gadgets - help

[Bonnie&Luna]

I would like to ask for some help. I live in the south of wales and recently a few of the horses I know that were near my yard have moved to a new yard which from what I have heard uses a lot of gadgets and now all the riders are saying how great the yard is because their horses all go in great 'outlines' :(. A woman I know has now bought a market harbrugh for her horse because she wants him to go the same as the horses on the other yard but I used to ride the horse and I know he can go in a nice shape without any gadgets at all and that he uses his back and steps under when asked properly. She is not very experienced and I am worried she will use it very tight because she will think an outline is the same as just having the head looking pretty :(. Also he is quite green and I am really worried he will just become really unbalanced with his head strapped down but I don't know if I am out of place saying anything to her about it? I know her but not very well. I am also getting worried that I might be seeing draw reins soon and I know how much damage they can do with people who use them badly :(
I hate that these gadgets have now become a fashion accessory and people are using them as a quick fix way to get their horses looking good and also that they are now thinking they are getting amazing schooling because their horses have changed their way of going so suddenly.

What do you think and what would you do??

[teabiscuit]

i'm sorry your in a really difficult position
it's not your horse unfortunately
maybe you could offer to help this woman and direct her to use the market harborough properly?

[JOJOBA]

I sympathise because Im not a fan of 'gadgets' either. However we did use a Market Harborough on our older horse in the past - now I wouldnt because I know more about schooling and dont like the effect, but back then I didnt really think about it. Im not sure what we would have thought if someone had said something... I think it would depend who said it! My horse has had draw reins on and has a slightly 'set' head carriage and a tendency to overbend / drop behind the contact so I can see why you are concerned.

I cant really add anything constructive Im afraid because people are so easily offended I tend to keep my mouth shut about things and then seethe in a corner :rolleyes:. Perhaps I ought to say what Im thinking more often.... nah ;).

Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

xxx

[Pink's lady]

There's not much you can do unfortunatly other than trying to worm your way in and mentioning it.:(

Poor horses - gadgets have there place if used infrequently and correctly - I used draw reins once on Pink to try and show her what I wanted. Up until then she just hadn't got the idea of lowering her head so I rode for about 15mins in draw reins. They worked wonderfully - she got the idea in 5mins and after that I never had even a contact on the draw reins so took them off. Next day she remembered and I've never needed to use them since. They just helped me show her what I wanted - thats the only reason anyone should use gadgets like those.

But I've seen so many people (and people who are meant to be expereince and competant) abuse them, warming up with their horses heads winched into their chest or often hurting over huge jumps with MH or draw reins:( There is no excuse when they should know better.:mad:

[eml]

Not a great fan of gadgets but I will defend the Market Harborough used correctly.

We have a couple of big (17hh) horses who when ridden correctly work well but if not slop along. By using a MH when they are ridden by those who cannot work into an outline we can at least maintain the horses muscle tone as all the riders then have to do is ride forward ( and instructor (me) insists on this!) and the aid helps to receive the energy, particularly in clever strong horses who would otherwise just lean on the insecure rider.

Draw reins have a very limited place with an additional rein in the hands of a very experienced sympathetic rider, not to pull in the head but to act as an emergency control on horses who seriously get above the bit and dangerously strong.

Lunging aids equally are beneficial only if the lunger has the experience to move the horse forward.

The sad thing is that people often see the good riders using gadgets and think by copying they can achieve the same.

It doesn't work!!

[Zer0]

I can relate!

I used to board May at a show barn. The trainer there FORCED me to put a twisted wire snaffle on May whenever I rode her, as well as a running martingale. If I lunged her, it had to be done in side reins. May looked fine with nothing though.

Because you used to ride this horse, you could just give some friendly advice. Ask her to ride him without any gadgets at all for a while because his outline is already fine. If she doesn't listen and does choose to put gadgets on him, show her (or ask someone to) the proper way to put them on so it doesn't hurt the horse.

Good luck!

[sheryl]

I would'nt worry about it at the moment.
If she does put a MH on him, hopefully she won't put it on too tightly anyway. If it is too tight, maybe you could think of something diplomatic to say, at the right moment. Something like "I've heard they're not a good idea because if they're too tight, especially on a young horse, they can inhibit free movement, and ability to go forwards"

I find 9 times out of 10, if I worry about something, it doesn't happen anyway:rolleyes: ;)