Hi,
haven't been here for a looking time (again) 🙈. So first of all a little update on us:
Of course we kept working on our issues - or rather, on MY issues 😂. Anyway, we did improve our canter, although I'm still nowhere near where I want to be 🙈 I'm mostly using voice cues for gait changes and stops now - especially for changing into the canter. I found it simply works best for us and as we aren't going on any shows it doesn't matter anyway 🙃
As it is winter again, and the weather is cooler now, Lucky has a tendency to "run" - as she always does during this time of year. I guess she simply has more energy and in the cold weather it's simply more fun, too (for her at least). Bad thing about that? No matter wether at a trot or at a canter: the head is in the sky and you reeeally have to hold her back!
Nooow, since the beginning of December we've got a friend who is now also riding Lucky regularly. She came to our stable with her own pony, which is too small for her (she has 3 kids who are sharing her pony) and as she liked Lucky and Lucky likes her she's now partially riding her/working with her.
So far, Lucky seems to enjoy the extra exercise a lot. She gets to work more, gets to canter a loooot (which she really loves and doesn't get to do enough with me anyway) and she even learns a few things I could never have reached her properly as I don't know how to do them myself.
Sounds perfect? In theory, yes! But there's one thing bothering me a bit: as at this time of year Lucky keeps running around with her head very high and is hard to convince to go nicely and at a normal pace, our friend has suggested to put a martingale on her, so if she takes her head too high, she can't evade the rein cues ... Until then, I've never ridden before with a martingale (not on Lucky, nor on any other horse). It works fine so far and doesn't seem to bother her and as long as my horse is happy, I'm happy too but of course, as with anything that's new to me, I've started reading into it and I'm not so sure this is how it's supposed to be used?? ... On the one hand I find a lot of info about this being the wrong usage of a martingale as it should only prevent the reins from tangling up or going over the neck if you fall... On the other hand I do find information and even articles about it being used exactly for this reason. I even found information of something similar being used in western riding (we're still doing English riding) - a training fork. Although, despite the missing neck ring, I find no difference in it.
Now, my fiancee says the way our friend is using it is bad for my horse because with it Lucky tends to "hide" (puts her nose too far back) sometimes (mind you not always and she does come back to a normal position again). She does that, too, sometimes without any additional tack, if you ask her to collect - she even did that when we first had her with a professional trainer for a month a year after I got her... And she's doing it with any rider, not just that friend, from time to time no matter if you use a martingale, side reins, anything else or just nothing. She just has times where she'd rather just run around with her head in the air (which isn't very healthy either) and then she has times where she does that...
So is there anyone here who uses a martingale and knows if it is ok to use it like that?
As said, Lucky doesn't mind it - she usually shows very well what she likes and what she dislikes (i.e. that first trainer tried to put a curb bit on her for trail riding instead of our hackamore, because she didn't like that... Well Lucky didn't like the curb bit and made that very clear (head tossing, bucking, slight rearing...) We never tried to use that one again) ... She doesn't do any of that - not with our friend, nor with me when I ride with it. If anything she seems more easy going with it - still very motivated and forward going, but not so much running around like a fool and actually working actively - and very relaxed at the end of the ride. Apart from her usual "arguments" with new riders where she likes to question if they really know what they're doing (and she does that with every new rider for the first few months, but it is very easy to see whether what she does is "questioning" something or if she dislikes something).
Sorry for the loooooong text, I wouldn't know how to shorten that 🙈🙈
I'll try to add some pictures or videos later, although I haven't got any yet where we use the martingale. Will add those when I find someone to take a video of us with it - maybe this weekend.
haven't been here for a looking time (again) 🙈. So first of all a little update on us:
Of course we kept working on our issues - or rather, on MY issues 😂. Anyway, we did improve our canter, although I'm still nowhere near where I want to be 🙈 I'm mostly using voice cues for gait changes and stops now - especially for changing into the canter. I found it simply works best for us and as we aren't going on any shows it doesn't matter anyway 🙃
As it is winter again, and the weather is cooler now, Lucky has a tendency to "run" - as she always does during this time of year. I guess she simply has more energy and in the cold weather it's simply more fun, too (for her at least). Bad thing about that? No matter wether at a trot or at a canter: the head is in the sky and you reeeally have to hold her back!
Nooow, since the beginning of December we've got a friend who is now also riding Lucky regularly. She came to our stable with her own pony, which is too small for her (she has 3 kids who are sharing her pony) and as she liked Lucky and Lucky likes her she's now partially riding her/working with her.
So far, Lucky seems to enjoy the extra exercise a lot. She gets to work more, gets to canter a loooot (which she really loves and doesn't get to do enough with me anyway) and she even learns a few things I could never have reached her properly as I don't know how to do them myself.
Sounds perfect? In theory, yes! But there's one thing bothering me a bit: as at this time of year Lucky keeps running around with her head very high and is hard to convince to go nicely and at a normal pace, our friend has suggested to put a martingale on her, so if she takes her head too high, she can't evade the rein cues ... Until then, I've never ridden before with a martingale (not on Lucky, nor on any other horse). It works fine so far and doesn't seem to bother her and as long as my horse is happy, I'm happy too but of course, as with anything that's new to me, I've started reading into it and I'm not so sure this is how it's supposed to be used?? ... On the one hand I find a lot of info about this being the wrong usage of a martingale as it should only prevent the reins from tangling up or going over the neck if you fall... On the other hand I do find information and even articles about it being used exactly for this reason. I even found information of something similar being used in western riding (we're still doing English riding) - a training fork. Although, despite the missing neck ring, I find no difference in it.
Now, my fiancee says the way our friend is using it is bad for my horse because with it Lucky tends to "hide" (puts her nose too far back) sometimes (mind you not always and she does come back to a normal position again). She does that, too, sometimes without any additional tack, if you ask her to collect - she even did that when we first had her with a professional trainer for a month a year after I got her... And she's doing it with any rider, not just that friend, from time to time no matter if you use a martingale, side reins, anything else or just nothing. She just has times where she'd rather just run around with her head in the air (which isn't very healthy either) and then she has times where she does that...
So is there anyone here who uses a martingale and knows if it is ok to use it like that?
As said, Lucky doesn't mind it - she usually shows very well what she likes and what she dislikes (i.e. that first trainer tried to put a curb bit on her for trail riding instead of our hackamore, because she didn't like that... Well Lucky didn't like the curb bit and made that very clear (head tossing, bucking, slight rearing...) We never tried to use that one again) ... She doesn't do any of that - not with our friend, nor with me when I ride with it. If anything she seems more easy going with it - still very motivated and forward going, but not so much running around like a fool and actually working actively - and very relaxed at the end of the ride. Apart from her usual "arguments" with new riders where she likes to question if they really know what they're doing (and she does that with every new rider for the first few months, but it is very easy to see whether what she does is "questioning" something or if she dislikes something).
Sorry for the loooooong text, I wouldn't know how to shorten that 🙈🙈
I'll try to add some pictures or videos later, although I haven't got any yet where we use the martingale. Will add those when I find someone to take a video of us with it - maybe this weekend.