Horse Coaching Success Comes From Pressure

February 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

There are numerous facets of humans that are similar to horses. Among the more notable similarities: we both need camaraderie and fellowship to survive. Horses are herd animals, people are political animals. The core of both natures is that an individual horse or human will always need another of his kind to go on. Another notable parallelism between the two species is that when in a required form of fellowship, an individual horse or human is the subject of pressure. When several minds mingle and share similar space, pressure is inescapable.

Extend this parallelism a bit more, and you can see how pressure, though often having negative connotations, can become a positive driving force too. Some people excel under pressure—using the typically undesirable force to compel them to perform at heightened standards. This is also applicable to horses. Implement some type of pressure in your training and your mare would better and quicker understand her lessons. Though there are limits to using pressure as a training tool.

What does a person do when he constantly experiences pressure at work? He quits his job—or his health becomes undermined. He either escapes the pressure or loses to it. Again, this human condition parallels horses. Apply too much pressure, and your mare would start to go looking for avenues of escape. The flight reaction springs to mind. Well, you’re fortunate if your mare chooses the flight reaction over the fight reaction, in fact. But occasionally a trainer would ignorantly force his steed to the final resort of fighting back to escape the pressure. Horses trained under regimens of unceasing punishment, cruel pressures, and those based totally on fear and force are not fit for horse riding or other higher equestrian sport. They can only be a potential danger to themselves and their riders.

A mare only becomes really fit for riding if she establishes a relationship of mutual trust and confidence with her rider. This relationship must be rooted in her coaching.

Don’t be fooled though; as mentioned earlier, pressure is integral in training and lessons. Dressage and likewise all high level equestrian sports need firm training and compelling pressures. The key is in always knowing the resistance brink of your mare—just how much pressure she can take before she goes searching for a way to be rid of the source of pressure.

As such, it is clear that lessons that can benefit from using pressure positively are most advisable. And pressure is best utilized in acceptable levels. This implies that lessons should be broken down to smaller parts in such a way that the pressure asked for in each part serves to force the pony to learn faster instead of causing her to escape the situation. Of course, the release from the pressure and the corresponding rewards for proper or correct responses build on this idea and help improve a lesson in which these are incorporated. These serve as the small holiday getaways from the little pressures horses are subjected to in training.

Horses are Heather Toms’ passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100’s of articles with other horse lovers… like all things about horse rugs.

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How To Rid Your Horses Of Ear Shyness

February 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Ever try to clean a new horse’s ears? Just as folks have sensitive parts of their bodies, horses have parts they would not easily let you touch. The difficulty is, when putting a horse thru equestrian training—or even though you simply wish to rear the horse and not make him go thru equestrian training—you’ll also need to look after her health and overall welfare. This comprises cleaning and applying medications and ointments on spots she could be too shy to let you touch—like her ears.

During your equestrian coaching regime you’ll discover that you have got to apply 3 things in order to teach your horse whatever it is you want her to learn: Restraint, Reward, and Repetition. Actually as early as now, when you’re only acclimatizing your horse to her new environment and what’s to become her regular routines for holistic care, you already need to apply these three ideas.

For the most part, your horse will not let you touch her ears because she’s innately wary of you hurting her. The key to making her comfortable with such routines as cleaning the inside and outside of her ears is to let her know that you are not going to hurt her. To be well placed to do that, you both must be in a safe enclosure where you can work on her ears. Start by placing your hand on a part of her face she permits you to touch. If you have been into horse riding for a long while now, you ought to know which parts are OK and which would simply make her turn away from you. Stroke her face in a manner that naturally brings your hands close to her ears. Your action would then transition into a stroke that goes past her ears. You’ll notice the slightest touch can make her move her head and her ears away. So on your part; you need to brush your hand over her ears quick enough such that you move your hand away before she can react. Do this frequently until you believe that you can do it slower and slower still until she understands that you’re not going to harm her or her ears.

Then you will need to concentrate on doing just about the same only this time you want to touch the exterior of her ears, beginning from the tips. Then work your way to the inside of her ears. Eventually, you must make her comfortable to the feeling of both of your hands really firmly but gently holding her ears and touching its insides.

The restraint, reward, and repetition cycle is always at work when you do this—restrain her gently if she moves away and put her back to the first position she moved away from, reward her every correct response (in this case, each time she does not move away) by praising her, and repeat the process until she feels the entire routine is safe, and eventually, to be expected. Also, do not expect that you can just walk up to your horse and grab her ear the next day—you’ll need several days or even up to a week of this to make her feel totally comfortable with it.

