In any equine discipline there is bad riding that can often become the "norm". The bad riding can also be abusive.
Why do you need to use this overly restrictive posture to get a horse to collect? Answer: you don't!!!
Peanut rollers and unnatural gaits
Horses hoppling around in the arena....why is this attractive? It's not and it's definitely not pleasure.
Tenneesee Walker Pads/Soring and Chains
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| Pic from: https://good-horse.com/blog/end-big-lick/ |
Tenneesee Walking horses are a well known area. The stacked pads and high stepping that is gained unnaturally....why? Just why??
Gaited horses in General-harsh bits
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| Photo From: https://profchoice.com/i-7196459-wonder-bit-smooth-snaffle.html |
Equipment is often used as short cuts but just watching those high headed, and hollowed out gaiting horses makes me cringe. You don't have to use harsh bits. So many people ride in snaffles, bitless and heck, even in simple halters. Training takes time. A 30 day trainer brush up....you really think that will fully train a horse? Ugh.
All of this has come to the forefront as I've researched gaited horses, Rocky Mountains in particular. I've looked at two horses now and both were in a gag bit. I don't get it...if you want a soft horse you need a soft bit and you need to teach them to give to pressure not pull away from the pressure to avoid pain.
So far I'm hearing from some gaited horse people that "You can't ride that horse in a snaffle! You need this foot long shanked bit!" You can't gait without leaning way back or using this bit or having the horses head high up. Or apparently this so called "Wonder Bit" is the best bit for gaited horse, which is a leverage gag bit. Ugh. No thank you. I will put the work in with a good trainer to get the horse soft and subtle in a snaffle. I'm hoping I can find a Rocky that hasn't had such extreme short cuts used in it's training.
I've reached out to a local trainer that I really think may be a good fit when I find my next horse. She trains softness and has the same philosophy in training and riding as I've learned in recent years (the training that I had at Quintessential Arabians, great natural horsemanship) She also mentioned how she felt about harsh bits in the gaited world. As I've been doing research it's some of the same stuff I see in a lot of disciplines; there are few areas of the horse world untouched by short cuts to get the ribbon or the big bucks unfortunately.
You don't need harsh bits for most riding, a simple curb or a double jointed or even mullen mouth snaffle or heck even bridle less headstall can be used with success if you put the time in and stop taking short cuts. I've seen a lot of 2 year old Rocky Mountains or Tennessee walkers horses under saddle. Their horses don't grow much faster than the rest of the horses in the world.
I've ridden several horses for sale in the past couple months. I had some interesting experiences and have heard varied suggestions or ways to get the horse to gait. What it boils down to is training and any horse with the right temperament can be retrained. You don't a certain bit or a saddle to ride a gaited horse. You need a saddle that FITs properly and a bit (or no bit!) that the horse has been trained to understand and a horse that has been trained to carry their bodies in the best way to move properly.
I'll go into some details of the rides I've had but today I'm finishing up this post I started before Thanksgiving and am finally posting now. I had a ride on a horse today that I think may be the gaited horse I bring home. I have that gut feeling and that's a good thing to have!
