Re: Why is bad behaviour a sign of good riding?

Charem said:

melxvengeance said:

 just to get back to what i said earlier - i think it was me who mentioned the whole breastplate thing, i actually didn't mean that they shouldn't be used full stop (Minty is ridden in a breastplate & grackle) what I meant was they should only be used when they are necessary and by people who know what their actual purpose is, NOT when they think it looks good on their horse. 

I think you were probably refering more to the grackle, but the way I read it makes it sound like a breastplate is a weopon of torture :P
 

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if you had read the post i made previous to this one, i referred to a conversation that i overheard some young students having saying that they have a breastplate on their horse because they like the look of it. i wasn't meaning that a breastplate was a gadget, is it actually quite a useful thing and i use one myself, i was simply saying that there are people out there who use it purely for aesthetic purposes.

Re: Why is bad behaviour a sign of good riding?

melxvengeance said:

Charem said:

melxvengeance said:

 just to get back to what i said earlier - i think it was me who mentioned the whole breastplate thing, i actually didn't mean that they shouldn't be used full stop (Minty is ridden in a breastplate & grackle) what I meant was they should only be used when they are necessary and by people who know what their actual purpose is, NOT when they think it looks good on their horse. 

I think you were probably refering more to the grackle, but the way I read it makes it sound like a breastplate is a weopon of torture :P
 

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if you had read the post i made previous to this one, i referred to a conversation that i overheard some young students having saying that they have a breastplate on their horse because they like the look of it. i wasn't meaning that a breastplate was a gadget, is it actually quite a useful thing and i use one myself, i was simply saying that there are people out there who use it purely for aesthetic purposes.

Ahh okay, slap on wrist for being lazy and not reading whole post!
 

Re: Why is bad behaviour a sign of good riding?

Tommytank said:

 mmmm every one going on one again then -

Just to get my novice no idea point on

Tommy is normally ridden in a starter snaffle, I took him hunting a few weeks back and I think it fried his brain.  He is having absolutley no respect for it, bolts, bucks, bronks and is scaring the crap out of me.  

So ..... he's in a kimblewick till I can get some control back - I would rather be able to get an instant reaction from a small squeeze of the rein on the kimblewick than to be hauling his mouth around in the snaffle with absolutly no effect whatsoever.  I don't think I'm a great rider for staying on while he behaves like a loony I'm not proud of it I'm afraid of it.   I hate the kimblewick but I don't want to have a serious accident so I feel at the moment I have no option.  

Does this make me a bad person? No, it makes me a sensible person Tommys neck is as thick as it is long he is half a tonne of muscle I can not stop him at the moment in his normal snaffle so I am one of the evil ones with a very harsh bit in my poor horses mouth.

I think we agreed earlier that if your horse needs a stronger bit to prevent an accident then definitly go for it. You sound like a sensible person to me! Certainly better to squeeze on a kimblewick than haul on a snaffle.

Re: Why is bad behaviour a sign of good riding?

 My boy Smartie used to be ridden in a flash and a running martingale for the first 4 years or so of me owning him, because he did cross his jaw to evade the bit and he did like to throw his head about sometimes. I was still rather novicey when I first got him so these gadgets were on him for both our safety and also to stop him freaking me out I guess! There was a short period where I had to ride him without the flash when he managed to make a gash on his face right where the bit ring sits (probably didn't move his head out of the way of being bitten quite fast enough!) and I definitely felt the difference in my brakes! As some of you know he went on loan to an equine college May before last as a trial for him being loaned there that September (didn't work out, extremely long story) and came back to me for the summer hols minus the flash and martingale! I tried riding him without and didn't notice any real issues (apart from him carrying his head slightly higher than I might like out hacking sometimes) so decided to carry on doing without them. When he ended up with his current loaner she put a breastplate martingale on him. She likes to use breastplates to stop saddles from slipping and wanted the martingale as she was worried about him being strong and throwing his head up. I have no issues with her using this as I admit that his old saddle used to slip about a bit (she uses a different one on him which seems less inclined to do this anyway, but I think I may invest in a breastplate when I take him back) and the martingale isn't going to affect him unless he starts flinging his head around.

With regards to training methods I think the best training method is the one which the rider feels most confident in being able to use consistently and fairly so as not to confuse the horse. I think we all need to be open to new ideas and different ways of doing things that we may not have thought of though and that we shouldn't heap unfair amounts of criticism on the methods someone uses just because they happen not be our first choice. I don't feel it's very helpful when we split training into catergories like "NH", "traditional", "modern" and then are reluctant to consider using anything that falls outside or preferred catergory. Some things do become outdated as we learn more about equine behaviour and become replaced with new techniques but equally there are some things that have been done the same way for hundreds of years because they work and are now considered "common sense".

Hmmm that was rather a longer post than I intended...

Re: Why is bad behaviour a sign of good riding?

  Katz - That was a bit of an unexpected explosion! I am glad that your mare works for you, but iirc the original comment I made was I said the methods probably wouldn;t be adopted at a pro yard because of the time constraints, then it descended into all the rest. *Shrugs* I will continue to "bury my head" (incidentally, I'm a Miss, not a Mrs, think marriage is a bit outdated personally) as you put it, because I know what works for me and countless other riders. It's great that you have taken on a  rescue, i have a lot of respect for people who take them on and really make something of them. I don;t think I "jumped down your throat," at least I don;t remember feeling enraged, but if it appeared that way I apologise. I thought we were debating the merits of various training systems and gadgets. 

duskyteddy - Let's just cut to the heart of the matter here, you don't like me and frankly, I don;t like you. I find your tone rude and abrasive, to everyone that you view in opposition, not just me. As for the sarky and snide comments, some would say you make an art form out of them, since you deliver them at every potential opportunity. You should really invest in some lessons on diction, it might make you appear less condescending. You want to carry out a one woman crusade to eliminate competition, good for you. I do want to win rosettes, obviously that makes me a bad person, but that is why I pay a clean fortune to keep my horse. I work hard for the pleasure, and I won;t feel guilty for expecting results, anymore than I would feel guilty if I was a a parent expecting my kid to do some work in school. 

To return to the original topic, use whatever bit, nose band, spur, training gadget or whatever that your horse requires. As I said before, the safety of the rider and the public are far too important.