commenting on others tack choice!?

chestnut cob

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I was on tack duty at a Pony club rally many years ago, I was armed with a hole punch to raise a few flash nosebands :) other than that I dont really get involved.

I did a PC ODE earlier this summer... one of the tack stewards in the SJ warm up was insistent I must produce my letter from the DC for permission to ride in spurs... I am 33yo! ;)
 

minkymoo

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I'm going to be honest here and say that before I had lessons with my instructor, I never thought about the tack my horse wore.

He asked me if I needed a martingale (no) needed a flash (no) and if I needed a noseband (no) he told me that opening mouths on horses was often a symptom of something else and he bet me a free lesson if I still needed them in a year. He was right and I only ever put a noseband on loose for dressage.

My bugbear is seeing
flashes cranked up tightly and I was pretty disappointed to see in a horse magazine recently a horses flash done up way too tight. It really opened my eyes to it all I have to say.

I don't tend to comment though, I'm by no means an expert but I'm afraid to day in some circumstances I do tend to silently judge.
 

ann-jen

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I have commented on three occasions.... Once when someone at our yard had their bit fitted upside down. Once when a very good but inexperienced friend decided to try her horse in a hackamore (believing it to being a mild alternative to a bit) but had it fitted way too low. And once when my highly experienced sharer had my own horse's comfort girth on back to front! As far as people I see at shows etc with correctly fitted bits and gadgets I would never comment as, unless you've sat on the horse you have no idea why it may or may not need it.
 

FfionWinnie

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Not unless they had the saddle on backwards.

Someone took a stick off my daughter at a competition the other day, telling her she doesn't need it. I was a bit hacked off to be honest as she is only small and on a new big pony who is a snail if she doesn't have a stick. She doesn't use it, just needs to carry it, and I don't want her pony club kicking and getting no where when there's no need for it. I walked up to her and said thanks and gave it back to my daughter. I don't feel I needed to explain why she was carrying it as it was none of her business anyway.
 

Moomin1

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Not unless they had the saddle on backwards.

Someone took a stick off my daughter at a competition the other day, telling her she doesn't need it. I was a bit hacked off to be honest as she is only small and on a new big pony who is a snail if she doesn't have a stick. She doesn't use it, just needs to carry it, and I don't want her pony club kicking and getting no where when there's no need for it. I walked up to her and said thanks and gave it back to my daughter. I don't feel I needed to explain why she was carrying it as it was none of her business anyway.

That is absolutely ludicrous. I would have been furious if I were you. Unless your daughter was thrashing her pony then they had absolutely no right whatsoever.

I personally wouldn't say anything to anyone about tack, unless I felt it was causing a welfare issue.
 

Ellen Durow

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hello

I just wanted to find out if people ever comment on others choices of tack for their horses.
either at home or at competitions?

I know people wouldn't agree with mine but would you make a comment to someone if you disagree, whether you know them or not?

just interested really? :)
If asked - Yes. If not asked - no. Unless there was serious ill-treatment involved.
 

Ellen Durow

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I'm going to be honest here and say that before I had lessons with my instructor, I never thought about the tack my horse wore.

He asked me if I needed a martingale (no) needed a flash (no) and if I needed a noseband (no) he told me that opening mouths on horses was often a symptom of something else and he bet me a free lesson if I still needed them in a year. He was right and I only ever put a noseband on loose for dressage.

My bugbear is seeing
flashes cranked up tightly and I was pretty disappointed to see in a horse magazine recently a horses flash done up way too tight. It really opened my eyes to it all I have to say.

I don't tend to comment though, I'm by no means an expert but I'm afraid to day in some circumstances I do tend to silently judge.
Oh, WONDERFUL man (your instructor)! Flash nosebands infuriate me. In my 60 years experience I have never met a horse who actually needed one. Properly fitted martingales have their place but only as a temporary training measure and when hunting, not for daily and lifetime wear. Unfortunately there aren't very many properly fitted martingales around.

I have to admit to having my horse in a properly adjusted cavesson noseband because, (bless every gorgeous bone in him), he has a very long face and the cavesson improves his looks.
 

Fides

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Grief I just have today - friend asked if she could borrow my school as her pony was getting a bit naughty being schooled in the field. She had the bit a couple of holes too low so I told her so - pony immediately stopped messing with the bit and went much better.

People always feel the need to comment on the fact that I have ridden my youngster in a grackle from backing. I ride for her comfort as she has a funny shaped jaw and with teething issues she finds a loosely done up grackle comfier as it doesn't push her cheeks onto her teeth. I'm a bit fed up of feeling like I have to justify myself. Oh and they also comment that I have it fitted wrong - I use an English hackamore and fit it the way it is supposed to be, but people are that used to seeing Mexican ones that they say it 'looks wrong'

As for 'opinions' - no I wouldn't say anything
 

ann-jen

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Grief I just have today - friend asked if she could borrow my school as her pony was getting a bit naughty being schooled in the field. She had the bit a couple of holes too low so I told her so - pony immediately stopped messing with the bit and went much better.

