August 2007 E-Newsletter
Contents:
• Dear Friends: Be cautious not to develop a knee-jerk attitude
• Ask Monty: Snatching at the reins
• Monty's Principles for People: Willing to Risk
• Monty’s Challenge: Is bitless better?
• Whitelist Monty’s E-Newsletter to ensure its arrival!
• Article: Lameness in Working Equines
• Where in the world is Monty on tour next? Click here!
• Upcoming issues
Dear Friends
This month I will continue my letter with the question addressing two year olds in training. It is a very hot topic and deserves our thoughtful consideration. See our archives for Part I.
It is my opinion that interested horsemen should be cautious not to develop a knee-jerk attitude toward rules and regulations that would mandate the restriction of competition based on maturity. I have heard many people say “two year old racing should be banned from existence”. This tends to sound good to people who view them selves as caring for the horse. In fact one should be quite careful to consider both sides of every issue. If two year old racing was summarily banned several factors would immediately come into play.
One would be that it would require the industry to have two year old sales instead of yearling sales. Buyers would be reluctant to face two years of non-competition instead of one. At present yearling sales typically occur when the animals are 16 -18 months of age. This means the first saddling generally occurs around 20 months of age and the time of the first race round about the 28-30th month.
The second consideration would be that each of the breeding farms would have to accommodate the colts from about 16-28 months of age in individual paddocks. Any Thoroughbred colt being prepared for sale would have to be individualized during these months or his battle scars would present an unacceptable picture in the auction ring. It is my opinion that during these months some organized exercise is strongly advised in order to develop a strong body destined for professional athletics. Individual paddocks would obviously be extremely small and afford far less opportunity for stretching the limbs during these formative months.
My third consideration would take the form of being adverse to legislating morality. I am strongly of the opinion that we should try at all times to cause people and horses to want to do the proper thing rather than telling them they must do the proper thing. Rules and regulations that would ban anything are often looked upon as challenges and are more often than not broken. In addition, one could anticipate enormous resistance to this idea and in my opinion it would be very difficult to prevail as a legislative edict.
My personal preference in areas such as this is to first say its perfectly fine to race two year olds but it should be done only when the best interest of the horse has been assured. With that in mind it is my recommendation that the associations should be approached with the proposal that it is fine to race 2 year olds but only when their X-rays clearly place them in category “A”. This status cannot be achieved until the individual is fully matured from a skeletal standpoint. While I realize that this would not address psychological issues it would go along way to allowing the horse sufficient time to be psychologically mature even considering the subjective nature of that benchmark.
What this would effectively mean is that there would be very few two year olds eligible to race before August or September when they are about 29-30 months of age. It is difficult to imagine any owner would argue that he wants to race his 2 year old even though there is significant risk that injury would compromise his racing career. It is my opinion that there has not been enough educational effort to inform owners and trainers of the value of this analysis. The various associations involved should be immediately willing to address this issue.
Next month I will continue with this question to address two year olds in training.
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June 13 , 2007 Question and Answer
Question: I would like to change my horse’s snatching at the reins. I try to foresee a snatch and give him rein so there is nothing to snatch at.
Monty's Answer:
Many horsemen ask me how I suggest handling the horse that tosses his head or snatches the bit while being ridden and I tell them that my ‘mouthing procedure’ can be employed. It is most likely that a bad set of hands has caused this problem but other factors may be in play.
I have used this method of mouthing a horse for well over 50 years now and have found it to be most effective. When I finally saddle and ride the animal schooled in this fashion, it is amazing how cooperative he is with his turns, stops and reining back.
The process of causing a horse to accept the bit and bridle is known, in most of the horse world, as “mouthing” the horse. I have heard the procedure called “bitting” the horse, “bitting up” the horse and “schooling to the bit and bridle.” Whatever term you use for this procedure, it is causing the horse to accept communication from the hands of the rider through the reins, and ultimately the bit.
I call mouthing one of the most important procedures where training the young horse is concerned. It is critical to cause the horse to respond to cues from the reins and bit with the most subtle cues one can accomplish. The tissues over the bars of the horse’s mouth in the area of the corners are precious to any horseman. They should be treated with utmost respect as there is no second chance to create sensitivity once this area has been damaged during training.