Before you introduce a new horse to the fundamentals of equestrian coaching or horse riding, you must ensure she’s kept healthy and well. And even before that, you want to let her know she doesn’t need to move away from you whatever part of her that requires cleaning or tending to.

Horses are Heather Toms’ passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100’s of articles with other horse lovers… like all things about stable rugs

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Natural Soothing Remedies For The Nervous Horse

February 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Your reliable steed could be a safe mount during horse riding ventures, but may actually be a twitchy wreck in an equestrian sport or before a physically taxing activity. These are some natural remedies for the anxiety you need to use on her to help calm her down.

Homeopathic Chamomile “Okay, so chamomile is pretty familiar, what about homeopathic? A homeopathic remedy is one that embraces homeopathy, an alternative cure with base elements embedded in administering minute amounts of a substance to ease symptoms it could cause in larger treatments. Basically, bigger measures of this substance in a healthy pony would cause it to be nervous—but when your mare is already agitatedly nervous, small doses of this can help her out. While this treament does not always calm the pony down, it does restore her brainwaves to a balance that can permit her to think rationally. This cure is generally available at health food stores.

Herbs for adrenal support “This is a pretty new concoction of four herbs that support the adrenal system of a horse so helping her to relax. This fusion of adrenal support herbs can help a mare unwind before new training, her first pony riding session in unfamiliar territory, and can help unwind COPD or heaves symptoms within 30 minutes to 45 minutes. This herb combination can be fed on an everyday basis or for swift relief of anxiousness and similar symptoms.

Probiotics “Probiotics are the good bacteria that flourish in an animal’s stomach—even humans have good bacteria. In horses, probiotics include bifidus and acidophilus. The favorable effect of probiotics in horses is that they produce B12, and the B vitamins, especially B12, have a natural relaxing effect. Mixing in whole food supplements loaded in probiotics before an equestrian event or a long pony riding trek in unfamiliar environs would help shed any upsetting reactions.

Equilite Feed Supplements “Commercial yes, but natural too. Equilite’s Relax and RelaxHer Blend of feed supplements are Valerian-free, natural herb additions that can be fed on a day-to-day basis or during equestrian events, which makes them real handy in an emergency medical kit.

Blue-green Algae, without the cell walls “O.K, this one is rather more scientific: blue green algae which has been specially processed and had their cell walls removed is good for your horses because the substances left—the pure core of the algae cells—are easily absorbed by the horses ‘ brains. This implies the anxiety is dealt with from the center of the studs ‘ and mares ‘ nerve systems, and the nutrient elements permeate the brain where not many nutriments reach due to the pony brain-blood barrier. This barrier is a wall that separates circulating blood from cerebral spinal liquid in efforts to keep invading damaging bacteria and the like out of the steed’s brain; sadly, it also keeps away the cool stuff like vitamins and nutrients. Best of all, specifically treated algae is legal for pony shows and competition.

Unless expressly said you’ll have to check with your equestrian sport authority if these substances are legal in shows and competition, and not all horses react the same way to some of them.

Horses are Heather Toms’ passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100’s of articles with other horse lovers… like all things about cheap horse rugs

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How To De-worm Your Horses

February 21, 2012 By 1 Comment

While a few different parasites are the standard dwellers in the guts of your horses, there should be levels to your tolerance of them. As an equestrian, it’s your job to keep your horses healthy and parasite-free as they can be. The particular deworming process though, can be challenging. Sure it’s reasonably straightforward to make your own deworming schedule based primarily on your unique circumstances, but making your horses follow this schedule can be hard. Different studs and mares have different temperaments and thus different reactions to the process. Some could be lenient, but there are always those steeds that simply can’t make it simple for you.

In the old days when there were not any commercial dewormers you can easily purchase from a local feed or tack shop, there were an array of interesting ingredients included in special deworming mixtures. Think tobacco and wood ash. Engaging, sure. But while their efficacy in combating small and large strongyles, abdominal threadworms, ascarids, and a bunch of other dangerous parasites are at best moot, what harm they can potentially cause the fitness of a horse can be quite worrying. At last, horse riding and coaching became widespread enough to deserve the development of deworming agents, though the 1st ones made were crude and had miles away from the virility of today’s agents.

