Re: bits

["Tracey" <tracey@tbt.co.za>]

Aha!  A German Martingale is a Market Harborough, no?


Louise, I agree with your sentiments regarding discipline, but I must,
respectfully (on this forum - really!) disagree with the methods.   At the
end of the day, the MH will force a horse's head down to some extent,
because there is no "give" in the device - no elastication, no matter how
loosely you fix it.  And if you go to the other extreme and fix it very
loosely, then you may as well use a running martingale, which is designed,
IF FITTED PROPERLY (and there is a correct way to fit it - anyone interested
can post me on it) only to prevent the horse from raising his head above the
rider's hands.


I can not and will not accept that a twisted wire snaffle (you are the
person who posted this as a suggestion?) is an acceptable bit in anyone's
hands.  At the end of the day you are putting a very narrow piece of wire
into the horse's mouth, where it will act on the bars.  This has GOT to
hurt.  I have put one in my mouth and rubbed it very gently on the "bars"
and corners of the mouth.  I bled.

Not stopping is indeed a discipline, but one which must be taught correctly
: the aide comes from seat and leg, with the hands simply "closing down" the
forward movement - you must NOT pull back, you simply block the impulsion
which you are creating with your legs - hence the description of the halt by
the Classical masters as "an upward transition".


I do not need brakes in the country because if push comes to shove, I can
simply circle this horse until he stops.  In fact, I prefer this method
because it helps to imprint the "forwardness" which I want him to have at
all times - even through the downward transition.  What I was looking for,
as I have said before, was a bit which would be comfortable enough in his
mouth that he would stop focussing on the bit but instead listen to seat,
back, leg and come to a relaxed, square halt.

That, to my way of thinking, is discipline.


I ALWAYS carry a crop - they are great for smacking my unruly dogs and
flicking flies off hard-to-reach places - under the belly, on the ears,
below the neck.  I hadn't thought about actually SMACKING the horse.
Although Toc gets a firm "klap" between his ears when he rears - which he
can do with his nose pressed to my knee in fact, so I doubt ANY martingale
would help him.  Don't you just love it?

Anyway, Louise, viva la difference!
----Original Message-----
From: Louise Burton <firedancefarms@prodigy.net>
To: Tracey <tracey@tbt.co.za>
Date: Wednesday, May 10, 2000 1:55 PM
Subject: Re: bits


>Tracey,
>Different things work for different horses!  German martingales won't work
>for horses that such their heads to their chests, and crops won't work for
>crop shy horses!
>Anyway, a German martingale comes up from the center ring in the girth and
>goes through the snaffle (run it from the inside out) and attaches to your
>reins.  It only works if you need it, unlike a reg martingale, and you can
>get their head around if you need to.  If the horse's head comes up and you
>pull on the reins, the martingale works. If you want a loose rein (esp if
>you have a horse that rears) the martingale does not work at all..hence the
>horse has nothing to pull against.
>Hope this helps.  good luck.  I look at not stopping as a discipline
>problem..
>Louise Burton
>Firedance Farms Endurance Arabians
>Oklahoma
>http://pages.prodigy.net/firedancefarms
>