use of running martingale? Long!

[Marlene Moss <MARLENE.MOSS@WCOM.COM>]

Ok, I have a question here.  I am in general of the opinion that gimmicks
are bad and even worse in the wrong hands.  I do believe it's possible for
one man's gimmick to be another man's tool - and not be a bad thing.  I am
very undecided in the area of running martingales.

As a child, well meaning adults guided me to teaching my horse to rear over
backward with a tie-down.  I'll never go that route again.

My mare had a major problem with evading obstacles - water, scary trees,
horse eating rocks - by tossing her head (which turned into a small rear)
and spinning away.  I had several suggestions (many of which were to address
the more fundamental problems which we have taken and are working on) and
several were to try a running martingale.  I did try this and it really
seemed to make some sense.  My mare was immediately different - she mostly
wasn't affected by it, until she was trying to evade something and then
seemed calmer and more willing to stop and think rather than power away.  We
also had some success with the ground training I was working on and a clinic
brought a major breakthrough for us.

But soon the running martingale didn't make sense - really, it went from
where I would look at the effect it had on her from the point of view of my
hands and reins and it seemed logical, to a point where it didn't.  I think
this was a difference in how she was holding herself - it was just no longer
needed.  I'm no expert, especially in this area, so maybe it was just my
point of view that changed, rather than the horse.  But we've had a lot of
success in other areas, so the martingale is no longer needed, if indeed it
ever was, for this mare.

Now to my real question.  I have a 4 yr old arab gelding.  I started his
training, but got stuck because he seemed very lazy in the round pen and
arena and I couldn't figure out how to train with no forward motion.  I was
afraid to ask too much, expecting an exploding point!  This horse also kept
putting his nose on the ground and I couldn't figure that out - assuming
some sort of evasion of the bit???  But he also did it with just the halter
on if I asked him to bend.

So I sent him to a trainer - partially to have someone else get through the
uncertainties of handling pressure and reprimand and also because they had
lots of trails and exposure to things that my place didn't.  Anyhow, the
trainer used a training fork on him.  It looked the same as what I was then
using as a running martingale on my mare, but supposedly it's different -
any ideas?  At one point I asked the trainer how he had gotten past the
horse putting his nose to the ground and he looked at me curiously and said
he never tried that.

So I rode the horse several times at the trainer's (and by the way, the
laziness in the arena was just that - this horse is a powerhouse on the
trail!  I had no idea!) always using either the trainer's gear with the
training fork or my stuff with the running martingale.

Then I brought the horse home and about that time had the breakthroughs with
my mare and took off the martingale (was using same saddle with martingale
attached to the breast plate) and quit using it with the gelding too.  He's
an exceptional horse (geez, what am I going to do with two great horses?!?!)
and is just eating up miles on the trails.  We've started allowing a little
more speed, he trots like a dream and his canter is much better than I ever
expected from such a short backed horse.  Only issue - a couple times now,
at the canter, he's stuck his nose to the ground.  I'm very proud that I
managed to stay on - gosh lots of miles are the best thing to improve a
rider's seat!

This horse used to be unbalanced enough at the canter that I delayed his
riding for a year, but he looks great now - really good actually, but I
suppose I can't discount something there.  I am trying to be very mindful of
his mouth and he's shown no tendency to go running off, he stays at the
requested speed very nice, so I'm not suddenly taking up on the reins at the
canter and therefore encouraging him to have to evade the bit - but I'm not
100% positive.  Oh, I'm using a pretty fat eggbutt snaffle that he seems to
hold in his mouth nicely.

So my question is - what should I be looking for as a cause and should I
consider putting the running martingale back on - maybe just to give him
support when he needs it, or to save myself from going over his head?

All opinions welcome, even those that say there's no way I should think of
putting the martingale back on (cuz I'd rather not)- but please give me some
alternative direction to go in.

Thanks so much,
Marlene