Can you jump in a standing Martingale?

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QueenE

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Can you jump in a standing martingale? :/

As ive been advised by many people it would be the best thing for my horse. But as i Event im wondering can you jump. Over posts ive seen quite a bit of controvosy but please only post if you have something helpful to say.

No nasty comments please :)
 
What Cortez says. I find them a really useful bit of kit, and back in the day they were widely used for international showjumping (I've got rather a lot of photos in the family archive of horses jumping huge fences in them). Nowadays I use the ones with elastic inserts.

Not sure what the comp rules are regarding them though :)
 
I wouldnt....

The horse cant adjust himself if he needs to so if he trips or catches a leg you've got no hope and would lead to a bigger fall/injury than without.

If hes putting his head up then slow the jumping down until he is balanced enough to do the height without putting his head up to counter it.
 
Yep I have my girl in one, tho I went with elasticated for the extra bit of give. Broke my collar bone once with her head that was eno for me!
 
Yes, as long as it is correctly fitted. It was used to help Al's horse jump in a correct shape, rather than his usual hollow necked one- he'd lift his head higher and higher until the fence was there and then he couldn't bascule properly. The standing martingale helped teach him to go correctly, and his jumping improved ten-fold.
 
scribble said:
No I would not. standing are fixed so hrose cant use himself properly over the jump and will end up jumping hollow
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I'm sorry but that's nonsense, if the martingale is correctly adjusted it will not come into play over the jump at all as the horse uses his body in bascule over the jump. Look at all the countless pictures of horses jumping in the '60's/70's/80's when these were almost standard issue. And Hunter Jumper's in America ALWAYS wear a standing martingale.
 
I think it actually helped my horse's jumping shape - XC, SJ and hunter trials all no problem for him, back then (20 years ago) they were much more commonly seen
 
TigerTail said:
I wouldnt....

The horse cant adjust himself if he needs to so if he trips or catches a leg you've got no hope and would lead to a bigger fall/injury than without.

If hes putting his head up then slow the jumping down until he is balanced enough to do the height without putting his head up to counter it.
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Its not him putting his head up whilst jumping its Rearing in the start box. And also rearing whilst spooking :)
 
Course you can but, like others have said it must be fitted correctly. I have seen far too many people with standings fitted way too tight. I prefer them to running martingales as you are not putting additional pressure on the bit when the horse throws its head - I figure it must be more pleasant for the horse at the end of the day. It should only come in to play if the horse really throws it's head up.

My sister's horse used to do mini rears and spins when we got him (if he was scared of something). She put him in a standing for a while and this really helped as he couldn't throw his head up to spin and hence my sister had more control and subsequently he became more confident.
 
Mystifies me the amount of people who think a standing martingale "fixes" a horse head! It does absolutely nothing, until the horse chucks his head dangerously high - then it stops it going any further. Who actually thinks that movement in that direction is ok??

Correctly fitted, it should have NO effect on the horse until the head goes up and back at you. Correct schooling is important, but sometimes, just sometimes - an excited horse, no matter how well schooled he is, will throw his head around.

I very rarely ride in a standing martingale, but given the choice between using one, and getting a smack in the face - I know which I'd go for!
 
Kokopelli the rears when spooking are just little and don't give me a cause for concern as I know he won't do anything like bolt or flip. But when in the start box he just gets very tense and excited waiting and then does Quite a large rear. Now I have learnt that he is going to do it, I would crack him over the head with and egg or somthing or even a whip but he is headshy as it is because when he came over from ireland they used to do it to him out hunting :)
 
I have used a standing martingale for jumping (it in no way will make a horse jump hollow! Take a look on google image) and would do again.

I prefer them to running martingales which affect the contact.

I'm not sure I would use one on a horse who does quite large rears though as the pressure when he 'hits' it, may make him go over backwards.

Could you try it on him in a situation where he maybe does smaller rears/bounces and then evaluate before trying him in a startbox? I would fit it v.loosely to start with and get an elasticated one if you can.

Lots of horses are led around at the startbox and plied with polos etc to keep the lid on them- have you tried that?
 
Agree with above, I would be very wary about using one if they are a rearer.

Put my lad in one for a week or so - he hated it. Absolutely hated it.

The thing is with the standing martingale is that there is no pressure whatsoever until they really chuck their head up, and then suddenly there IS pressure. This made my boy panic and get very tense and I think it would have caused an accident one day of him flipping himself so off it came!
 
scribble said:
No I would not. standing are fixed so hrose cant use himself properly over the jump and will end up jumping hollow
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Of course they can - if the martingale is fitted correctly and the horse stretches forwards and down he will have full freedom.

I've used them for years with absolutely no troble what so ever.

Use in competition - allowed for Show Jumping but not for Cross Country.
 
Millitiger we have tried pretty much everything now! The only thing apart from the Standing martingale is to just canter straight through the start box but at some competions they don't allow that :)
 
You can't canter through the box at BE events.

Does he rear in hand if led in and then walked in tight circles? Staying out of the box until they are down to 3 or 2 on the countdown?
What else have you tried?

We have lots of course hire around here so can practise the startbox on non-competition days; is there anywhere you can do that?
 
QueenE said:
Millitiger we have tried pretty much everything now! The only thing apart from the Standing martingale is to just canter straight through the start box but at some competions they don't allow that :)
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If the comp is run under BE rules and most events are, a standing will NOT be allowed for xc anyway.
 
ladyt25 said:
Course you can but, like others have said it must be fitted correctly. I have seen far too many people with standings fitted way too tight. I prefer them to running martingales as you are not putting additional pressure on the bit when the horse throws its head - I figure it must be more pleasant for the horse at the end of the day. It should only come in to play if the horse really throws it's head up.

My sister's horse used to do mini rears and spins when we got him (if he was scared of something). She put him in a standing for a while and this really helped as he couldn't throw his head up to spin and hence my sister had more control and subsequently he became more confident.
Click to expand...

Ditto....I used one for a while on a horse that used to go up if it wasn't allowed forwards....

I don't use it anymore, he doesn't need it.....but it was very useful to have. I used it on the loose side, it never came into play unless he was at the point of rearing or his head was smashing me in the face...
 
Can't you just time the start better so you walk through the box and then go, no need to canter through, and no need to stand then - it seems that most people do this ime :)
 
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