Those early horse deworming agents could control only a small number of parasites, and had some unpleasant side-effects. Some weren’t powerful enough to deal a crippling blow to parasite thriving and so the bugs they hoped to keep under check simply grew resistant to their effects. But maybe the worst side of the early sorts of agents was how they were administered “through ungodly tools like stomach tubes, balling guns, and metal syringes. Due to the methods with which these agents were administered, the everyday equestrian wasn’t sufficiently skilled to perform the procedure. A vet or in a similar fashion talented specialist would perform it.

Perhaps due to the great inconvenience of having a professional come over every time a deworming session needs to be undertaken, formulas for deworming agents that could be stirred into horse feed came about. But then horses got evil too “they ate everything but the agents, and those that don’t finish their meals fundamentally were left at a disadvantage. And then of course the start of paste dewormers “reliable, simply administered, and has effects on a big selection of known parasites. But still, some horses just can’t make it easy for their equestrian owners and trainers.

An easy approach of depositing the agent directly onto the tongue of the horse while holding her head horizontal until she swallows it customarily does the job. But when she starts horsing around, don’t fight and force the dewormer into her mouth. Play round the areas of her mouth until she eventually accepts the syringe. Even horses not yet trained for basic horse riding should be dewormed “steeds as young as five weeks can be trained to be dewormed. But before you set up a deworming regime, always consult a veterinarian for correct guidance.

Horses are Heather Toms ‘ passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge thru her 100’s of articles with other horse lovers like all things about horse rugs .

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Effective Horse Coaching Aids

February 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

There are many tools an equestrian can use when coaching horses for various sport and activities, and dependent on what the training is for, the prerequisite for more effective tools and more effective use of the tools is made more relevant. As an example, the bridles and ropes used in horse riding coaching would be insufficient when teaching a pony dressage maneuvers. There are several aids that help not only in training but also in the activity the steeds were trained for, and as a skilled coach and rider would know, getting well acquainted with them and their uses is essential.

With modern methods of pony coaching, there are natural and artificial aids. The natural aids are mostly parts of the human body, such as the feet, legs, and hands, and even the voice. Artificial aids are everything else—from the ropes to the bridle to the bit and everything in between. When you consider it, all aids and even horse riding and training itself is artificial, as horses weren’t planned to be tamed and trained. But as far as latest views go, all bodily members and aids are natural. There are corresponding ideas of dangers and risks to using artificial aids as they may sow fear and cause negative reactions from horses, but that’s all just hype. Even natural aids, when used badly, can beget unfavourable responses from horses and even sow fear instead of respect. It’s all about using the aids properly.

One major benefit of natural aids though, is that they are always freely available, what with being human body parts and all. But again, it’s all in the use. And when it comes to pony riding and coaching, particularly for sport as exacting as dressage, the right use of a mix of artificial and natural aids is best.

The secret to making the most out of natural aids is that everything should be coordinated. Cues shouldn’t come from your voice commands alone or from established motions of certain limbs. Don’t simply utilise a command and your arms or your legs and feet, always include your back and especially your seat when giving cues. For example, an ideal way to use a coordinated effort of natural aids with the assistance of artificial aids to make a pony slow down would start with the rider bracing his back. This drives the mount into the bridle, and from there the hands can cue the horse to decelerate. A fluid and nearly effortless motion from the back to the bridle to the hands—almost imperceptible and only slightly noticeable—that’s how well body motion used together with artificial aids can influence and command a pony.

Natural aids are usually quite handy, as besides from always being available they’re simple to manipulate and so straightforward to control. But even something as apparently harsh as a whip, when used at the right times in appropriate measure, can be of immense help not just in pony riding, but in coaching for equestrian sport or activity. And combining their usability with natural aids is the way to go.

Horses are Heather Toms’ passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100’s of articles with other horse lovers… like all things about horse rugs.

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Ponies And Hay

February 21, 2012 By 1 Comment

Winter is at hand , and the hay makers are making hay while the sun shines. I should stock up on hay for my horses for the winter, and am finding out the hard way, like lots of folks with horses, that hay has shot up in price and shot down in quality. Horse owners have to use supplements with even top quality hay. When we were getting hay at 2 or 3 bucks a bale, we did not feel it was any kind of strain to pay for the supplements too. Now, when hay has hit exorbitant dollars per bale and appears to have hit the very bottom in quality, we feel the pressure. We are indignant that at a price this high the hay quality is so poor; we might have anticipated the best hay for the way that we are being scalped.

