Strongest bit for Prince Philip Cup Games?

Also thought I'd add that the majority of ponies neck rein so no hauling in the mouth. All the ponies on my team and future teams in our PC are trained that lean forward you go fast sit up you slow down but keep impulsion. I don't think we ever kicked our ponies.

Rearing on the start line was hardly abuse, he was hardly standing upright he just new when the race was about to begin and launch himself forwards because he knew it would get him to go faster.

And I don't quite see how stepping stones is cruel?

Evelyn, lovey pictures is this the team you've been training?
 
OP-every pony on our games team has a hanging cheek snaffle, seems to be the best control allowed.
Most have a flash, we have grackle as Pony has tiny face and flash tended to drag noseband down and we have more control with a snaffle.
Our old games pony was a little welshie, the previous owners had her as a young pony and they used to school and practice in a pelham then stick a snaffle in for the competition and hope it would take her a while to notice!

SusieT, I strongly disagree with your largely ill informed comments about the abuse of games ponies. Do you honestly think they would put up with it without refusing to race or dumping the kids!
As someone else pointed it, it is obvious which ponies are not enjoying it and those ponies dont stay on the circuit for very long. It is only the ponies who love it that make good games ponies.
My sons pony spent his life doing showing and dressage, he has a lovely soft mouth, he swopped to games three years ago and hasnt looked back. He stands on the start line like a dressage pony but watches the flag and the minute it goes up and comes down he rears up and launches himself off the line like a stag, not stressed just wanting to race.
4 of the 5 ponies on our team are 20 plus-what other sport would you find that in, hardly suggests a lifetime of abuse does it!
 
Interesting to read someone say that a lot of games ponies are eventing offcasts. I would have thought the ponies who do games are too small for eventing, but I'm obviously missing something really obvious :o Aren't most of the speediest ones 13.2ish and under?

I'm only going off memories from watching it at HOYS so am probably wrong :o

Back to the OP, I don't think the children ever look too worried about stopping to be honest, its probably an adult thing! Aiming at a wall/corner/rest of the team is a commonly seen tactic. :p
 
We have a pony, Little Lad, who is about 13hh.

He is scared of jumping, thanks to an ill-fitting saddle before we got him, bogs off in the show ring, so, wanting to give him a 'use' in life that would hopefully prevent him from being classed as useless (he needed a good, confident rider with a lot of stickability), we tried Games :D. Sadly the poor lad didn't have a clue and could not get his head round being allowed to go fast, so we retired him and still have the little bobbo :rolleyes::cool::D

Forgot to say, he has brilliant paces and when he did jump he was grand, but just didn't have the right jockey who could attempt to work through his issues and go on to do show jumping, cross country etc.
 
I am no MG expert by any means but I would say, from the ganes I have watched both on TV and locally at PC area level I haven't actually seen a lot of hauling at alll. Much of the steering seems to be done by the body of the rider and the ponies seem to know precisely where the finish line is so stop when they've crossed it. I haven't seen fighting for control and certainly no more than you'd see out hacking or watching ponies SJing. I did a little local MG comps on my 14.2hh pony many moons ago (those were the days I could vault on!). He picked it up pretty damn quick and seemed to know when it was 'his turn' to race. That was what he loved doing best - galloping! He was very clever though and i didn't have to haul him to stop - in fact, all I'd have to do would be take my feet out of the stirrups and he'd stop pretty much instantly - he actually did this once when i wasn't expecting it and I flew off! Lol
 
Both our ponies do games to quite a high level (they got to the championships last year) and I run them both in a loose ring straight bar happy mouth and standing martingale. The whizzy one wears a happy mouth hanging cheek or 2 ring gag for jumping and the unwhizzy but strong one hunts in a happymouth pelham. No martingales on either for other disciplines. Both ponies are versatile and happy and love the games job. They wear a milder bit for games than any other discipline. Its down to good riding with body weight and good training at the end of the day and at this level the teams are very well trained.
 
Interested to read in an earlier post that Cambridge snaffles are not allowed. Does anyone know why that is? Our pony goes really well in one, no hauling required, was the only bit we tried that she trusted, as she had had a bad experience before coming to us with a too-big jointed snaffle which banged her mouth. She goes to training every week and I have to say it has done wonders for her confidence. I am a games convert, I had always kind of looked down on it til my kids started. I think most ponies enjoy it. You will get abuse and bad riding in any discipline.
 
Some ponies used to wear Australian Nosebands that you see on racehorses - that may only be allowed in MGAGB. You are allowed treeless saddles in MGA as well, we all used to ride in race saddles, MGA does do junior teams, its not all adults so if someone wants to play games without the restrictions of PC why not do MGA?

I used to do games and I loved it, my pony as well as competing at the World Championships also represented Wales on Senior Tetrathlon teams, so BE Novice XC and also would win Foxhunter BSJA. She was a superstar and died at about 30, still playing games.

To do games you need a pony that you don't pull as it wastes too much time, and if you are wasting time you won't get on the teams - it is really competitive to get a team place.

As for knotted reins, really? The reins are knotted so that you can let them go and they don't then flap around the ponies legs - would have thought that was a pretty obvious reason for knotting reins.

Have you also noticed how the riders also jump off the pony's back as soon as their turn is finished? But SusieT wouldn't be able to mention anything positive about games it would get in the way of a good uninformed ignorant rant:D
 
SusieT said:
It certainly provides many ponies with an outlet, and is not a bad sport as such-but needs awareness and the ability of people to train kids to use their body weight as opposed to heels and hands.
(The really good /sensitive kids can be seen quite clearly with ponies that respond to the lightest touch, and they do mainly use their bodies to steer, control speed and turn)
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I agree with this. Not many people are taught to ride using their body weight, it is much quicker to pull the reins.

