Cantercall

the process ....

Do Short Cuts Work? Draw reins are used to counteract the startle response by forcing the horse into the opposite shape. The horse, being a fight or flight cre...ature responds either by pushing against the pull of the draw reins, developing the wrong muscles or by escaping behind the bit by overbending. By using draw reins you are in fact teaching the horse to evade. Ironically, by forcing the horse into a "desirable" outline you are creating even more problems for yourself. Look at any symptomatic approach for example taking a sleeping tablet for insomnia. Does it cure insomnia - does it remove the source of anxiety? These approaches may cover up the symptoms but they do not get to the route of the problem. Draw reins, far from being aids to training are restrictive and potentially harmful instruments that create pain and tension. They may cause or exacerbate a variety of undesirable conditions, ranging from headaches to breathing difficulties and lameness. The pull of the draw reins cause excessive flexion to the vertebrae of the poll and upper neck. The resulting pressure on the brain could worsen any existing weakness of the spine. It causes tightening of the lower ribs and tension in the back muscles and the disturbance of the nerve supply to the front legs could easily cause lameness of the front limbs. The most saddening and disappointing effects of such gadgets including tight side reins, is that they make it more difficult for the horses' back to raise into flexion, so the hind legs struggle to step under. And what effect does this have on the horse's spirit and well-being? By trapping horses in at the front, you distort the way they use their quarters. If a horse cannot work freely, his engine is choked up, his timing out, he is literally "backfiring". De La Gueriniere said: "Suppleness and lack of constraint are the prerequisites for voluntarily offered obedience, not for agonised subjection of the horse being ridden." Extract from Riding Success without Stress p38, 39 Joni Bentley

How hot was it this weekend? These wild ponies in Maryland went to the beach. https://abcn.ws/2Y8qAsN