What is the Pessoa Training aid

Originally Posted by upnover    

Excellent post Kayty! I don't agree when people throw on a gadget and expect it to be a quick and effective fix without proper training/riding to go with it. But in some cases "gadgets" can be quite helpful. Sure, in a perfect world every rider would work their horse perfectly to get the correct muscle build... but as much as some of my beginner students try, it's simply not going to happen. Maybe someday, but not yet. Does that mean that the horse shouldn't get worked properly? No. The Pessoa system can be a great way to build up correct muscles until they learn to do it themselves.

And MIE had another excellent post. Sometimes it just isn't possible to ride to ride a horse that day. I like the system better then side reins and it's much better then running the horse around a lunge line with nothing. I've seen plenty of horses go quite happily in this rig.

Originally Posted by Kayty    

SP, once again, there are rollers on the ropes which prevent it from seesawing. Have you actually seen one in use in real life, rather than just reading or looking at drawings?
Because I have seen a Pessoa system used a number of times, and I can tell you from an eyewitness view, that the system ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT 'yank and pull the horses everywhere making it more confused'. The horses that I have seen travelling in a Pessoa system, have gone very sweetly and happily, there was no see sawing action to be seen, the horse can easily raise it's head but the system merely encourages the horse to stretch over the back.
It is a far more user friendly system than side reins, which are a great lunging tool if used in knowledgable hands, as the bum rope is encouraging the horse to engage its hind legs rather than needing the lunger to concentrate soley on the hind legs when in side reins to prevent the horse leaning and falling onto the forehand. The Pessoa also prevents the horse being able to lean against a solid contact, but still gives a constant contact so that it is not being hit in the mouth at every stride.

If the rollers were not on the system, then YES it would be see sawing, but because the rollers are there, as I explained in my previous post, they take the motion of the hind legs moving and allow the contact to the bit to remain steady.

No I do not use the system, I don't feel the need to but I can definitely see its benefit.