It appears that high quality hay has just about disappeared from the market. Farming methods nowadays involve repeated use of chemical-based herbicides and fertilizers through the year. While this improves harvest volumes, it does not do much for the purity of things.

Chemicals have an adverse effect on the natural bacteria and fungi that soil contains. In its natural state, arable soil is loaded in necessary minerals, other plant nutriments and water content. Better water means better grass and crop expansion, better expansion reduces chance of drought. Compost and other nature-based fertilizing agents sustain the healthy ecosystems of soil. They support natural cycles and keep soil continually recharged. In reality, chemical fertilizer is needless for fruitful soil that is moved regularly. Organic farming can be costly at the initial stages in comparison to chemicals-based farming, but pretty soon, it works out much less expensive as it maintains soil fertility and increases yield.

Each time we pay hay merchants top dollar for bottom hay, we are encouraging hay farmers to adhere to their chemical-based methods and ignore natural farming. What we should do is follow the example of cattlemen: they do not accept hay that has not been tested for quality and passed. This way, competition in the hay supply market will increase, and increased competition often means good news for the customer. If your hay purchases aren’t so bulky as to justify testing, you must encourage your provider to get tests conducted on hay in his stock. You could also ask the hay grower to get a test done. Reputed laboratories like Equi-Analytical do comprehensive hay tests for charges not exceeding $75. If your current hay provider acts hard, ditch him and get another one. Get all of your horse owning friends to crack down on bad quality hay. Success in your activities to get consistent top of the range hay can be done only if the effort is sustained by each purchaser. Success comes with determination.

So long as you are feeding your horses bad quality hay, you will need to supplement the hay with other feed of high nutritional value. Digestive enzymes and probiotics should represent part of your horses ‘ regular diet. I find performance horses thrive on Simplexity Health’s Essentials and horses for pleasure do well on APA, also from Simplexity Health. Probiotics like KLPP and Pro-Bi are also really useful for horse’s hind stomach digestion. They’re really desirable supplements to feed your horses when they don’t seem to be getting the best hay.

Horses are Heather Toms’ passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100’s of articles with other horse lovers… like all things about stable rugs

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Your Ponies Personality Is Part Of The Solution

February 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

For equestrian trainers new to the trade, horses can come in different shapes and sizes, but most irksomely, different temperaments as well. And a horse’s personality type determines what sort of training and even what kind of sport it’s most suitable for. There are horses that are very excited to please and are quite friendly, a charm to go horse riding with. There are active character types that prefer challenging equestrian sport over plain horse riding, and there are others who’d do most anything for food. Let’s concentrate on one actual character type: the Metal component type of pony.

Metal types are some examples of the most trustworthy mounts and sport or chore horses you would ever come across, because they covet routine. They have to be well placed to do something they’re used to doing in a schedule in reality they need to so badly that if they do not, they get wired and develop many stress-related health issues till they’re reunited with their beloved routine. As you can imagine, a pony that does something so earnestly and even passionately is a valued asset that surpasses the simple joys of horse riding and is worth its weight in gold when it comes to equestrian sport or other activities it’s trained for.

Nonetheless together with the good comes the bad. Metal types rely too much on established routine that they encounter difficulty when introduced to new routines and new equestrian training or work. Also, if the trainer or breeder happens to skip a scheduled routine, they easily get stressed. The reality is, a pony would have to learn a lot of new things in the course of its equestrian coaching, even in the course of its standard pony care and health upkeep. Furthermore, not a lot of trainers have all the time in the world to zealously stick to routine day in and day out. While older metal types get the point and are simple to introduce to new routines or exercises and can stay off of regular routine and left in pasture for a bit without adverse reactions, younger metal types aren’t the same.

So what can a trainer do to help a hot metal type gelding avoid a stressful experience? Stick to routine. The routine does not have to be an exercise of precise standards, while you do one thing continually and create that as routine, that’d be the routine the metal type youngling would start to expect and depend on. For your own sake as the equestrian coach, keep it simple: like pulling her out of the stall and tying her onto a trailer for an hour every day or a daily mane brushing routine. If you actually enjoy horse riding and can do it everyday , then make that your regular thing.

The less effort it takes, the simpler it is on you. When you introduce new coaching or exercises and your metal type pony shows signs of stress, regress to your routine to help deaden the symptoms, then transition slowly into the new routine.

