Episode 253: Tack & technique: choosing bits

Episode 253_ Tack & technique_ choosing bits.mp3: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

Episode 253_ Tack & technique_ choosing bits.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Speaker1:
I believe the reason that I'm able to fluidly move between bit know bit different bits is because I am more focused on technique and the horses understanding.

Speaker2:
Podcasting from a little cabin on a hill. This is the Stacy Westfall podcast. Stacy's goal is simple to teach you to understand why horses do what they do, as well as the action steps for creating clear, confident communication with your horses.

Speaker1:
Hi, I'm Stacy Westfall and I'm here to help you understand, enjoy and successfully train your own horses. In this season of the podcast, I've been answering questions and discussing concerns that you might have as you're out training your own horse. Sometimes these questions are very specific and other times they might seem broad. Today I'm discussing tack more specifically bridles or headgear. Here is the question. My understanding of starting my young horse is with a rope halter, then moving to a snaffle, then going to a hackamore, then moving to the bit with Shanks. How do I know when to make these progressions? Thanks for the question. One problem that riders often face is deciding what tack they will use. And because this question was mostly focused on bridles, I'm going to try to stick around bits and bridles. But the concepts that I talk about also fit for other areas like the rider using their legs only, or choosing to use spurs or using a web halter versus a rope halter or no bridle versus a bridle. So keep in mind that tack, especially a discussion of bits, can easily become challenging for those with opposing opinions. And I have personally a rather unique set of skills because I have a lot of experience in both worlds, riding with bits at a high level of performance and also riding at a high level with no bridle, no headgear at all.

Speaker1:
And because I do both, I can see the challenges and the benefits that come with both, as well as the common issues that horses tend to have with each. It also makes it easier for me to see where people can get confused. When I'm teaching inside my programs, whether it's the resourceful rider or my advanced at home, I have students that choose to use all different tack, including bitless bridles. And because I focus on teaching techniques, it works for these students. And when I say I teach techniques, hold on to this idea because it's about to tie back into this question. I teach techniques that are then practiced while riding patterns, because when I tell the rider what technique to do and what pattern to do, now we all agree on what the goal was. So if the rider in my course rides a pattern, let's say the four leaf clover pattern using a specific technique, then when we are having the discussion, it's very clear to understand where the rider may be confused interpreting their horse. And one thing that I've been saying for years, because I teach with the technique and the pattern, one thing I've said so many times I can't even count it is don't value the pattern more than the technique. So if I say it another way, it means if you come to a point during the ride where you're struggling and you're riding, let's say that four leaf clover pattern, give up the pattern first, don't over value the pattern.

Speaker1:
The pattern is there to help guide you as the rider. The pattern is there to help show you what's working or what isn't working. The technique is actually more valuable than the pattern. The reason I can say this is because if I don't remind people of this, what will happen is they'll tend to see at the last minute that they're about to miss a cone and run it over. And in order to stay on the pattern, they become quick with their hands and in that moment, when they are quick with their hands to save the patterns, to stay on pattern, what they often do is they often snatch their quick, they break the trust of their horse. And although on one level they manage to rescue the pattern, what they've actually done is damaged the communication. That's why I say don't value the pattern more than the technique. When think about a discussion about tack or technique, it's very similar. Remember why you're using the tool. Remember what the tool is for. The tool is there to help you communicate more clearly. And this actually explains why there are so many different choices in bits and bridles or bitless bridles. Each of these has a slightly different signal. And when the horse is confused, you need to evaluate whether the issue is with the horse's understanding level.

Speaker1:
Or with your technique or with something else. Often times when people see that their horse is confused, they want to change tools. So let's just say in this example they want to change bits when it very easily could be their quick or snatchy hands that are causing the problem. And if we don't look at the technique, then they're going to change the tool and still have issues in that other tool. This is why the saying it's the release that teaches has become so popular. Your hands, your timing or what I'm calling your technique is even more important than the tool. And then on top of that, the tool does have an impact. So let's talk about that. Your horses ability to interpret the signal that's coming through, the tool you choose is based on three things. It's based on, number one, his understanding of the signal of that tool, his understanding of the signal. Number two, it's based on his motivation. And number three, it's based on his current emotional state. So let's look at each of these. Number one, his understanding of the signal. So when I think about a signal, that's something like a bridle can give to the horse signals with the bridle especially can be direct or indirect. And the indirect requires the horse to have more understanding. So when a horse is first being trained, many of the cues or aides that we use are direct.

