Riding W/ running martingales (long)

[Lynette Helgeson <helgeson@lansford.ndak.net>]

I have one question for the ones of you that are still not listening and
continuing to put running martingales on your horses every time you
ride. Are you listening to yourselves? Are you listening to others? (ok,
that was two)
Go back through all of the posts on this discussion and read them
carefully with an open mind to new ideas. Learn from them. Read the
posts from Sue Brown, she does an excellent job of explaining what
problems arise from the constant use of a running martingale. Try
listening instead of being defensive because you feel that someone is
telling you that you are doing something wrong. Just think of others
that you see that are doing something that is not in the best interest
for the horse and you try telling them to try something different and
they get defensive and get mad at you, and will not listen to you. That
is what is happening here. You guys with the running martingales like
the shortcut and you do not want to listen to a different and better
way. You are getting defensive. If you use running martingales all the
time when you ride a certain horse, then something is not right and you
need to figure out what is wrong. There is no horse in the world that
has to be ridden with an running martingale. I know that I could, or any
good trainer, re-teach your horse or find the problem that is causing
the head tossing. If you don't want to come to ND, may I suggest a good
couple of books Mary Twelveponies' book, "THERE ARE NO PROBLEM HORSES,
ONLY PROBLEM RIDERS" she goes into easy to understand ways about how
your body and hands affect the way the horse moves and also how to get
the horse to give to the bit, control, etc. She also has a book called
Starting the Colt, which is very good. She also believes in the less
equipment the better. You will enjoy the book, any one would. Good
common sense riding. Also Western Horseman has a book out called Bits
and Biting that explains how each of the bits work in the mouth and has
great diagrams. Good book. It will help you to understand bits. Plus
there was also many other good ideas from the list on teeth, chiro work,
and a horse can also toss their head because their saddle don't fit. And
the lady who posted about her horse tossing his head in the pasture,
sometimes they will do that if there is flys buzzing around. I would
also would look at chiro. work, because I have a hard time believing
that this horse is banging his head on the wall because he is stupid. I
would also look into diet, maybe too rich, or not enough exercise, etc.
Lots of things could be causing it, but not habit or stupidity. 

I am going to use the following post as an example. I know that David
did not post this as a part of this discussion on running martingales.
He is trying to help someone. But he innocently posted somethings in
there that I hope that some of you will listen to.  

David Bennett wrote:
> 
> > and experience all the other stuff that goes with an endurance ride.   We
> waited until
> everyone left before starting our ride and I still had a nutcase.  I
> made it through the second
> one safely only because I had a junior on an experienced, steady mare
> along.  After two
> 25's like that I decided we might as well move up to 50's because he was
> handling those
> like a champ and pulling my arms off for most of those 25's, despite my
> snaffle and
> running martingale.

This last statement shows that David is not in control of his horse, but
he is trying to control the horse with the bit. You don't control a
horse with a bit and a running martingale, but with their mind. That is
how horses do it to each other. Have you not seen how one horse can move
his ear into a backward position and the other horse he is directing it
to moves back. That horse with his ears back did not even have to touch
the other one or even move, except for the ears. He controlled the other
horse by past experiences. You as a person can do that with your horse
too. You can control the horse with past experiences. But you can't
control then with the bit. A bit should just be a communication tool.
Letting the horse know when you want it to stop, turn, etc. You can
accomplish that with your legs and body too. That is how some people can
ride without a bridle and the horse does what they want. They are
controlling the mind with past experiences. Horses are very willing to
please. But someone who trys to control a horse with a bit or running
martingale, tie down and other gimmicks are not controlling the mind
they are trying to control through restriction and pain. Look at the
horses in the 1998 Tevis screen saver. (A great screen saver, like my
kides would say, "it is way cool"), You will see a couple of horse going
up steep hills with running martingales on. Those horses have their
mouths thrown open and they are fighting against the bit. They are
uncomfortable and tense and will end up more sore then they would have
to be because their muscles are being tensed up more then they have to
be. For example, clench you teeth together and tighten up your jaw. You
will feel all your muscles tense up, esp. you neck and back muscles.
Same thing happens to the horse. Read Sue's post on what happens to
horses that are tense in the neck and back.

Also when you do not have control over the mind and you try and control
with equipment you will have a horse that is not under control by you,
and will fight the equipment. Now look at that Tevis screen saver and
look at the horses going up the steep hills WITHOUT the running
martingale. They are a lot more relaxed and balance going up and their
heads are in a good position for balance unlike the ones with the
running martingales on.  I wish that I could show everyone instead of
trying to explain it. I am not very good at that. You can have any Arab
be calm and relaxed through out the whole ride. We have taken in Arabs
that where "hot" jigging down the trail, spooking idiots and with
training have turned them into calm, easy going horses that kids can
ride. Now I know that there may be a very few individuals that are just
total nut cases, but they are very few and I have not ridden an Arab or
other breed yet that could not be calmed down with training. And that
works a lot faster and you get better results then just trying to do the
same thing over and over again and hope that eventually, and with enough
miles, the horse will settle down, or they won't need that martingale
anymore. 

Oh and one more thing. There is no such thing as a horse that has to
have a martingale in place because of their conformation. Because they
are ewe neck, having trained ewe necked horses, or because their neck is
too low or too short, having trained ponies with nice head set without a
martingale. 

Also I have read many of you commenting on the snaffle being a "gentle"
bit. A poor fitting snaffle in the wrong hands can be just as harsh as
any other bit. The Tom Thumb snaffle can be the most harsh bit there is.
I have seen that snaffle (actually it is a curb) tear up the inside of a
horse's mouth more then once. Also snaffles have a tendency to make a
horse toss their head. They work on by hitting the roof of the mouth and
what would you do if someone hit you on the roof of the mouth, you would
throw you head back. I don't even use a snaffle to start a colt on. I
get too much head tossing. 

I know that I have probably rub some people the wrong way, but if you
are getting defensive with this post maybe you can ask yourself "why?" 

Lynette with finger poised over idiot (oops, I mean delete) button.