Horses are Heather Toms’ passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100’s of articles with other horse lovers… like all things about horse rugs.

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Some Handy Horse Feeding Tips

February 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment

There is always something to tend to around your horses, whether it’s looking after them directly when not in equestrian training or doing chores indirectly related to them. Infrequently the time it needs to finish everything is ludicrous. This is exacerbated by any horses with special needs or particular conditions. Occasionally you won’t even have sufficient time to take out one or two horses for pony riding just for fun. All equestrian training and equine-related chores without pure pony riding fun isn’t good—for you or your horses. So here are a few practical tips to help you save time on your horse chores.

Stopping water sloshing… You might or might not have a water source near particular horses. Some studs or mares could have characters that cause you to house them in separate stalls in a particular season so they eat and gain better weight. This means they’d be some distance from the usual place where water would be, and you would need to haul buckets of it to them. Having the water slosh all over the place is going to make this additional chore more frustrating. So put a tiny board or smaller bucket upside down on top of the water you’re carrying. It’s a clever trick; disrupting the water’s surface tension and keeping a large amount of it from sloshing out.

Beet pulp soaking… Beet pulp simply must be soaked before being fed to your horses. Otherwise you risk choking and an array of other health perils. But this process is often boring and time-consuming, especially in cold weather. Compared to pellets though, beet pulp soaks faster, is crunchier to a horse’s palate, and would better satisfy a horse’s natural inkling to long-stem foliage fodder, so as an element of your horses feed, it’s indispensable. But the chore it entails can be a pain. To soak the stuff faster, bring it inside the house and soak it in hot water instead of cold. You can also proceed soaking it in cold water in the evening and simply add luke-warm water into the mix in the morning before feeding it to your horses. Warm beet pulp warms a horse’s physique well in shivering cold mornings.

Providing supplements while permitting free choice on feed… Letting your horses loose on a free-choice environment of feed is both fun and a good way to copy what horses do in nature. The difficulty lies in how you’re going to give each pony their supplement dose in acceptable amounts when in such a set-up. One way is to coach all your horses to accept syringe administration of supplements. This way you can personally syringe-feed particular supplements to specific horses before the free for all begins.

Often a home made recipe of whole food supplements work fine for many horses but for those with conditions or special needs, more than the regular amount might be necessary, or an extra ingredient should be added into the mix. What’s great about this technique is that each pony gets his or her due supplements and it all fits tidily (if you do it properly) into a syringe.

Horses are Heather Toms’ passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100’s of articles with other horse lovers… like all things about cheap horse rugs

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Building UP Your Horse’s Topline

February 20, 2012 By 1 Comment

Are you ashamed of your horse’s topline?

Not all members of any species are the same and this of course includes horses. A few of these animals are structured so they demonstrate a bad topline. You definitely wouldn’t enjoy your horse’s weak toplines, and it doesn’t matter whether your pony is swaybacked or gets a bad topline when out of coaching.

There are some ways that you can get your horse to boost his topline. Here are three of them.

Improve Topline with Backing Exercise

As with all animals, your horse’s rear muscles are active when he is backing up, all the more so if he lowers his head when doing that. Training your horse to back up keeping his head down has two benefits:

1. It improves the topline;

2. Horses relax when their heads are held low.

Your horse is going to definately fight putting his head down when backing. It could take a large amount of effort on your part to make him back up with his head down. One method to get him to do it is to dangle a treat in front and well under so he needs to reach down for it.

Dependent on the horse I'm coaching, I split the exercise into two components: backing and dropping the head. In the dropping part of the exercise, I crouch low and yank on the lead rope. His curiosity will make the pony lower his head to see what I am up to. When he does, he gets a treat from me by way of a reward. I progress from there to getting him to lower his head while I'm erect. I reward him for doing what I desire all the way thru. I ultimately progress to the stage where I get him to hold his head low while backing.

The coaching can take many days: some horses are essentially ignorant of how exactly to back with their head held low. It’s a matter of muscular coordination the pony isn’t used to. At such times the horses can only stagger back a step or 2 with their head down. It can take a couple of days before the pony masters enough muscle-bound looseness to back up for a distance with head held low.

When your pony ultimately gets the swing of walking backward with head held low, get him to do it for a minimum of a 100 steps a day. This way, you will help him build up the muscles in his neck, back and hindquarters that affect his topline. In general, you should see good results within 2 weeks of starting this exercise, no matter how recalcitrant he is.