Speaker1:
So when you ride a horse and you have two reins and you pull on the left rein to go left, and then you pull on the right rein to go right, that is considered direct reining. That's actually what it's called using the direct rein. Another example would be if you were leading the horse in a halter and lead rope and you directly pulled on the lead rope, that's going to be a direct cue. Or if you're leading the horse through grass and they pull directly on you, that's going to be the reverse. But the same thing because they want to snatch a bite of grass. The opposite of a direct cue is an indirect cue and neck reining is an example of an indirect cue. And when you neck rein, what that means is you hold both reins in one hand and think about it. Picture this in your mind. Hold your hand out in front of you when you hold both reins in one hand and you move your hand in the direction that you want the horse to go. So if you move your hand to the left, then the horse is supposed to go to the left. But if you watch this in action, what you see is that when you move your hand to the left, the right rein is actually the rein that engages.

Speaker1:
It touches the horse's neck. And if you move your hand even further, it pulls on the bit. And this is why it's considered an indirect rein. It requires a different level of thinking from the horse in order for it to work. So when I look at the question of moving from a rope halter to a snaffle to a hackamore, then on to a bit with shanks, my first observation is that each of these tools has a different signal. So the question for you to answer when you're considering following this path is what is the purpose of using each of these tools? It becomes a discussion on the purpose of each. So you're going to need to understand each of these tools individually. And then on top of that, you're going to need to determine where the horse might be confused. For example, a snaffle bit is designed so that when you apply pressure on the left rein, the bit slides to that side and then the opposite side of the bit. I am holding my fingers up to the side of my mouth like you can see me even though I know you can't. But that bit pulls through and then the ring or whatever is on the other side of that snaffle pushes against the right side of the horse's head. And in a way, you could say this is similar to if you have a halter on the horse and you clip to the left side of the halter.

Speaker1:
And if you pull out on that left side of the halter, it's going to actually close and apply pressure on that right side of the horse's head. And so that's actually a different signal. Both of those are similar because they push on the opposite side of the head. You pull on the left side and it pushes against the right side. Those are actually similar, but they're different than what a hackamore does because not the mechanical hackamore but the hackamore that looks more like a loop. The the bosal the Google it and look it up. When you think about how one of those works, that has more of a twist that happens. So there's a different movement and a different way that it applies pressure. And the reason that matters for you to understand is because you actually have to modify how you use your hands in order for it to communicate more clearly to the horse. And again, a shanked bit has a different signal. So that's the term that you want to think about. Each one of these tools has a different signal, which is why they were each created. But I often also like to say that they each have a different side effect because with any of them there tends to be a desired effect. The reason that people choose it and then a side effect, the thing that they're like, Oh, and I wish that was a little different.

Speaker1:
Now let's pause and talk about the horse's motivation. And so the horse's motivation is often based in their temperament. So a really basic illustration of this would be leading a horse or even riding a horse in a really grassy area or going past a really yummy looking bale of hay. Sometimes the horse's motivation to eat the grass or to grab and snatch at the hay inspires the horse to make a decision to pull on the lead rope or pull on the rein so they can grab a bite. And this is a good illustration because the horse is often have a clear understanding of what they're doing, but then they weigh the choices out and some horses go for it. You know who that is. And I actually like how in the dressage world they will say that a horse has a good work ethic, which is actually just a description of a particular type of temperament that a horse can have. But because horses do have different temperaments, it actually equally enters into the equation. So Gabby, my horse, I love her to pieces, but she likes to move through life more slowly. She's sweet, but I won't take her to any lessons where they're going to say that she has a good work ethic. If she were a human, she would not be concerned with showing up on time.