I actually get what SusieT is trying to say. At the top level it is nice to watch but unfortunately there are still a large number of ponies that do get hauled around and yes, it is brutal. But thats not just in mounted games but any discipline. 10% do it well and the rest go for the end result at any cost, including the pony's mouths.
 
dieseldog said:
Some ponies used to wear Australian Nosebands that you see on racehorses - that may only be allowed in MGAGB. You are allowed treeless saddles in MGA as well, we all used to ride in race saddles, MGA does do junior teams, its not all adults so if someone wants to play games without the restrictions of PC why not do MGA?

As for knotted reins, really? The reins are knotted so that you can let them go and they don't then flap around the ponies legs - would have thought that was a pretty obvious eason for knotting reins.

Have you also noticed how the riders also jump off the pony's back as soon as their turn is finished? But SusieT wouldn't be able to mention anything positive about games it would get in the way of a good uninformed ignorant rant:D
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MGA don't allow treeless saddles any more and if you let go of your reins you will be eliminated straight away.

It is great that the riders get off between games - it's a safety thing for when ground crew are changing equipment.

A few of our local pony club kids have ridden for NZ in MGA and the same kids were also at Kentucky for the games demos.
 
I had a Prince Phillip games pony. Smudge was 11hh Shetland x and my god was she fast (and strong). We had to start each race backwards and furthest away from the whistle/flag as she would plunge 12ft in the air. She would complete the races regardless if I was on her or not :) I remember many occasions trying to fault on and landing on air! The bending race was her favourite, she would weave that fast and close my knees used to nearly hit each pole. She was simply the best at her game and truly did love it. Those were the days!
 
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Thank you so much "Evelyn" -have purchased the Hanging Cheek bit today, shall try a standing martingale too, shall have a little try tomorrow before training on wednesday, you sound so experienced and its such a shame age 15 is the age limit within Pony Club here, last year we watched the International team ride our ponies that they borrowed ata show for a display, some of the ponies were really naughty and strong they had never ever sat on them before let alone do games, but they managed them with ease and were brilliant and very nice too! This little pony is 11 years old but has only ever been used for Lead Rein as he is a pickle very very forward, needs no leg at all. But my son who is 12 and in the Senior Team has been schooling him and built up the games gradually and they are great together they fly like the wind and Arnie is supple and can turn on a sixpence, so if we could just sort the speed a little and have some brakes for at the end, he always goes last i think he will be a cracking little games pony, his little ears are up all the way and he loves it all, my son is very gutsy and the changeovers are good and the accuracy is all there too, vaulting is great too, 5 flag race is their favourite & Stepping stones, thank you for your knowledge much appreciated
 
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dsth said:
Thank you so much "Evelyn" -have purchased the Hanging Cheek bit today, shall try a standing martingale too, shall have a little try tomorrow before training on wednesday, you sound so experienced and its such a shame age 15 is the age limit within Pony Club here, last year we watched the International team ride our ponies that they borrowed ata show for a display, some of the ponies were really naughty and strong they had never ever sat on them before let alone do games, but they managed them with ease and were brilliant and very nice too! This little pony is 11 years old but has only ever been used for Lead Rein as he is a pickle very very forward, needs no leg at all. But my son who is 12 and in the Senior Team has been schooling him and built up the games gradually and they are great together they fly like the wind and Arnie is supple and can turn on a sixpence, so if we could just sort the speed a little and have some brakes for at the end, he always goes last i think he will be a cracking little games pony, his little ears are up all the way and he loves it all, my son is very gutsy and the changeovers are good and the accuracy is all there too, vaulting is great too, 5 flag race is their favourite & Stepping stones, thank you for your knowledge much appreciated
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:) Thank you - glad I can help - good luck to your son hope he has lots of fun for years to come and in time maybe he will be in an MGA team that visits NZ and then I will surely meet him.
 
Yay! First Mounted Games Competition to day Senior Team came 3rd out of 9 teams and Junior Team came 2nd out of 6, they now qualify for South West final - Zones! So the little pone did good, very fast but very accurate too, steering is better with the Hanging Cheek and my son has improved his technique so they dont really need to slow down as such and he stopped after the finishing line I thought he would career off as he does sometimes in Training! All we need now is a non slippy girth, in one race the bending the saddle slipped and of course no help is allowed to straighten saddle, he got off & righted it best he could but it slipped badly again at a gallop and he fell getting dragged along as he tried to hold onto pony, but he was ok. The pony has very little withers, saddle fits ok but with all the leaning and turning on a sixpence it can sometimes slip as it did today, am looking for a tiny crupper, is there such a thing as a non slip girth, (shall post that i think). Am so happy for them all the excitement was wonderful and the air electric, all those kids and their ponies enjoying themselves bless :D
 
I can't help you but a funny games story to amuse you.

I am an adult and we had a little gymkhana for fun at our yard and I joined in on my pony. He is not a games pony he normally does showing, or dressage and not that fast but he is quite competitive. After a few races he seemed to realise the pony that got back first was the winner and as soon as the ponies in front turned to come back he would also turn and because he was so far behind he would get back first and appeared to be very pleased with himself. He also like the bending race.

These ponies soon learn what is expected and I think a lot of them do enjoy it and can get competitive between each other.
 
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