 |
|
The
Natural Horse Group was established in 2001.
It aims to provide
information that enables people to explore ways of keeping and managing
equines that enhance wellbeing and encourage a natural lifestyle
|
| |
Articles
Training Aids – Too Use or Not to Use?
By Charles Wilson
|
|
When I first started riding the only gadgets commonly used, other than the saddle and bridle, were martingales. These were to stop the horse lifting its head and avoiding the pain of the bit, and possibly hitting you in the face. Dealers used various bits of tack first to subdue a horse and then to make it adopt a posture that was deemed desirable. Good horsemen have always shunned any extra tack, seeing it as a poor substitute for skill and artistry. Nowadays open any horsy magazine and most pictures show flash, drop, grakle nosebands, martingales and numerous ads for equipment that will balance, shape, develop engagement; in short achieve whatever is deemed desirable at that particular time.
Am I being snobbish or arrogant in decrying this? Can they help? What’s wrong in using artificial aids? Actually at some time or other I have used most of them. I now see this as part of my journey, my education, my mistakes, my blind alleys, and my ambitions. I just feel sorry for the generous horses that had to put up with my learning. I did not listen to my teachers, I wanted short cuts. The simple answer is, that if you are good enough to use training aids without incurring any of the drawbacks, you are a good enough horseman not to need them in the first place.
This sort of tack falls into two categories. Those that restrict to contain unwanted actions, i.e., nosebands to keep a mouth shut, martingales to keep a head from raising, side-reins to prevent head and neck movement. Secondly, those that do all of these and try to create a desirable movement from the horse such as draw reins, chambons, degogues, and various brand named balancing systems.
Most times riders are addressing the effects not the causes of the unwanted actions. For instance your horse opens his mouth, so put on a flash noseband. However, the reason that your horse was opening his mouth could be that he had not learnt to wear a bridle comfortably and you had not taught him to yield to your hand, probably because you had not learnt how to teach him this, or perhaps you had not got an independent seat and were inadvertently using the reins to keep your balance. Similarly it may be that your horse does not engage his hindquarters, lift his back and carry himself, but instead leans on your hand. So you use draw reins or a balancing system. This totally masks the reasons, which are probably that your horse has not learnt self-carriage whilst carrying a rider. He needs total freedom, so he can put his body in the posture his conformation, age and strength need. If you try to force and shape a posture you introduce physical tension and pain, swiftly followed by mental resentment expressed either as a dull robotic horse or by a self-preserving explosion.
To produce a schooled horse takes years; it is a physical and mental development. Your horse is constantly telling you what he is capable of doing, are you listening? The top trainers can stretch a horse’s capabilities so he develops at the optimum speed without going over the edge. We lesser mortals, often frustrated at our technical inadequacies may feel a particular piece of tack will solve the problem. If it creates tension and resistance it is defeating its purpose. Equipment tends to miss out the important element of understanding between horse and human; it tries to make the horse do something, not help him to understand what you want of him. For most of us the ultimate would be to ride a horse with no bridle, no saddle (because he is so smooth you don’t need one) and feel and act like a centaur. It is just you with a horse’s body and four legs, all in balance, control and safety. OK let’s be realistic, some tack is needed, a saddle for comfort, something on his head to achieve control. Beyond that, exercise, appropriate gymnastic movements and a good dollop of time and understanding will develop and shape him to perform the required task to the optimum. I found out that training aids did not make up for my failings. But sometimes, like touching a hot stove, you only learn when you get burnt, no matter what other people tell you. The tragedy is that the horse is so generous, he puts up with the discomfort far longer than any human would.
Charles Wilson runs clinics and individual lessons at his farm at Sinnington, North Yorkshire. He also travels to give lessons. If you would like to contact Charles, his details are: 01751 433296, email charles.wilson@sinningtonmanor.fsnet.co.uk or visit
www.sinningtonmanor.co.uk. |
|
|
