martingales?

[jackbruv]

how many people use martingales at showjumping shows? if so, why?
i personally dont think they are neccersary, as if your horse is properly schooled and trained correctly they shouldnt need them. a lady down my yard has 2 dressage stallions both 4 years old, and she competes them both bsja, and because of the correct training they have never needed a martingale.

[jovi_y2k2]

Star has a running martingale on as a just in case measure as he can get a bit overexcited at shows, and its also for my benefit too as I have a neck strap to hold if I need to.
If a martingale is fitted correctly then when the horse is going nicely and how he should be then they dont come into action which is why I'm not concerned by the fact that Star wears one but doesnt always need it

[joey_olop]

I used to use one but now I feel as if my horse dont need it anymore. He used to throw his head up coming towards a fence & would generally get really excited. Now he is a saint & I dont need it anymore :)

Echo the neckstrap too just in case!!!!

[jumpingkatey]

My pony Katey has one because she gets tense when she is excited.
And the neckstrap definately comes in handy!
It saved me from coming off a few times!

[ponylover88]

Nah, Bertha has a breatplate on, to stop the saddle going sideways but thats it. She only has it for the bigger jumps, ie 2ft9+.
Eddies temporarily had to have a martingale on. Took him out of his pelham, into a snaffle and am now schooling his head lower! (I like to be able to see where im going!)

[Fancy_mover23]

E.T uses one while we are schooling at shows, because he gets slightly excited when he is at shows, but we don't use one in the show ring. Actually, in the showjumping shows we go to, it is illegal to use standing or running martingales in the show ring. Plus, he usually only gets over excited when we're schooling at shows. Once he gets into the show ring, he's perfectly calm.
E.T.'s a good boy.

[chaz_the_star]

Hm, I agree with you. I have never used one except on Carrie when I took her XC because she was completely maniac and strong, and I only rode her for about a year so obviously I couldn't tackle that - she was natural quite fast and strong as well. And I will probably use one on baby to start with.

[helenc]

I use one for sylvester because he has actually poked me in the eye with his ear before!

He is generally well schooled but he can get panicky & the first thing that happens is that his head shoots up in the air! Otherwise he is pretty well behaved for an ex-racer. Maybe if I had had him since he was 4 & started schooling him from an early age, he might not do it - unfortunately for me I didn't get him until he was 7 so I have to work with what I've got!

My other two horses incidentally do not wear martingales!

[Cicada<3]

Carbon wears one because he is a hunter pony~ if it's properly adjusted then you can wear one anyways

[Daffy Dilly]

Not me.

If I want something to hang onto, my horse has a full mane.

[chev]

Depends on the horse.

Serious showjumpers, bred for the job, competing at high levels as a career, are a different kettle of fish to a horse that pops a course locally, for example. A horse with talent, that knows the job well, can sometimes start to make decisions for himself and listen rather less to the rider... :eek:

None of mine need martingales. Great. :)

But I did ride an ex jumper (she was competing at Grade B, and then retired through injury) over a course once and wow was she a whole new world... She had a martingale for good reason. She was lovely, don't get me wrong; but she did know her job (would have done bigger, better things had it not been for the injury) and didn't always feel that the rider knew better. In my case, she was probably right; but the martingale was needed. She was beautifully schooled; but once she was out doing what she loved, she did sometimes need reminding that she wasn't actually supposed to be making *every* decision there was to be made!

[DavidH]

Depends on the horse.
Serious showjumpers, bred for the job, competing at high levels as a career, are a different kettle of fish to a horse that pops a course locally, for example. A horse with talent, that knows the job well, can sometimes start to make decisions for himself and listen rather less to the rider... :eek:


You got that right :D
Remember my post about how sweetly Ed was going now in a snaffle and no martingale?
Well recently I started serious training with Geoff Luckett. His evaluation of our flat work and approach to fence was " flatworks nice, very pretty. Bit too pretty if you want to jump serious tracks (1.30 upwards)"
I have had to re-school Ed out of his sweet steady bedum bedum canter in to a serious 'touch of leg and POW' horse. Much more forward and SO So much mpore power in the canter really pushing him in to my hand and making him take the contact.
Now he's back in the kimblewick. Last comp i competed he felt great but there were odd times where I wanted him to wait a stride, he thought differently, head flew up and we went.
Martingale is going back on. 99% of the time it wont come in to play. It's just there for the 1% where we have a ***-agreement about who's in charge.
If you had ever felt the awesome power of a fired up Grade A / B showjumper you would understand. Only thing that gets the horse over a big fence is power. The bigger the fence the more power required. Occasionally that power can be used against the rider.:eek:

[Gothika]

I use one with Lacey when jumping (at shows or otherwise) because she holds her head VERY high when jumping (and I mean, very) and the one time I jumped her without it, I could literially see her blaze, she was throwing her head up that much.

I'm working on getting her out of it during flatwork and hacking, and hopefully eventually I can jump without it, but it's a slow slow process.

[star...x]

i dnt use one my horse usualy rags his head down insted of up :confused: and then when he gets in the ring hes fine :) x