> When I went up to watch Leslie Desmond, I saw the most intereting > thing. She bridled this horse really loose. I mean really loose, > like the bit was hanging down between his teeth, I was kind of > nervous that the bit could actually come out of his mouth. Nobody > was on his back. What happened was, she left it like that and within > minutes the horse picked up the bit and held it in his mouth where > it felt comfortable, pretty much where you would expect a bit to be > held. The horse will carry the bit, she was sure of it, I would > guess she has seen this happen multiple times:)
Thanks for the input, Kim. It seems to be a growing trend to allow the horse to pick up the bit for communication. > I guess a general question that has crossed my mind is: "How much do > we rely on pain to get our horses to respond?" > > I don't think we really need to go there at all, so what is the path > to no pain? > > I think first we have to recognize what kinds of common practices > actually cause our horses pain. I think you're right; and I think that's what we're doing here. It would be ideal to talk about all the positive stuff, but sometimes we *have* to point out the bad things so that we all know what they are. The path to no pain: like the doctor's oath: Do no harm. It starts with learning; knowledge is power. If you pick up a piece of tack, before it's employed, understand the biomechanics behind it. With knowledge you can autonomously evaluate what someone tells you, to figure if it makes sense or not. With horses, degrees / academia do not matter. We are all stripped naked in front of a horse, and go forth to learn from there. Judy http://icehorses.net http://clickryder.com
