>> if you can't control a horse through their mind, body and feet good luck stopping them with a bit or a sidepull.<<
Some people are completely missing the point about a one-rein stop. It is an EMERGENCY Brake!! I don't know about a lot of people, but I don't have an arena and I don't arena ride. I take green horses out on the trail a lot, but only after I have practised one-rein stops here. I don't know what kind of one-rein stops you are thinking about, but the way Clinton Anderson teaches them is nothing cruel or wrong about them. He starts with flexes on the ground in a halter, then graduated to a bridle, then in the saddle at a standstill, then a walk, etc. You build gradually and don't move on till the horse has it at the previous level. Nothing wrong with it, nothing cruel about it - I always flex my horse after mounting and when I loose their attention on the trail to get it back to me. I know if my horse spooks, I can use the one-rein stop BEFORE it gets out of control. If you're already out of control - you're WAY TOO LATE!!! So whatever type of "cruel, harsh one - rein stops" you are practising, maybe you should check into Clinton's methods. Susan in NV Happy High Desert Trails Susan in NV Nevermore Ranch http://users.oasisol.com/nevermore/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Bored stiff? Loosen up... Download and play hundreds of games for free on Yahoo! Games. http://games.yahoo.com/games/front
