12/ SEPTEMBER 2017 THE RIDER


Tack and training aids: Sifting through truth, tradition, emotion Part 1


bring a response in a horse. Signals sent to your horse with the parts of your body (hands, legs, seat). Artificial aid Equipment used to back up or fortify a rider’s light, natural cue. Examples


are spurs,


By Lindsay Grice, Eques- trian Canada coach and judge


The use of training


aids – spurs, whips, nose- bands and martingales – is a polarizing subject among decision makers of major equine associations and riders alike. Some say they’re useful tools in the hands of an educated rider, while others assert they’re abusive gadgets, designed to force a horse into sub- mission or to compensate for a lack of skill. As a coach and


trainer, in a sport where truth, tradition and emo- tions frequently collide, I’ve learned to sift through divisive issues by watch- ing, reading the research, experimenting and asking lots of questions!


Why am I using this train- ing aid? Tradition? Habit? Or because


thought through the facts: 1. I understand the me- chanics of how the equip- ment works and on which part of the horse 2. Based on #1, I’ve cho- sen this equipment to help solve this issue for this horse at this period of time.


I heard it said the best


teachers are the curious. Asking the questions, dig- ging for facts. Not neces- sarily the smartest-I hope that’s true! By doing so, my


thoughts about artificial aids have been challenged and shaped over the years. Let’s define our


terms: Natural aid. A cue or stim- ulus which a rider uses to


whips, martingales and draw reins. Endless varia- tions on these themes – de- vices used in the quest to lift, lower or supple the neck, round the back, slow down the legs or speed them up.


I’ve


The controversy: For what reasons do some use them and others shun them? Pro: Artificial aids “aid” riders in training effec- tively and safely. They are useful tools to influence and contain a 1000 lb ani- mal or motivate one who’s unresponsive. Con: These tools are bad for the industry. Spectators see them as abusive and this reflects poorly on our sport. They are a source of physical and emotional stress for the animal. And they stifle normal equine behavior. As one writer once asserted in a monthly column for the UK maga- zine Horse & Rider. “The whip is an admission of failure.” The emergence of eq-


Give Me Mountains for My Horses


Journeys of a Backcountry Horseman


Tom Reed has been surrounded by horses since before he can remem- ber, and his unabashed admiration of those majestic creatures echoes on every page of his memoir, Give Me Mountains for My Horses. At once lyrical and captivating, absorbing and adventurous, Reed’s recollec- tions of some of his most intimate moments with these animals will en- trance riders and non-riders alike, with their sophistication and relata- bility.


equines round out the cast of Reed’s unfor- gettable tales of buying and selling horses, mishaps while on the trail, and falling in love every day with beautiful animals. El- egant and entrancing, Give Me Mountains for My Horses will transport readers and


Give Me Mountains for My Horses feature unforgettable horses in the scenic splendor of the American West, specifically the Greater Yel- lowstone backcountry. Here, readers will meet Lad, a large gelding whose sheer beauty outstrips all compari- son and draws admiration from all who en- counter him. There is Ace, a black stallion whose lean muscle and sturdy hid make him an incomparable ride. And follow Jade, a tried-and-true “mountain lady” of the highest degree who has an uncanny ability to correctly follow lost trails. These three and dozens of other


Many of stories found within


By Tom Reed A proud lifelong Westerner,


wearing a flash noseband. And they are inherently ill- fitting. These nosebands can interfere with the horse’s normal swallowing mechanism, producing the very resistance they are in- tended to cure. Yet when I ask riders whether they have tried other nosebands or even no noseband, they look at me as if I had just stepped down off the ramp of the mother ship. I agree with Jim, and


uitation science, gives fas- cinating insight into what’s going on in the horse’s head. Do artificial aids themselves really cause stress, or simply the way they’re used? As a coach, I solve puzzles considering how horses naturally think and learn, drawing from the well of evidence and research. So, based on my ex-


perience and the evidence, over the next few columns, we’ll consider how to use them, choose them, and


avoid the ways we might abuse them! Jim Wofford (a 3 time


U.S. Olympian and World Champion eventer) wrote an insightful piece a while ago in Practical Horseman on the “mindless applica- tion of equipment, regard- less of whether it


is


suitable for this horse at this stage of training.” He said, “Nosebands


are one of my many irri- tants when coaching. Al- most every horse I see [dressage, eventing] is


routinely ask the riders I teach why they’ve chosen certain tack or training aids. Often there’s a well- reasoned response. Other times a shrug -everyone tacks up their horse this way so it must be correct … hmmm.


Next month: some


specifics and some sci- ence.


Lindsay Grice Bio: Coach, judge, speaker


and equine behaviourist, Lindsay Grice has trained hundreds of horses and riders in her 25 years as a professional. “I love to help riders


solve their horse puzzles based on the science of how horses think and learn,” she says. “Is it me or my


horse?” Lindsay shares in- sights into how horses tick for equine associations, riding clubs and at private farms, creating thinking horsemen of her students by teaching the “hows” and “whys” of riding. Lindsay has taught


showing,


Equine Behaviour classes and seminars for provin- cial equine associations and courses offered by University of Guelph. She teaches clinics on training and


judging for horse clubs and private farms. She is an Equine


Canada and AQHA spe- cialized judge and a Provincial Hunter/Jumper judge as well as a certified Equine Canada coach. She and her students have won at major shows in the United States and Canada.


visit


For more information, her


www.lgrice.com. The PBR Rides Into Ontario


Editor’s Note: These captions for the PBR story we ran in our July 2017 issue were missed. We include the photos and proper cedits here:


1/ 26 year old, Matt Triplett (Montana) photo by Spiro Mandylor, www.spiro.ca 2/ The cowboys on fire at Toronto PBR Competition. Lachlan Richardson (Aus- tralia) scored an 84, Cody Casper who won the Ottawa event (Washington), Josh Fair- cloth (N. Carolina), Michael Lane (Virginia) and Canadian, Nick Goncalves (Simcoe, ON).


Photo by Spiro Mandylor,


www.spiro.ca 3/ Eli Byler (Nashville, Tennessee) scored an 82.5 on True Grit. Photo by Spiro Mandylor, www.spiro.ca


1 site


2


3


leave them hungry for more.


Wyoming Wildlife News and TROUT Magazine and has won multiple awards from the Wyoming Wildlife Federation, the Association for Conservation Information, the Colorado Press Association, and the Wyoming Press Association. He attended the prestigious Bread Loaf Writers’ Confer- ence at Middlebury College in 2001. Reed lives with his family on a small ranch out- side of Pony, Montana.


About the Author: Tom Reed is a regular columnist of


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54