Posted by Phil on 9/7/2009, 10:32 pm, in reply to "got her to trot"
Message modified by board administrator 9/7/2009, 10:39 pm
That's great! Here's some additional thoughts too:
The times that folks run into the most trouble is varying the gaits. When the gait is forced, that is when the revolt usually occurs. Now that she is picking it up, don't continue to dwell on it.
We will let the horse offer, and if it's the first time, a couple of paces at the trot, then off of the back and we're done...good job! The worst thing we can do is "one more time!"
Back to biting.... The loose ring solid mouth is an inexpensive English bit. Bits do not hurt the horse. I had a piece that I did on bits and biting, whips etc... What makes any artificial aid destructive is, THE HANDS. The hands control the bit, the hands control the rein, the hands control the use of the whip.
Feed stores love it when folks come in and say that their horse isn't stopping, responding etc.... Well, we have this bit that puts pressure here and there. That works for a while till the rider kills those new nerves that the bit is resting on because they haven't got their butt out of the saddle to address the ground work. I've seen horrible "correction bits" put into horses mouths that wouldn't have been necessary if they addressed "training." But, everyone looks for the thing, the gadget that will make it easy on "them" and not the good training being put into the horse. Mustang or not, doesn't matter.
Ground work is the hardest, the dirtiest, most exhaustive work for the trainer, and the most rewarding if done correctly. We can do everything with the horse from the ground that we do when riding except for one thing, be on the horse's back. That's why folks don't want to do the ground work, they can't just sit there.
As you can see, I'm a firm believer in the bit and training in the use of the bit through contact, not pressure. If pressure alone is utilized, the horse will not be supple and in concert with the rider.
Gervase Markham- "...there is a secret pleasing and cherishing of the horse with the bridle, which the rider must accomplish with so unperceiving a motion that none but the beast may know it."
The horse can feel the change in balance because we're looking at something, thus jumpers look up beyond the jump where they are going. The horse feels you breathing, tensing up, we can certainly communicate, collect, engage, raise a shoulder etc... with contact in the bit through training.
"If a rider thinks that he has found a new method he may be sure that if it is any good he has come upon it by instinct or by chance and that it was practised long ago by the old masters." Alois Podhajsky, former Director of the Spanish Riding School of Vienna
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