Rope halters and endurance

[Barbara Madill <madill@teleplex.net>]

Lisa,

	You wrote to Ridecamp:

>>>>>My background is more english/dressage riding (and yes, I'm going to
teach my horse basic dressage skills as from reading this digest I can see
the value in these lessons).

My question is - is there any value in teaching her to stop/turn/respond in
a rope halter/hackamore at this stage?  I understand that they're not
really necessary for shorter distance riding but I'd like to incorporate as
much as the basic stuff in her training now so that I have time to refine
things later on. <<<<<<

	I, too, was trained in Dressage, but have been won over by "western
dressage" as exemplified by resistance free hackamore (or rope halter)
training.  It is FUN to do all of the third level test figures with just a
rope halter or neck string!!
	My long distance sport is 3-day 100's (6-8MPH) and rode my most recent
mount 400 miles with a string halter ... with a snaffle bridle over it --
in case, because he could hardly be called a dead head!
	I can't recommend this type of training enough.  Too many people equate
endurance with white knuckle hanging on to the reins....  That's too tiring
for both horse and rider.  

My $.02 worth
Barbara



=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=