You walk into any yard, and you’ll see it – martingales as standard, draw reins lying around, and the legendary ‘bit box’, a 20 year-old collection of weird and wonderful contraptions that you’re not quite sure which way up they’re supposed to go. But the question is, are we as riders becoming too reliant on these gadgets?
If you ask me, the answer is yes.
We live in an age of instant gratification, where Reels, TikTok, and ChatGPT give us quick answers and even quicker dopamine hits. Unfortunately, it is human nature to fall victim to this mindset, where a ‘quick fix’ is preferable to good old-fashioned blood, sweat and tears. But has the horse world taken this too far?
Unfortunately, the desire for instant results often comes at the expense of our horses. How many times have you been told to put a martingale on your horse who throws its head in the air? To put a stronger bit on the one that bolts? Or to put draw reins on a horse that’s fussy in its contact? Far too many people will land on one of these conclusions because it’s easier and quicker than addressing the root cause of the problem.
The issue with running martingales is their mechanism. Sure, they make a horse carry its head in a ‘prettier’ way – and who wants a black eye half way round a course of jumps? But did you ever ask yourself why your horse is throwing its head into a position that is surely uncomfortable for itself? These are symptoms, not the cause. Often a horse will throw its head up to evade some form of discomfort. It’s a common symptom of kissing spine, bitting or contact issues, or can even be as simple as a method for a horse to see the jump better. In the latter case, pay attention to whether this only occurs in front of a jump, as horses’ binocular field of vision is in front of its face and downwards (according to Iowa State University) – think where their line of sight can go most naturally as their face narrows towards the nose. In this case, the head tossing is a non-issue – your horse only wants to see where it’s supposed to take off. In the former case, the martingale is merely masking a symptom – does your horse chronically toss its head when being lunged without a rider? Or does it settle down when the issue of your contact and bit is removed.
Bits are our next suspect. Far too often I see horses unnecessarily over-bitted because it’s too strong, or just won’t get its head down. But again, these are symptoms, not the cause. I once had a mare that had a tendency to take the bit and bolt, and once we resolved her physical issues (saddle fit and kissing spine), she would only run off with me in a harsh bit – we had our best jumping rounds in a soft leather 2.5 ring eggbut (look at Trust Equestrian’s leather bit range – wonderful stuff). Maybe your horse has a low palate and that single-jointed snaffle is poking your horse in the roof of its mouth. Maybe the shank on your Pelham or gag is so long that your horse can’t find a contact to settle onto no matter how hard it tries. And don’t you dare think about tightening your noseband so that your horse can’t open its mouth – again, that is simply masking a symptom of a larger problem that is most certainly solvable.
Now don’t get me wrong, such gadgets do have a time and a place – some horses do genuinely respond better to some poll or chin pressure, especially if they have a sensitive mouth Some horses benefit from the refinement that spurs can bring to otherwise ambiguous leg aids, and sure, maybe even some youngsters need a session in sympathetically-used draw reins just to show them what they’re aiming for. However, these tools need to remain exactly that: a thoughtfully-used addition to a diverse toolbox, rather than baler twine holding a broken fence together, masking the problem without fixing it.
Stuck in the Saddle 