Caol Ila
Well-Known Member
It's a piece of tack I've never particular liked and I freakin' hate riding in them because it messes up the connection between my hand and the bit, but that's by the by. In the last couple months, two incidents have occurred to highlight yet another reason to dislike them (no offense, of course, to everyone who feels they do them and their horses some good. I have friends who ride in running martingales...lol).
The first involved another rider falling off in the arena because her horse spooked and then started bucking. She hit the deck hard and when she didn't get up shortly thereafter, I jumped off my horse and went to see what kind of state she was in. She was conscious but in a fair bit of pain and quite winded. I talked to her but was keeping a worried eye on her horse, who was wandering loose around the arena and sniffing about, looking as though he was going to put a foot through rains and martingale, or possibly hook reins over the fence. I decided to secure him, as he's spooky and young and if he did catch himself on something, he'd most certainly have another panic attack. I thought spooky young loose horse + rider on ground = bad combination. But as horse was fidgety and had a martingale on, I didn't think it was safe to hold him and mine at the same time or stand near his fallen rider, as I had to stand right at his shoulder and couldn't easily maneuver him around. So I dropped my horse's reins on the ground and said, "STAND!" because she ground ties like an old cowboy horse if need be, and grabbed the youngster. I thought, well, if I could get this guy's reins over his head without untacking, I could hold both these horses. I was pleased I'd taught mine to ground tie, however (rider, by the way, was a bit bruised, but mostly fine), and while leaving a loose horse near a rider on the ground is not recommended, I felt I could trust in her training.
Next incident was a hack with two others, one on an old gelding and the other on a young mare. We were passing a field of about 30 head of cattle and all was fine, until one bloody cow got curious and came bounding over to the fence to say hi. My horse is very calm about many things -- tractors, bicycles, dogs, people on roller blades, kids on go karts, motorbikes, other horses acting stupid, someone riding atop a car, fly tips, deer, pheasants, but nosy cows are not one of those things. She and the young mare both spooked, which caused the whole herd to come charging up to the fence to see what the commotion was. The two mares thought a cow attack was imminent. Young mare's rider got scared and bailed out (not what I would have done). My horse, like the 20-year old experienced, mature veteran that she is, decided that if I was going to insist that she go past the cows, she was going to get it over with as quickly as possible. So she took off in a brisk canter, passing the other two horses. Not ideal, I know, but my influence with her at this point was limited to the direction of travel, not speed. Young mare's owner was quite frightened and clinging to her horse's shoulder and trying not to get run over while horse danced about. If she'd been able to get the reins over her horse's head, she wouldn't have been stuck underneath and trying to cling onto the shoulder of a frightened horse. I know that movie -- I've been in a situation where a horse freaked out and after deciding to bail, I couldn't get the reins over its head and I thought, "This was a really stupid move. I shouldn't have jumped off this horse as I'm now in a much worse position!"
So that's the trouble with a running martingale. If you're ever in a situation where you need to quickly take the reins over the horse's head, you can't!
The first involved another rider falling off in the arena because her horse spooked and then started bucking. She hit the deck hard and when she didn't get up shortly thereafter, I jumped off my horse and went to see what kind of state she was in. She was conscious but in a fair bit of pain and quite winded. I talked to her but was keeping a worried eye on her horse, who was wandering loose around the arena and sniffing about, looking as though he was going to put a foot through rains and martingale, or possibly hook reins over the fence. I decided to secure him, as he's spooky and young and if he did catch himself on something, he'd most certainly have another panic attack. I thought spooky young loose horse + rider on ground = bad combination. But as horse was fidgety and had a martingale on, I didn't think it was safe to hold him and mine at the same time or stand near his fallen rider, as I had to stand right at his shoulder and couldn't easily maneuver him around. So I dropped my horse's reins on the ground and said, "STAND!" because she ground ties like an old cowboy horse if need be, and grabbed the youngster. I thought, well, if I could get this guy's reins over his head without untacking, I could hold both these horses. I was pleased I'd taught mine to ground tie, however (rider, by the way, was a bit bruised, but mostly fine), and while leaving a loose horse near a rider on the ground is not recommended, I felt I could trust in her training.
Next incident was a hack with two others, one on an old gelding and the other on a young mare. We were passing a field of about 30 head of cattle and all was fine, until one bloody cow got curious and came bounding over to the fence to say hi. My horse is very calm about many things -- tractors, bicycles, dogs, people on roller blades, kids on go karts, motorbikes, other horses acting stupid, someone riding atop a car, fly tips, deer, pheasants, but nosy cows are not one of those things. She and the young mare both spooked, which caused the whole herd to come charging up to the fence to see what the commotion was. The two mares thought a cow attack was imminent. Young mare's rider got scared and bailed out (not what I would have done). My horse, like the 20-year old experienced, mature veteran that she is, decided that if I was going to insist that she go past the cows, she was going to get it over with as quickly as possible. So she took off in a brisk canter, passing the other two horses. Not ideal, I know, but my influence with her at this point was limited to the direction of travel, not speed. Young mare's owner was quite frightened and clinging to her horse's shoulder and trying not to get run over while horse danced about. If she'd been able to get the reins over her horse's head, she wouldn't have been stuck underneath and trying to cling onto the shoulder of a frightened horse. I know that movie -- I've been in a situation where a horse freaked out and after deciding to bail, I couldn't get the reins over its head and I thought, "This was a really stupid move. I shouldn't have jumped off this horse as I'm now in a much worse position!"
So that's the trouble with a running martingale. If you're ever in a situation where you need to quickly take the reins over the horse's head, you can't!
Works for me 
