Train Your Horse With the Right Equipment

 

Train Your Horse With the Right Equipment :

Nothing about horseback riding or training is natural. We require assistance in teaching our horses our language, just as a schoolteacher requires books, chalkboards, and occasionally rulers to instruct their students. Yes, certain equipment is so harsh that it should never be used, but even the most gentle halter may be misery for a horse in the wrong hands. On the other hand, properly used equipment can assist the horse in learning a lesson more quickly and easily, putting less strain on the horse's body and mind. 

When I'm looking for training equipment, I consider these factors to see if it's the proper fit for me and the horse. Surface area covered or skin contact made surface design of equipment that comes into contact with the skin, and incentive required for a certain session. Let's look at the differences between bits, spurs, and whips.

When looking for a bit, imagine how it would feel on the soft corners of your mouth and tongue. You can also hold the bit in your hand, as if it were in the horse's mouth, and feel what happens when pressure is applied. 

Examine when the horse's face is in the appropriate posture, vertical to the ground, as well as when he may elevate his head and bring his mouth closer to the ground. A gentler bit typically features a smooth, thick mouthpiece, large rings or cheek pieces on snaffle bits, short shanks and low ports on curb bits, a wide nose piece, and short shanks on a mechanical hackamore, and a thick nose piece and large knots on a bosal. 

It's also crucial to understand how each type of bit operates and what motivation it employs. The snaffle is distinguished by a broken mouthpiece and rings that allow the reins to attach directly to the side of the mouthpiece when used with a direct or leading rein pull to stimulate lateral bending in the horse's neck. The pressure is applied directly to the mouth in a direct ratio. The horse feels five pounds of pressure if you tug on the rein with five pounds of pressure. 

The pressure from the pull on the reins gets more concentrated on a smaller region on the opposite side of the horse's mouth as the rings get smaller. The whole cheek snaffle is the least harsh because of this.

By depending on leverage with varied ratios of pressure given to the horse's bars, chin, and poll, the curb, bosal, and hackamore urge the horse to carry his head 'on the vertical.' The bigger the ratio, the longer the shank and the shorter the purchase. A bit with a one-inch bridle ring and a six-inch shank, for example, has a one-to-six ratio. 

When you apply five pounds of pressure to the reins, the chin, bars, and poll get 30 pounds of pressure. A chin strap is included for the curb. The less severe the strap, the more it spreads the pressure over a larger region. In the show ring, rusted chain chin straps are prohibited because they can slash the horse's chin. The larger the bit, the more severe the port or center rise becomes. 

When you pull on the reins, the port opens by driving up into the horse's mouth roof. While a Mullen mouthpiece appears to be less harsh, it can be more severe depending on the horse since the bit exerts full pressure on the tongue, whereas a low port keeps the bit off the tongue.   

The bit-less bridle comprises headstalls like the bosal, hackamore, and halter. The more severe the bosal, the more pressure is given to a smaller area on the face and beneath the chin, resulting in more concentrated pressure. If the bosal knots brush on the sides of the horse's face too much, they might cause harm. Few people will choose the bosal as a bridle because it lacks the bite to be utilized without proper horse training. The mechanical hackamore is one of my least favorite bit-less headstalls. Many people mistakenly believe that this is the least severe. 

However, the nose piece is available in a variety of designs, including cable wire and bicycle chains. They can easily provide 90 pounds of pressure on the horse's nose, chin, and poll when paired with a typical 9-inch shank. Unknowingly, a young rider can easily shatter a horse's jaw. And, while riding a horse without a bit may appear to be 'natural,' consider how long it takes to work a lesson with the horse to establish control. A bit-less bridle is something you might want to work your way up to, but not as a teaching tool or a starting point. 

Think about your signals and how a bitless bridle will communicate with your horse. Will it make your cues ambiguous, making your horse confused, or will it provide clear communication, allowing your horse to fully comprehend your requests?

You should now have a better idea of what I'm about to say about spurs. Experiment with them on your own leg. Take the spur and rub it against your flesh to see how severe it will be on your horse. Spurs, like the shank bit, were meant to deliver more precise and clear instructions and thus be lighter when used correctly. 

We've discovered that they're excellent motivators for moving a lesson along and that once a piece of equipment employs pain as a motivator, we stop interacting with our horse. Instead of responding to our demands, the horse begins to defend itself. If a fly walking on its side can be felt by the horse, it doesn't need a sharp point on your heel to sense your leg. Horses do not become dead mouthed or dead-sided; instead, their pain tolerance has been elevated to handle the level of pain employed in training. 

But, returning to spurs, it appears self-evident that the larger the region a spur touches and the smoother the spur's surface, the less severe it is. Now for the real kicker. When looking at a variety of spurs, we tend to avoid the large rowel with 20 points, even when that spur is actually less severe than a smaller rowel with only six points. Why? For the simple reason stated above. The huge rowel with many points covers a larger region of skin than the small 6-point rowel and does not poke the horse. 

Other factors to examine with spurs include the sides of the rowels: have they been beveled smooth to avoid scraping the horse, and do they roll freely enough that if sand gets into them, it can slide through without locking up your rowel?

The 'humane' spurs, whether bumper or barrel, appear nice at first glance until you recall that surface area is the key. The 'bump' is localized in a narrow location since these spurs do not have a rowel. When used to explain a cue rather than as a replacement for good training, the bubble gum spurs appear to be the least severe. 

However, when used correctly, a good blunt rowel can allow the spur to roll up the horse's side, whereas the bumper, bubble gum spur, and even the English spur will pull up on the horse's flanks. The most important thing to understand about spurs is that, like crops, they are supplemental aid. When it becomes the initial and principal cue, a horse will stop listening to all spurs.    

Whips should be used as a hand extension rather than a stick to beat your horse. The whip should only be used to reach the horse in such a way that you remain safe during training. There are horses who need a lot of motivation, but they shouldn't be terrified of the whip any more than they should be afraid of your hand. Size does matter once more. The less harsh the whip is, the thicker the whip or bat end is. A whip should have a sturdy shaft that does not wave when you tap the horse when working on the ground. The reason for this is that the floppy whip will not respond well if you need to stop tapping or increase pressure. 

It will sting the horse excessively and strike the horse when you don't want it to. Use a whip size that is appropriate for the situation. If you want to tap your hip, you'll need a longer whip than you'd ordinarily use in the saddle. The whip, like the spur, should not be used as the primary cue. It's intended to be used as a backup cue. This implies you should only use the whip when the horse isn't responding to a better primary physical cue, and you should stop using it as soon as the animal responds correctly. 

My point is that you need the greatest tools for the job. While you could plant a flower garden with your bare hands, I think we can all agree that using a shovel would get the job done faster and with less discomfort to our arms, backs, legs, and minds. Similarly, we must assess how much stress is placed on the horse's body by unnecessary repetition. A moderate snaffle is sometimes a better choice than a halter for getting the lesson taught more clearly, accurately, and quickly. 

While the usage of bits, spurs, and whips may and will be debated until the end of time, understanding their design, proper application, and benefits will help you make the best decisions. Most were created with the goal of making the cues more explicit so that the horse could learn to work with fewer aids. Human indifference has turned them into brutal training gadgets. While most people would agree that it would be wonderful to be able to ride our horses at will and have them respond without fail, this is a goal, not a starting position, and these tools can help us along the way.