People always feel the need to comment on the fact that I have ridden my youngster in a grackle from backing. I ride for her comfort as she has a funny shaped jaw and with teething issues she finds a loosely done up grackle comfier as it doesn't push her cheeks onto her teeth. I'm a bit fed up of feeling like I have to justify myself. Oh and they also comment that I have it fitted wrong - I use an English hackamore and fit it the way it is supposed to be, but people are that used to seeing Mexican ones that they say it 'looks wrong'

As for 'opinions' - no I wouldn't say anything
I use a Mexican grackle on my old mare for the same reason. She is simply more comfortable in it.
 

minkymoo

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Thanks Ellen, yes, he is wonderful. I've not had a lesson with him for quite a while now as I sold my older horse to keep my youngster. He taught me an awful lot and I hope I've passed it on to my youngster! :)
 

Luci07

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Not unless it's unsafe, or so different that I am intrigued.

I have learnt that horses can just seem to be happier in some random changes of tack when I honestly can't see what the difference is.

I do agree about the flash though I (coughs gently) use one but promise its not tight! I tried a cavesson and cheeky pony took the mick. Now wear a running martingale for jumping though always school without one. I do think with younger horses you do need to keep an eye and make changes as their personal preferences seem to change. Mine would not tolerate poll pressure of any kind as a 5 year. Now his preferred bit is a hanging snaffle with a French link. Go figure...
 

fatpiggy

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My father was hunting a very difficult horse years ago and he had a 3 ring gag with 2 reins. Someone rode over to him and said "do you think you've got enough gear in that horses mouth?" In a very sarcastic way.

His reply was "you ride your horse and I'll ride mine"

I always rode my 3 ring gag with double reins - its the correct way to use it. A single rein is incorrect.
 

fatpiggy

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I probably would if it was something like their bit was upside down or backwards, or tendon boots on backwards, which I have seen before! Have also seen knee boots used as fetlock boots!
Otherwise I wouldn't say anything as its their horse their tack :)


I've seem pelhams in upside down, and one particularly thick owner who liked to copy other owners' choices of tack and famously put overreach boots on her horse, above the fetlocks and had her brushing boots on the wrong legs so that the striking pad was to the outside, buckles on the inside. They were a family who shared the same single brain cell though.
 

Enfys

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Oh yes! I comment all the time, to myself. Unless there is something terribly wrong that was going to harm the horse or cause an accident, I keep my opinions inside my head. None of my business but we all do it don't we? Human nature I reckon.

If I see a bit I have never seen, I will sometimes sidle up and ask what it is etc.

At local shows I do have the most embarrassing habit of automatically checking girths and sliding keepers into place if I am talking to someone. I just don't know that I am doing it and always have to apologise most profusely :(
 

PolarSkye

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At local shows I do have the most embarrassing habit of automatically checking girths and sliding keepers into place if I am talking to someone. I just don't know that I am doing it and always have to apologise most profusely :(

Ha ha ha . . . I don't actually DO this, but I always, always want to . . . bits of leather flapping about/not in keepers make my hands itch ;).

P
 

Flame_

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Only things like a horse with its head down and a martingale strap up round its ears, or a tied horse with a leg over a lead rope, etc. Things which are clearly unintentional and just haven't been noticed. Otherwise I usually mind my own business.
 

Crosshill Pacers

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I've been on the receiving end of comments about my tack however the two people giving the advice had more experience than me and their advice was gratefully received (and subsequently helped me a lot).

In harness racing there's endless pieces of tack and equipment and I often see horses that either need a specific thing and don't have it, or wearing something they simply don't need. Also there's scope for common bits of tack to be used incorrectly, which also happens. I wouldn't dream of approaching someone to tell them such because I'd probably get an earful! OH and I have a young friend who is a public trainer and is just starting out so OH, along with another friend, have offered him heaps of advice re tack but he genuinely wants to learn from them so is willing to listen.

The general rule in racing is 'keep yourself to yourself'!
 

Cowpony

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I've done it when stewarding in a showing class - child had attached the reins to the bit the wrong way round and had the billett hooks on the outside. But that was more in the way of a helpful hint for next time than criticism. I've also been asked by a judge to change a child's safety stirrups as they were the wrong way round and therefore not safe at all.

I do ask people what something is or what its purpose is if I've never seen it before, but in a polite way for my own information, not in judgment.
 
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