RE: [RC] FW: Thought you might find this interesting - Terry Banister
Ha, ha. I didn't "write" it. I just passed it along because I thought it was wonderful that Horse Showing might now allow bitless! Can you see Stacy Westfall being forced to use a bit if she wanted to show her horse?! Requiring a bit or shoes or a saddle with a tree are just stupid "traditions." t
> Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2008 10:41:06 -0800 > From: tref@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > Subject: Re: [RC] FW: Thought you might find this interesting > > Terry Banister wrote: > > The demonstration took the form of a scientific experiment in front of > > witnesses. > Not really. There were no control subjects. To be "scientific", the > experiment should have had 16 horses, 4 that performed bitted twice, 4 > that performed bitless twice, 4 that performed bitted, then bitless, and > 4 that performed bitless, then bitted. That way you'd have a base line > for bitted and bitless, an expected improvement due to simply repeating > the exercises a second time, and the actual improvement (or lack > thereof) when switching from bit to bitless and bitless to bit. > > There is also no way to determine how much of the result is due to the > Hawthorne Effect, ie, that ANY change will produce a short term > improvement in productivity. > > Often the requirement for a controlled situation may actually work > against proving the validity of a hypothesis as it applies to the real > world. In a controlled situation, such as the arena, an experiment may > have a great deal of internal validity, ie, it works in the ring, but > simultaneously lack external validity, as when you take the horse out on > the trails. To compensate for this, the experiment should have included > taking the 16 horses, half in bits and half bitless, 5 miles away from > the barn, asking them to gallop towards said barn for 30 seconds and > then asking them to halt USING ONLY THE REINS, no shift of weight or > vocalization, measuring the time delay between asking for the halt and > actually getting it. > > Caveat: When I don't ride, I get argumentative :) > > =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= > > Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. > Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp > Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp > > Ride Long and Ride Safe!! > > =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= >
