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-- 
Maryanne Stroud Gabbani
msgabbani@xxxxxxxxx

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