my horse got running martingale strap caught in his mouth

Firehorse

Firehorse

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has this happened to anyone else? we were on our way home from a hack and he always gets in a tiz when in company. he was jogging along with his head right in, doing little rears and generally being a twat. all of a sudden i thought he'd been stung by a bee. he brought his head right round to the side and almost fell over the opposite way. i jumped off quick and realised he'd got the running martingale strap in his mouth. he was very good about it all, it mustve been hurting him. he kinda managed to spit it out with me trying to extract it. and luckily no damage done. god only knows how it happened. he needs to wear the martingale when i hack in company as he does mess about, but i'm scared of it happening again,
 
I'm no advocate of martingale but if you feel you need one then maybe you need to shorten it? If it bulges as he brings his head in then it's to long, it need to be perfect tension (as in not pull or slack) when you are holding your reins normally and he has his head in a 'correct' position.
 
Maybe a silly question but did you have rein stops on?
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yes i do! i've only had him a fortnight and this is the tack he's been ridden in for the last few years so didnt want to change anything till i get to know and trust him. he's fine hacking alone, he just gets in a tiz in company when homeward bound. therefore needs his gadgets. i'm hoping it was just a freak one off, but its worried me now.
 
Don't worry these things hapen and horse's just get over it and move on. I wouldn't assume that the tack he came with it correctly fitted, definitely get someone to check it, either a saddler or an experienced instructor. Get the saddle checked too, again you can't be sure it fits till it's been checked.
 
That's happened to me. Was riding someone else's horse, he used to fling his head around and the strap got stuck in his mouth as there were no martingale stops, it hadn't occured to me to check if the martingale was fitted with stops. Needless to say, after almost falling down the side of a ravine as a result of the panic the horse got in to, I now thoroughly check the tack of any horse I ride. I would suggest checking the fit of the martingale or looking into a bib martingale as posted above. I really hope it doesn't happen to you again
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Aaak, I had that happen at a show - had a really obedient WH round, had done our show piece after, and were waiting in line for the last horses to do their show pieces. Suddenly my mare went up and back (I thought bee sting, too!) and kept running backward and nearly thru the string that marked out the ring. Never expected that and never had it happen again...
 
hi all, thx for your tips. i will get his tack checked and i like the idea of a bib martingale. i had thought of this at the time, just cudnt think of the name!!

i'm hoping he will stop being so tizzy in time. he was like it when i took him out alone the first few times and has now settled. so hopefully once he realises hacks in company are no more exciting, he'll settle soon. apart from his tizzy moments, he's the perfect little horsey!
 
Scary - ive not had that happen but my horse if he has to wait and gets bored thinks its great fun to grab the running martingale attatchment - giving me heart failure in the meantime!!!!
 
Its happened to me once too. If your horse regularly puts his head right in or plays with the straps while standing I'd invest in a bib martingale. Thats what they're for.
 
I've had a horse do this before, and had to jump off real quick.

You have 2 choices here, either get rid of the martingale completely or use a bib martingale.
 
I had exactly what you describe happen to me, about a year ago with my share horse. He was being a prat practising his rollkur position, then all of a sudden he started going backwards VERY quickly with his head in the air... which progressed to spinning a backwards circle with his head twisted the opposite way. I got off as soon as I could and found the martingale strap in his mouth. He had rein stops on, so nothing to do with that, and the martingale was correctly fitted (had my experienced instructor put it on in the first place). Just a freak accident - luckily we weren't too far from home as he had cut his mouth in the struggle to free himself
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bib martingale required! we used to ride all of the racehorses in them where i used to work and definitely helps stop any accidents like you nearly had!
 
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