Something that I may try, if my experiment with the G.M. shows that he could hit the end of the martingale on a stumble.
And yeah -- on one of my very few experiments with a running martingale, I'm pretty sure the horse I was riding was savvy to this trick. ?I know I sure didn't feel like I had a lot of control.
I also know that my horse, Caisson, was ridden in a running martingale for at least some part of his life. ?On my first couple of arena rides with him, he acted as if he didn't know some basic stuff -- like rein cues to turn. ?
I remember trotting down the long side of the dressage ring, and the end was coming up. ?I asked for a turn -- and got nothing. ?Asked again -- nothing. ?Gave a very exaggerated lateral rein aid right before we ran out of arena, and he made a very quick turn "oh...TURN !". ? He caught on fast, but it really was a learning time - like he was re-discovering things he had known, but hadn't used for a while (all that arena stuff that he probably hadn't used since he was first put under saddle).
Now - whether that was just because he had spent most of his time going down the trail, or whether it was because my cues were different than cues coming through a running martingale, I don't know for sure, but I put it down to the martingale due to my previous (and limited) experience with it.
I like to be able to move my rein?laterally to give cues, and you just can't do that with a running? martingale.?
You can get running martingales that slide through a ring which gives very good lateral control.? Otherwise, the horse can learn to brace against it, which gives you NO control at all!!? At least?that's true if you have a?highly intelligent horse who devotes his life to making his beloved rider miserable....like Cheers (gee, I miss competing him..I think)?
