Training Aids - Harbridge- / Chambon- / Abbot-Davies Balancing Rein/ Martingal

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Kikixo

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Hey, I was wondering if any of you have experience with one of the named training aids above - Harbridge- / Chambon- / Abbot-Davies Balancing Rein/ Martingale - and give me some advice/ feedback.

My mare has been ridden in the Abbot-Davies Balancing Rein about 5 years ago, but also in the Chambon Balacing rein. I started working with 2 months ago and changed now saddle (old one did not fit) and will start working with her again under the saddle. I would like to use one of the training aids as she has not a good balance, tries to ignore the bit from time to time and just works against it. I don't want to punish her just basically want an aid which helps her to develop her natural outline and balance again. (she has not been ridden proberly for 3 years due lack of interest of the old owner)

So any feedback and advice is welcome, also pro's and negative aspects! Also if you would recommend another training aid - balancing rein

Thanks :)
 
i've had some sucess with a market harborough before with ridden work.... or draw reins are ok in the right hands
but to be honest - when i was reschooling my mare i did a lot of lunging - pessoa didn't work well with her so i use breaching and a lungie bungie (search H&H posts for one called adaptation of lungie bungie to get more info ;))
also a lot of lunging with nothing on a slight slope and also lunging over raisied poles
ridden wise - i used no training aids but did a lot of long and low work and hill work to get her strength built up before i asked for a more advanced outline under saddle.
she was a 10yr old mare who'd worked all her life upsidedown - she now works really nicely, balanced and relaxed
one thing i did find though is that as this was new work to her it took a long time to build up the strength for her to carry herself correctly under saddle - and so the sessions had to be v short intitially - a few steps at a time before she'd resist and a lot of that resisitance was strength/not relaxed based rather than jsut not wanting to if that makes sense? if i'd had her ridden in an aid to create the outline at that atage it would ahve been way to much for her to cope with
 
quick background: horse was 11 and had done 2 dressage tests in its life and was a hunting and jumping pony. with the tightest martingale he still threw his head, obviously i am not physically strong enough to beat him.

the market harborough was my lifesaver! he wasnt nasty but he had an 11 year habit and the market harborough just helped to build the muscle.

bungie rein was useless. being elasticated he just threw his head up still and didnt care!!
 
Equi ami.

I have used the Pessoa and found that the horses can lean on it and also they can twist and not stay straight.

The Equiami works on a continuous loop so if the horse pulls they are pulling against themselves. I have found horses that can be one sided stay that we if lunged in the pessoa before getting on but with the equi ami are much more even into both reins.

IT is also easier to alter - the continuous loop thing means you only need to alter one part as it will right itself. It is also very easy to fit and I use it with my saddle through the stirrups and takes 30 seconds to put on/take off.

By the way I don't sell them, but run a rehab yard and have had success turning horses from upside down to the right way up using this aid.
 
ridden - none of them. there is absolutely no substitute for patiently learning how to work a horse properly. This way anything you get is absolutely genuine, not a shortcut, not force, not a temporary fix which usually falls apart under pressure such as in a competition scenario, imho.
lungeing, perhaps a chambon if fitted correctly, or a bungee or similar.
ridden - a martingale if horse chucks head up enough to seriously risk your nose/teeth!
 
I was constantly told by people to use gadgets on my horse to get her inot an outline and I gave in and tried a chambon to get her work long and low. However, I only did this for 5 mins after she had warmed up and very very loose as not a fan. It did help her within weeks i stopped using it.

I prefer to school and use that approach rather than gadgets as often they will bring the horse into a false outline (although this is often marked by uk judges as a good outline!!) or will overbend xx
 
I hate the use of gadgets whilst riding, that's just my opinion though, no gadgets go near my mare except for the John Whitaker training system (pessoa basically but it was cheaper and the roller is a really nice one.) I just use it in the low setting and it took my mare about 2 months to get used to it but she really uses herself with it on, at first she was resistant for like a month and then the second month it was on off resistance and acceptance. I do know that not all horses like them but all the ones on my yard are using them and seem fine in them.
 
Chambon for lunging, personally I don't like anything else.

Nothing for ridden work, how can you feel if the horse is going correctly and willing with various bits of equitment on, if the horse had problems due to an ill fitting saddle, you may find with a lot or work and time, that you may not need to use anything, so I'd give that chance first.
 
How lovely to hear that so many of you use the good old fashioned method of proper riding over gadgets... So many people worry about the horse's outline, and put draw reins or the like on the horse to force the outline, and in the process destroy the horse's balance, rhythm and paces. There are no marks in a dressage test for outline, but there are for all the things that are destroyed when the outline is forced. Outline comes naturally when everything else comes together... It takes time...

I would use a chambon on a loose setting to lunge in.

To ride, no gadgets, except a martingale for something that throws the head up and becomes hard to control.
 
Hi, on my boy I tried the pessoa as like the concept but he hated it so put it on Ebay ! The one that has helped him most has been the harbridge rein. When I got him he had basically been hunted and had no mouth and could be very strong. Occasionally I would work him (lunge or ride) in the harbridge rein and basically if he was being rude he pulled against himself not me and it also stopped me getting stronger with my hand. It has really helped with his schooling and whilst I agree gadgets should be used with care and knowledge, there is a place for them. Even now I pop it on every so often, more for lungeing but occasionally for riding and it works for us. The pessoa is very popular and I can see why, it just didn't work for my boy. I also have the Libby Lungie Bungie which again is quite a useful piece of kit.
 
I agree it is only riding correctly that it all comes together, however when my girl was an unside down TB and we were struggling to re-educate her muscles I used a market harborough while hacking to help me get her working in a long outline, rather than giraffe. Once this had been achieved then I ditched it for a martingale. I used a harbridge in the school to help instill the concepts of long and low, as we were still getting worried and giraffe like and I found that this helped take some of the stress and argument away.

both horse and I dislike the pessoa and prefer simple side reins for lunging

In the school we are this year martingale and flash free
 
For helping to build up the correct muscles on my girl which meant she could then carry herself, I used a pessoa and also long reined, she has now got some muscle that we are able to start working in the school but wouldn't dream of using a gadget on her there, just good old fashioned riding and lessons now for us, plus continuing the long reining as well. I think one of the worst gadgets are draw reins, which can do so much damage to the horse if used incorrectly!
 
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