Strap 'em down!

Taking "hold your horses" to a whole new level...

Training aids. Such a euphemism. Most of them are more along the lines of training coercion. A little whip, the occasional properly-adjusted side reins session (that should be quite short in time length), a properly-adjusted running martingale, or the occasional nudge of a mild spur: yeah, that's pretty good right there. It's justifiable when needed.

But German martingales, draw reins, crazy nosebands, and 3-ring gag bits............. all at once? I get that some horses genuinely need one of those devices, some horses, but certainly not all of these devices at the same time. That means it time to go back to square one.

Horse rushing at big fences? Before you strap him down with useless gadgets: is he in pain? Is he being overfaced? Is the rider being faulty? It might be time to just pop over crossrails for a couple of weeks and go back to basics. Sometimes for the horse, sometimes for the rider. Trotting at two-point over a crossrail, as noobish as it looks, can have it's benefits. Going through the basic gaits in two-point as you warm-up does fantastic things too. I learned that from Issy King. And I'll take her word for it. It's the basic things that can work very well the farther you go.

Horse being hollow? Before you strap him down with useless gadgets: is he in pain? Did you just never really teach him how to be round? It might be time to do some training level work until he can actually stretch to the bit. You can't run around doing passage when the horse is broken at the poll and has his hind end parked out a million miles away from you. That's not real. That's quite fake.

"But that's what wins!" Yeah, you know other fake junk wins? This bovine excrement:

So fake.

Did you learn how to read in a day? Don't you still have to go back and re-read sentences and look up words to make sure you fully understand something? I've read the same book ten times, plus several essays written about said book, plus did extensive research on various literary elements in said book, all before I felt comfortable enough to write a good essay on it in a very hard college-sophomore-level literary analysis class in high school aka AP English IV (oh the cute names they come up with for these things!) Got an A, passed the course, received a nice little note from professor. The skills I learned there have helped me a lot in real college. Also, I didn't have to retake it and that means lots of money and hassle saved in the long run.

What's that? Do it right the first time and save lots of money, hassle, and heartache in the future?

Some things you just can't bypass.

What caused me to gripe about this?

Sorry, but this is not a round horse. That, my friends, is a horse evading the bit and will need to go back to Dressage 101 before he can do much of anything else properly. Good luck getting him to accept or respect the contact and stretch to the bit. Good luck jumping him. Good luck keeping him sound and sane.

But dangit, it will probably win.

That's all. I'm going to go back to organic chemistry homework (shoot me) and pop some more allergy pills (shoot me again). Cheers!

EDIT: so that video just got taken down. Anyway, it was your typical strapped-down horsey (draw reins, German martingale, basic gag bit, AND a flash noseband so he can't protest too much). And not once was his nose at or ahead of the vertical or his shoulders in front of the rider. And the trot look unsurprisingly stiff. You know what I'm talking about.

"Horse Illustrated" Feedback

So, for any of you who are subscribed to Horse Illustrated, I'm sure you read the article by Gina Miles on choosing a right bit in the August 2011 issue. My response to the magazine (probably won't be published, it's a bit long haha). My opinions, which I'm sure might be wrong in some aspects, so feel free to correct me. I do not know everything!

I agree with many of the points Gina Miles made in her article "A Bit of Advice" about choosing the right bit in your August 2011 issue, and I would readily trust her judgment and her riding skills. I believe that any horse should be able to go in a basic snaffle and still be able to perform well, and some horses do need stronger bits. I was worried, however, that certain aspects of the article might be misinterpreted and that the use of a bitless bridle or hackamore as an equally useful alternative was not mentioned. A stronger bit certainly does not always mean better performance or a happier horse. I have done catch rides on horses of several disciplines, mostly dressage and hunters, and sometimes reining, eventing, and western pleasure horses, so I have seen lots of different bits in different mouths, and I can attest that they are not all beneficial or used correctly. I sometimes see a stronger bit in the stead of proper training: they simply hide problems and make for a horse that is unhappy and does not use their body properly, which can lead to injury. The feeling of “suppleness” a rider can feel in a stronger bit is sometimes a horse simply gaping and/or over-flexing at the bit. The horse is not truly supple, and often even more rigid than before. Horses that rush jumps may jump worse in a stronger bit and should instead go back to basic gridwork and ground poles to correct this. If a horse is strong or misbehaving with a current bit, riders should also check for body pain and any dental or nervous system problems before putting a stronger bit in a horse’s mouth, and even training faults of their own such as heavy or unsteady hands, or a hard or unbalanced or unsteady seat. Bitless bridles and hackamores are also other alternatives to look into. It can re-teach a horse and rider to be much more reliant on and attentive to seat-aids rather than pure mouth control. None of this is to say that stronger bits are bad. In the right hands or on the right horse, they can be quite beneficial. But riders need to think very seriously before going to a stronger bit, do lots of research on how that bit works, consult professionals, and most importantly consider their own horse’s health and happiness before “upgrading”. I just worried that riders might misinterpret some of the article information. Keep up the good articles in this magazine and those with Gina Miles and I cannot wait to read more!

-Breanna, Texas