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HELP.....I CAN'T LET THE REINS GO by
John O'Leary
At a recent Equine Science Symposium, mention was made of the affects of incorrect riding, training or teaching upon the ultimate deaths in horses. I can attest that this is in fact true and prevalent. It is a constant mystery to me why virtually no horse rider of the 'English' persuasion or learning can 'let the reins go' If only these riders' knew the great benefits that they could inherit, if only they could. I have to admit that this subject is the cause of me grimacing daily and thinking thoughts of what might have been. If only. So where does it come from and why is it so? It is deeply embedded within the Pony Club system. Here he goes again, Pony Club bashing. I must admit that I am aware that it must certainly look like that to any reader of my site these days but I simply must speak up for horses and for the clients of the Pony Club system. The culture does not only come from PC of course. I am yet to see or hear an EFA Coach who has ever told a pupil to 'let the reins go' 'Turn a horse loose'. Ultimately however, I lay the blame at the feet of the British Horse Society, who in Horsemanship terms are still locked in the dark ages.
So, have you ever heard
this? "Keep a contact" For God sake, don't ever a allow a loop to
get in your reins. Heaven forbid
and as a result, they end up looking like this....
and why? Because riders
are taught to go around all day, hanging off the mouths of their
poor horses, for the sake of hanging off the mouths of their poor
horses. No other reason, just that. Thousands every day with Coaches
standing in the middle of an arena, yelling, "Change rein across the
diagonal, circle here, figure of 8 there, yikes little Suzy, DON'T
LET THE CONTACT GO." God horses must like that.
So what does this achieve? Correct training? An improved horse? No, it just progressively deteriorates the mouths of every single one of them and builds a plague of 'upside down necked horses' and riders' who can never learn to have an independent seat and real balance because they are hanging off the mouth of their horse endlessly, as a crutch or balance aid, just like the jockeys at the races. At lease they have an excuse. :( Why then are these countless riders' told to 'have a contact'? You tell me? I don't know. Is it because that's how they are supposed to put a horse's head down somewhere near where it should be if you were trying to ride an 'English Horse'? If it is for that, they all fail dismally because, as I said, over 75% of all kids in the Pony Club State that I live in, do not, don't know how to and can not. Good numbers! I am aware of a letter that is circulating amongst the bosses here, from a Senior Dressage Coach, that says as much. I hear you now, "But Pony Club isn't for learning such advanced things, it is for having fun" THEN GET OFF THE MOUTHS OF YOUR HORSES . How bout letting the horses have some fun instead of a days torture? Here is how a Pony Club horse should or could go.
which brings me to this point. If the Coaches and Instructors, who ever they may be, don't know how to teach this, then why in God's good name are they telling riders' to "keep a contact" You can either do it or you can't. You can either teach it or you can't. If the answer is in the negative, what is any rider doing being allowed to swing off the mouth of their horse??????? So what are some of the major negatives and spin offs?
When I break a horse in, every day, I have to escort the owner of it on a trail ride to show them which buttons to press and to try to give them as much information as possible before hand over. For the benefit of the owner and the horse. I suppose for my name also. 'Green Horses', in fact no horses, should be ridden with a contact at the pace of the walk, on a pleasure ride situation. Of the 'English trained riders', do you know how many that can actually let the contact go and actually ride on a 'pleasure rein'? Would you believe I haven't met one? Of the thousands, I have not met one that does not have serious psychological problems with letting the reins go loopy. Like this.
As I said, my motivation for this article is the newly broken in "Green Horse' If you ride such a Horse around like this, within 7 days, the Mouth of that Horse will have deteriorated by 40% from what the Trainer handed you. Now I can't go into the hundreds of reasons why you can't ride such a horse with a contact here, but read my lips, it is a fact. Here are three:
http://www.horseproblems.com.au/Horse Problems on 'The Jig Jogging
Horse'.htm There are many other reasons of course and they go right to the heart of the training of the proper Dressage Horse.
Then we have the thousands
of riders' who whilst just sitting on their horse, gossiping to
their friends, are still hanging on the mouth of their
horse!!!!!!!!!!!!! It would be remiss of me to not mention cruelty on the other side of the coin however. By the Professional.
