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Re: [RC] bits and stops!! - Susan Garlinghouse, DVMDr. Sue G has a very good point; There ARE reiners who utilize everything from bits with small chain mouthpieces, or high correction ports or anything in between. And of course it's not just reiners---every discipline has trainers who use abuse instead of positive reinforcement to "teach" a horse something. My first gaited Saddlebred had terrible scars across his tongue from a previous owner who was simply over-horsed and scared of him and so substituted force for horsemanship. I was specifically talking about what I have learned from MY trainer...she awesomely puts a beautiful, soft response, including the stop, on horse after horse that she trains. You're lucky to have found her, how 'bout telling us her name for anyone else in your neighborhood? One of the points I wanted to make, and illustrated by your comments of a GOOD trainer, is using positive reinforcement to teach a horse something, instead of just whaling the hell out of them for doing the wrong thing. Most people intuitively know that, but there are some really neat videos out now on clicker training horses. Not that clicker trianing is the end-all and be-all, but it is very effective to teach a horse (or any other species) that what he was doing RIGHT THEN was exactly what I wanted him to do and aren't you a clever fellow for doing it. Sure saves an awful lot of flailing around, at least in my case where my horses are arguably smarter than their sorry-ass owner.<g> Susan G, DVM =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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