Change the Feeding Style

Your horse’s poor topline might have something to do with his being fed from a raised container or crib. The topline gets strengthened by sensible exercising of the muscles that make a contribution to it. You can add to the effect by employing a feed dispersing ground toy. Options on the market include the Nose-It, the Likit Snak-A-Ball and the Amazing Graze.

All of these widgets roll round the ground when poked. Your pony will be prodding them plenty as he makes an attempt to feed out of them. Keeping the head down and chasing after the feed device can consume lots of time, as the contraptions dissipate food slowly. This means plenty of exercise for the horse’s topline muscles.

Over time, I’ve used a lot of feed gizmos including the 3 named above and a few others that are now not available. They work best because the pony has to keep his head low to follow them. As discussed above, they disperse food slowly and force the pony to keep at it for an extended time.

You gain a further bonus with topline stretching exercises in that these exercises help forestall stuck withers. This occurs a lot with horses that are “built downhill.” Though they’re actually not structured that way, they seem like they’re sloping down to the front because of stuck withers. Their posture will improve considerably when their withers are unlocked.

Feed Unrefined Coconut Oil

Unrefined coconut oil is an excellent remedy for horses with excess weight everywhere but on the topline. It appears that raw coconut oil goes direct to the equine topline. Pretty much all horses with lean toplines and fat everything else seem possessed of a personality mold that is Shao Yin all of the way. These animals are capable of great performance, but look bad due to their sway backs and ewe necks. Coconut oil is the sure shot fix. You want the following resources for this sort of horse, raw coconut oil, which you can order online or from your usual source of health feed, more knowledge regarding Shao Yin as well as the other equine character types.

Horses are Heather Toms’ passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100’s of articles with other horse lovers… like all things about cheap horse rugs

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Pony Training Tack Tips

February 20, 2012 By 1 Comment

There are a fair number of horse riding and coaching tools and aids at an equestrian’s disposal—tacks that purport to be able to teach this and that. But an essential flaw in almost all of the concepts of horse tack training is that tacks employ generally discomfort, pain, and fear to teach and train horses—and these are not ideal teaching aids. Some tacks are best avoided, some may be used carefully or in proper measure.

Transition Curb Bits

Commonly known as Tom Thumbs and designed to transition from snaffle bit to leverage bit, this is not an effective bit to start neck-reining your pony with. Neck reining is best taught by teaching horses to connect their shoulders and respond to the snaffle. Right and left reins connects to the left and right shoulders respectively to move either. When your equine partner learns to master this, you then shift to the neck rein. Transition curb bits are best avoided altogether, because though they may in effect teach a horse the right way to neck rein, it’d be a unacceptable and stiff manoeuvre, somewhat unpleasant to the eyes even in a basic pony riding session.

Martingales

Built to hold the head of the horse in a preferential position vertically and laterally, the main trick behind a martingale is that it makes the bit uncomfortable, even agonizing, when your steed’s head is out of position. The martingale is the ultimate example of misguided equestrian practice. Discomfort and pain aren’t the best teachers of animals as wild and proud as horses. Bits can be handy when employed for the purpose of communication through applying correct levels of pressure where needed. The most significant difference between communication and using agony as a motivating force is that in communication the pony is released from the pressure and praised when she responds in the correct way.

Stopper

A stopper is another prime example of upsetting pony tack coaching. A tack that teaches a horse to stop to avoid getting it into her mouth, a stopper uses pain and agony in place of communication and the pressure-release-praise system. It’s very important for your horses to actively think about what you would like them to do, though not thru the inducement of escaping pain.

Snaffle bits

Meant to train horses to respond with a light touch of the reins; the difficulty is, again, it relies on misguided guidelines. Consider this: if the pony does not hear the snaffle cues, what would you do? You’d potentially find a tougher bit. And if she becomes used to that and begins to not listen again—another harsher bit? This possible cycle of pain and tolerance is not a good teaching method, and would eventually prove dangerous for the overall well being of your horses.

As you can see, there’s a need to apply tact when using your tacks, be it for training or horse riding, and particularly for equestrian sport. It’s the job of trainers and riders as equestrians to coach their horses, the tacks and tools should not do it for them.

Horses are Heather Toms’ passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100’s of articles with other horse lovers… like all things about horse blanket

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