Pessoa Training System??

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Hatshepsut

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What do you think of it (or the training systems which are similar)?

The advertising write ups are all very positive but I was wondering what experiences people have had with them?

They are quite pricey so I don't really want to splash out if good old side reins do pretty much the same thing!
 
Personally I love my Pessoa. I could not be parted with it and would not buy any other alternatives. There are cheaper options on the market but its is worth paying that bit extra for your pessoa, it will last you a life time. You can pick up a second hand one pretty cheapy, usually with a roller for about £25-£30. I have also never seen a frayed one or one in bad condition so they seem to be pretty well made. Next best thing is the Whittaker version which is about the same price but comes with a roller as standard.

Hope this helps!
 
A pessoa can have several settings so they are more versatile than side reins ie long and low, higher head carriage etc. They also work the horse from behind as the strap under the tail comes into play - its difficult to explain this without seeing it in action but I think that they are more useful than side reins which simply hold the horse 's head in an outline. It definitely helps my horse engage his hind end and builds topline - but some horses hate the back strap and feel confined. Could you borrow one for a few weeks? I'd recommend a very mild bit and the loosest setting initially
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I use one on my youngster and thought it was very good. however having read up on it a bit more there are a few questions I will now be asking my self. Although this system is indeed meant to encourage a horse to lower it's head is it actually forcing it. When the horse moves its hocks this causes movement of the pulley system which may jab the horse in the mouth. This constant moving of a pulley system may not therefore be encouraging the horse to lower it's head but indeed be forcing it to avoid the jab in the mouth. Somethings aren't always what they look and don't necessarily work how we think they are working. illusion is a wonderful thing. So though I do use it on my horses this is an interesting concept to consider and will make me question further use of my system.
 
i have one & am happy with it , my horse tends to carry tension in his back/neck & was very inconsistent into the contact despite working trough from behind , the pessoa certainly helped this & if he heads that way agisn my instructor tells me to put him on it for a few sessions again which helps get him back on track , i have done some transition work with him recently on it as i have has a bad back & he now does lovely trot-walk-trot transitions
 
I long-rein a lot or use two lines to lunge - appears a bit more flexible to me and more sensitive to the horse's reactions. Have been debating a lot whether to fork out money for a training aid but recently have really enjoyed working WITH my horse rather than just giving commandoes from the centre of the circle so not sure if I will now buy one. Certainly the cheaper option and less danger of getting it horribly wrong...

You could try this out first to see what your horse thinks of working with a line behind their bum too!
 
I would use one of these not side reins on a young/unbalanced/unfit horse purely because of the flexibility you have with the settings and yes they do have to accept a strap around their hindlegs.
I have a young unbalanced TB and he hates the lungey bungy reins (much more flexible side rein type idea) and works fantastically in the pessoa (although I have a cheap alternative-from ebay £25!!! doing very well with lots of use). He is building up topline and muscle which hasn't developed with ridden work alone (we had trouble accepting lunging initially).
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Very good. I bought a cheap copy of ebay for about £35. Tried various other lunging gadgets which hadn't worked at all on my mare (at the time 4) she just fought everything else & stuck her nose in the air. This worked first time, worth every penny. Only down side is best to stick to one horse with it (or buy one for each horse) as it's quite complicated to set up and you woudn't want to have to adjust it everytime you used it.
 
i have one and have used it about 3 times in 6 years!!! i always go back to long reining them as i feel it helps more with the ridden work.

i can work on specific problems, ask for more/less flexion etc etc- basically it is riding without the weight of the rider and the horse cannot fight as much as it can't put you off balance!

i find long reining works really well for my youngsters and was the only thing that showed my older horse how i really wanted him to canter- uphill, straight and powerful! pessoa helped with none of the above.
 
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