Speaker1:
And if it was a sunny day, she might consider just taking the day off without calling in. She's still very sweet, but her work ethic could be questionable. Willow, on the other hand, has a great work ethic, almost to the point of trying too hard. So she's an overachiever and that can bring its own issues with it. So my job as both of their trainers isn't to judge them for the natural tendencies is to keep these things in mind as I work with them. And this can show up sometimes as people are choosing the different tools that they use when they're working with their horse. Although as an interesting side note, because I believe in balancing the horse out, rocking the teeter totter back and forth, I have actually used the same tools on both of these horses throughout the training. Interesting, right? And number three, in the horse's ability to interpret the signal from your chosen tool is his current emotional state. And when I think about a horse being in a highly emotional state, that could be because they're very excited. Maybe there's a lot of new horses around or a new environment, or the horse could be very afraid. I remember when I was growing up in Maine, I remember riding one day and a huge logging truck with a tarp flapping on it was barreling down the road towards us with the tarp flapping at 55 miles an hour in the wind.

Speaker1:
So no matter what makes their emotions get high, when the emotions get high, it sometimes becomes hard for the horse to hear the aides. This is why I'm such a big believer in groundwork that teaches the horse's emotional control, because then the horses understand how to control their emotions, even when the energy in the room, as I like to call it, gets higher because the better they are at being able to control their emotions. When the energy around them gets higher, the more logical they'll be able to stay. But until they have that ability, you can also see why it would be important to factor this in as you're choosing what you're using in those cases, like the logging truck with the flapping tarp. I find that I'm going to go to direct Aids because the direct Aids are often going to be more effective than the indirect Aids until the horse is really solidly trained. This is also one of the reasons why I choose to start my colts in a snaffle from the beginning. So I do the groundwork training in the halter to prepare them, and then I ground drive my horses using a snaffle, and then I ride them in the snaffle. And I personally like the more specific feel that the bit offers and I've never had it interfere with any of my future goals, even if that includes wanting to ride that horse bridle less in the future.

Speaker1:
I believe the reason that I'm able to fluidly move between bit no bit different bits is because I am more focused on technique and the horse's understanding, because I'm interested in what's going to give my horse the most clear communication and because I'm consistent all the way through. What they have in common is my techniques. Oftentimes the indirect aids are more subtle and can be perceived as a whisper. I actually find it really valuable for my horse to be able to do both really good with the direct Aids and really good with the indirect aids. I'm about to hold an event here where I'm going to let the students of my advanced at home program come and they will actually ride my horses. And I will begin when they mount up on my horses by giving them instructions on the direct Aids. And then we will move through into the more subtle and more indirect aids. Again, at the end of the day, my focus is on technique. My focus is on the horses understanding, and I choose my tools in a way that helps keep adding clarity to my horse. It is actually amazing when you get to the point where you can be in environments with your horse where the potential for high emotions exist and your horse listens to your whispers.

Speaker1:
That is exactly how I would describe my bridleless freestyle rides, because all the horses I've done, the bridle is freestyle riding with have been able to be in challenging environments, and yet we're still focused to listen to my whispering aids in those environments. I can see my horse's ability to interpret my signals or my whispers combined with their willingness and the emotional capacity to be in that environment, performing at a high level while also remaining mentally relaxed, which demonstrates a very high level of understanding. This is what I'm ultimately aiming for. My recommendation is you decide why you're choosing the tools that you're going to use. What is the goal of working in the Halter first? What is the goal of moving to the snaffle? Do that through all the stages. Three questions that you can continually ask yourself would be What is my goal in this? How is this adding clarity? Is my horse confused? If so, how can I clarify it? These are questions that you'll be asking no matter which tool you use, because they're going to point you back to your understanding of your goal, which includes why you're choosing the tool. These questions will point you back to your technique and back to your horse's understanding or lack of understanding. Thanks for listening and I'll talk to you again in the next episode.

Speaker2:
If you enjoy listening to Stacy's podcast, please visit Stacy westfall.com for articles, videos and tips to help you and your horse succeed.

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