--- In [email protected], "Nancy Sturm" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I used to teach all my horses to turn on the forehand. Something was going wrong if the rider needed to pull so hard that the snaffle was pulled through her horse's mouth.
----------------Yes, you are correct. Something WAS terribly wrong. I suspected that the horse was having very serious pain issues in her hip, or the saddle was pinching or hurting her. I was actually horrified at what I was seeing. The horse did indeed end up exploding. She reared up on a couple of occasions and came down on her side (and ON the rider) as well. Unfortunately, this was a clinic setting, and I was too in shock to say anything at that point. I wish I would have been in the right frame of mind to stop what was happening and tell this trainer to stop the madness and have the rider work on the ground. I think you are dead on correct that the horse needed to be worked on the ground first to find out what the issue was. I strongly feel that this trainer should have stopped the minute he saw the horse rear for the first time. Instead, he insisted that the rider keep trying. Ultimately, this could have led to injuries to the horse AND rider. But again, the question I still have - I'd love to honestly hear about others who have had a bit pulled through a horse's mouth that they were riding. I've stuck my neck out to be criticized, but I really don't think I'm alone on this happening to me. Or maybe I've just been exposed to riding too many green horses that should have had better ground training, seeing others ride too green of horses (not enough ground work), or have been in more situations that were really dramatic than most??? I'd be surprised if I were... > Really all you do is stop your horse in place and ask him to move his hindquarters around his front feet. It's easy to teach and there is not much rein action. -------------------Exactly. I didn't necessarily agree wth HOW this guy was teaching to pivot on the fore either. This guy was instructing us to ask the horse to bend his head around, then having us ask the horse to move it's hindquarters. These were all horses who clearly had never been asked to bend, nor asked to move their hindquarters. We didn't know that at the time - we were told that the horses were "trained" and "trail ready". I'd never seen these horses ridden, nor did I have any idea where they were in their training. I was only going by what the previous owners were saying. Apparently, bending and ground work were very little, if any part of these horse's training. > Oh - and you teach it one step at a time. I would ask for one step then immediately ask the horse to move forward. --------------------I think the mistake the clinician was making was asking for too much at one time and too soon. And I strongly feel that he should have had the riders work from the ground first before trying this stuff under saddle. I think if the horse was having any pain issues, they may have come out while working on the ground. This would have been a lot safer as well. Dawn Bruin-Slot, northern Michigan Fuzzy Logic Equine
