Do you use a martingale?

sheep

sheep

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Where I'm from, it seems that a running martingale is almost as normal a piece of tack as a saddle and bridle- ie, everyone has them. Therefore in some cases it must be that they are unnecessary.

What is it like where you are? I'm just curious to know. My first loan horse came with one, so I tried riding without- yep, ears straight into my face (eventually we got somewhere with head carriage, minus martingale) (he also came with a market harborough which I didn't use much because I'd never used one before).
 
I only use a Running maringale on my Thoroughbred when jumping cause he gets so excited when jumping that he chucks his head up and goes so this helps. Also I use the neckstrap to stop me catching his mouth when jumping.

Never use it for flat or hacking as he goes so lovely. He has a split personality when it comes to jumping
 
No martingale for me, but where I live, I can see two kind of riders that use it quite frequently.
show jumpers
endurance riders
 
I do use one, but it's too lose to do anything to him (he'd need to have his head in my lap i think) but he's incredibly bouncy in canter and has a huge jump and whilst we're working hard to improve this I would rather stabilise myself on to the neck strap than his mouth.

So guilty as charged- no real need - but smarter than a stirrup leather around his neck
 
I use a running martingale for hacking and jumping, partly so there is a neck strap for me :rolleyes: as i can be nervous at times and partly because if George gets a bit excited or alarmed he sticks his head up. I could probably manage without it but it doesn't do any harm and is a bit like a comfort blanket for me :)
 
Where I am, you rarely see a horse without a martingale or some fancy bit. My last horse came with a martingale. I took it off. It was just another piece of stuff to clean.
 
I do not use one, but I do see people who have different gadgets on their horses purely for "fashion" or because of their own lack of knowledge/experience use harsher bits etc just because they pretty or the horse in the next stable has one so their must need one too lol
 
I don't have one, but plenty of horses on my yard do have one. I'm all about the minimalism, I tried one once on recommendation from a fellow livery but my horse was very unhappy as her head is naturally high being a carriage horse breed. I decided we needed to work on developing the right muscles rather than holding the head down unnaturally.
 
I think I'm the only one on the yard who doesn't have one :) When I bought my horse she did come with one, whipped it off and she's fine.
 
I don't use one, but I'm not against them - just that mine don't need them. Years ago when I learned to ride at riding schools - back in the early 80s, standing or running martingales were just an ordinary part of the tack - I don't think I ever saw a horse without one, although when I first was learning to ride I didn't really know what they were for - they were just there.
 
I prefer a correctly fitted martingale any day to a running - the running has too much of a negative effect on the mouth.

I use a standing when teaching mine to jump as I'd rather they socked themselves on the nose than in the mouth. I use an old stirrup leather as a neck strap.
 
When I learned to ride in the early 70s, it was only horses such as ex racers who you ever saw wearing a running martingale, and only saw a standing martingale on arabs. I don't think I ever saw a pony with one on.
 
...although I did buy one for my first pony as I thought they looked cool, but I was only about 12, so new no better (mind you, the pony was bordering on insane).
 
Kali came with a running martingale - and a flash bridle. Removed both. Now he only wears his martingale for going across country - stops him from sticking his (very lovely) ears up the rider's nose and gives the rider something to grab if he takes a flyer (rather than jabbing him in the mouth). He can, though, be jumped in just his regular bridle, no flash and just a snaffle. He's not strong, just gets a bit excitable.

P
 
9tails said:
I don't have one, but plenty of horses on my yard do have one. I'm all about the minimalism, I tried one once on recommendation from a fellow livery but my horse was very unhappy as her head is naturally high being a carriage horse breed. I decided we needed to work on developing the right muscles rather than holding the head down unnaturally.
Click to expand...

This. We suspect Kali wore a martingale b/c of his tendency to go up when feeling stressed (although he hasn't done it in ages now). Also, we know he was ridden in draw reins before we bought him. I think martingales (like market harboroughs and draw reins and other gadgets) have their place in the right hands . . . but they're not a quick fix for a thorny problem. It has taken us since January '10 to even begin to undo the horridness those gadgets caused my lovely boy. He can now walk, trot and canter with his nose voluntarily on the floor without any gadgets (and without falling over).

P
 
I use a running martingale as when my boy 'loses it' he puts his head up and I can't do a thing about it. I only started using one when he socked me in the face! We were cantering along, with me in a forward seat, at a pleasure ride and idiots went steaming past me at a gallop.

The martingale is correctly fitted and only comes into play if he is seriously naughty.

Jane
 
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