Re: Martingale's Long

[Fadaar@aol.com]

Lynette,

I agree that "bitting up" a horse is not the answer to control.  When I got to
the barn I'm at now half the people were riding with twisted wire snaffles and
tie downs and were trying to collect the horse.  I argued that a horse cannot
be collected if they are not comfortable - it is hard enough to do as it is.
A harsh bit is not going to make a horse relax it will only make them stop
faster and probably throw their head in the air because of the pain caused by
the bit.  Thank goodness for the horses I was able to explain this logic to
others and they listened.  However, I don't understand why you think a running
martingale is a gimmick or a that a short cut is a bad thing.

I was participating in an all weekend clinic eight months ago and showed up
with no running martingale - I hadn't needed one in 10 years for this horse.
One of the first things the intructor said was that anyone who didn't have a
running martingale on would take twice as long to teach their horses new
things.  I blew him off because I KNEW that my horse did not need one.
However, about halfway through the first day, my horse started throwing his
head when I was trying to ask him to do something new to evade my very gentle,
properly fitting bit.  And he was winning.  At lunch I borrowed a martingale
and after he hit it a few times and realized that he could no longer evade the
bit this way he quit it.  When I am not trying to teach him something new, I
don't need it but I ride with it anyway just in case he decides to test me.
As far as being a short cut, I don't understand why that is a bad thing.  Why
would you want to take twice as long (or longer) to train a horse to do
something if it is possible - without any distress to the horse - to do it
quicker.  I personally don't want to spend years teaching my horse to
something we can learn in a few sessions.  Incidently, I can stop my horse
from a full gallop in three strides by dropping the reins on his neck - or
with no reins for that matter.  But I got to this stage by taking advantage of
a shortcut.  If anyone is in N. California and wants to know who my trainer is
you can e-mail me privately - he holds clinics pretty regularly.

Good luck and happy trails

Rita and Fadaar