Here are some scientifically based explanations of the following, decided upon by an Equine Scientific Forum in Australia. ABOVE THE BIT
A posture
characteristic of a hyper-reactive ridden horse exhibiting conflict
behavior in which the horse attempts to escape the aversive
situation by raising its head, quickening the pace, shortening its
neck and stride and bracing its back, which becomes dorsally
concave. The horse thus assumes a posture appropriate for running
and therefore does not show impulsion.
The way a horse responds
to the bit in particular and aids in general. During locomotion and
transitions, the horse’s mouth remains closed, soft in the jaw and
with relaxed lips. A horse that accepts the bit does not shorten or
lengthen its neck or alter its head position during traveling and
transitions. Accepting the bit is generally accompanied by
relaxation of the neck and body.
The rhythmical speed of
movement of the horse’s legs within any gait. See Tempo. When a horse does not stop/slow/step-back from the bit correctly. Consequently the rein contact feels heavy to the rider. This is usually accompanied by a hyper-reactive (hollow) posture in which the neck shortens or lengthens during locomotion or transitions. There may be an element of learned helplessness in this behavior. A horse may also be described as being against one of the rider’s hands, in which case it is heavy on one rein only (lugging), demonstrating a diminished response to the turn signal of that rein. ON THE BIT Having said all of that, of course young Riders' of the English persuasion should be taught how to ride a Horse 'on a contact' and in a frame'. In Europe, they are all taught to do it right. If Pony Club Coaches were taught how to teach correct 'on the bit' then there wouldn't be a problem, but they are not. As I said, even the EFA Level One's are not taught it so Pony Club has no hope. Those young Rider's wanting to go on and improve and to become competitive, can only gain the required correct education from outside the system. In fact all of the young Riders on this establishment ride with a contact and 'On the Bit' Not a problem but read my lips, THE HELL BETTER LET THE REINS GO at all other times and they do :)
THE PLEASURE HORSE
ENGLISH RIDING ON THE PLEASURE HORSE
So yes, of course every Kid who wants to ride proper 'English" should have a contact but ONLY IF THEY ARE TAUGHT RIGHT!! and probably only under a Coaches eye. WHAT IS THE SOLUTION
Easy as. Fix the NCAS and
Pony Club Coaching systems and the problem is 'solvered'. Get rid of
the ancient old farts who live in the dark ages and never learnt
correct riding in the first place. Get proven performers on the
competitive scene into those positions. Make
'horse training' an actual requirement for the EFA Level One, by far
the most prevalent level of Coaches, to be how to train a horse? Not
too difficult. Stop holding the good Level One Coaches back or
failing them from being Level 2 on stupid childish
grounds and get them training the Level Ones who at the moment,
are seriously deficient in the 'Horse Training' skills and yet are
out there every day training horses with the Rider. Not their fault,
in fact the system bars them from speaking about anything training
and yet launches them out there where they teach the majority of
Riders but not having any Official Training Lessons themselves. So we have a situation where 80% of Australia's Riding Coaches are
not allowed to speak about training a horse, only a rider and we
have around 75% of Australia's riders swinging off the
mouths of their horses as a 'crutch'
To all the horses out
there......Hope I helped at least one of you
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As a result, in excess of 75% of Pony Club Horses in this fair
Country, are being ridden around like this.
How mind boggling is that? So, the system has completely brainwashed
all of those riders' so badly, albeit accidentally, that they simply
cannot get their brain around riding with such a rein and they have
a mortal fear of being asked to do so. You ask them 6 times in 50
metres, they go through the hand flapping motions but don't lengthen
them. Meanwhile, at every stride, they smack the horse in the mouth
as they use it as a crutch for their lack of an independent seat.
That my friends is sad.
I watch them at every Show. The tight rein, the
CONTACT and the horse endlessly snatching and tugging against
the hand of the rider who is completely oblivious of the fact as
their hand moves back and forth whilst connected to the inside of
the mouth of their horse courtesy of a Pelham Bit or a Double Bridle
even. Don't you just love that thought too. I said 'Double Bridles'
in the hands of the little dears'.
Yes, wearing the brake pads out and taking the neck of their horse
to the gymnasium for a jolly good workout on the under muscle. Onya.
Oh, almost forgot......we wouldn't want to allow our horse to
stretch and lower it's neck after being collected for the past hour,
now would we.
Enough said.