I will confine my comments to the use of the bit. It is true, however, that I have used the hackamore, side pull and even the Dually halter, all of which are bitless. Here I have chosen to recommend the use of a snaffle bit for early training.
I recommend that you accustom the horse to the surcingle, which can be accomplished in the round pen or even in a box stall. Once the horse can cope with the surcingle comfortably, I begin the process of mouthing. You should always take care not to have protrusions from the walls or fences of the enclosure you use for mouthing.
I will place a black iron snaffle with a brow-band headstall appropriately on the horse’s head. You don’t need to have riding reins on the bit as a pair of side reins are used instead. The bit should sit in the horse’s mouth so that it affects a slight smile on the horse. Once the bit is touching the corners of the horse’s mouth, the handler should adjust it upward until it is about one-sixteenth of an inch higher than the corners would be in a natural state.
I suggest that the side reins be adjusted quite loosely at first. I recommend that the handler loose longe the young horse in the round pen in sessions approximating 15 to 20 minutes in length. You can execute this event using all three natural gaits of the horse. It should be noted that exhaustion is not a part of training and you should be careful to monitor the horse’s comfort throughout the procedure.
After the horse has accepted the surcingle and the snaffle bit with loose side reins, the handler should then begin a process of shortening the side reins until the horse is nodding off the bit. Take care not to tighten before the horse is fully comfortable as he could object to the tension and potentially suffer injury by rearing or acting out in another negative fashion.
The side reins should be equipped with elastic to allow the horse a flexible tension and not a solid one. The handler might continue to loose longe, creating impulsion by simply tossing a light driving line behind the horse to move him forward. Be sure the environment is safe. One should study the footing and the walls closely so as not to create an environment that could be dangerous for your animal.
After two to three sessions, you can often introduce driving lines using the side rings on the surcingle at approximately the same position where a rider’s knee might be. The handler should always be sensitive to how much work the young horse is doing and how he is accepting that work.
I recommend that mouthing should take place for 10 to 12 sessions before saddling and riding. The knowing handler will vary the length of time according to the needs of the horse. The nervous, fractious animal should be mouthed for a greater number of sessions than the quiet, cooperative one.
It is extremely important to use effective safety measures, only advancing when your equine student is fully prepared for it. You can find an illustration in chapter 3 of From My Hands To Yours to see each feature of the mouthing apparatus.
I have found it effective to allow the horse to toss his head, simply meeting the side reins and stretching the elastics. Normally, horses will stop the head tossing after four or five sessions.
-Monty
Monty's Principles for People
Willing to Risk
A poem by Sue Chisam of the Konocti Unified School District written while attending Monty’s special conference for the teachers of that district at Flag Is Up Farms. Monty believes that young children are flight animals too.
Mouse, a one year old American Saddlebred filly was Monty's student for a session to help her deal with spooky fears and phobias. The lesson at hand was to walk over a tarpaulin. It was a real challenge for this abused and rescued Iowa yearling that turned out to be trusting and loveable.
I want to do what you ask
But I don’t want to
I think it might hurt
I am not comfortable with this
But I trust you
You have listened to and,
Step by Step,
Sometimes inch by inch
We have learned a few things,
You and I.
Now, I will try this new task
Because I trust you
And because I know
You will take the steps
With me
As often as I need
Before I take them on my own
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Monty’s Challenge: Next Week’s Question to Answer
I respect and love learning about a better ways of training horses. My sister and I have both changed to bitless and it works actually better. The horses are listening/responding as well or better. Have you any experience with this?
Hanne Payne, Norway
Test yourself!
I want all of my students to learn to be better trainers than me! Test yourself each week as I challenge you to answer the question from below by writing to newsletter@montyroberts.com. I mean this. Sit down and write an answer. Don't wait for my answer next week.
If you have been reading my Weekly Questions and Answers for the last six months, you should be in a position to do this.
Why should you bother? Because it will help you focus. There is probably a comparable question in your life that needs answering – or will be. If you can gain insight into how to go about answering a practical question that is loosely related to your problem, this exercise will help you answer your nagging question.Then read my answer. Then read my other answers at this link: Ask Monty. The closest answer to mine each week will be awarded a DVD but more importantly you will learn! That's good for you! That's good for horses!
-Monty
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Lameness in Working Equines – A collaboration between The Brooke and The University of Bristol
Christine Broster BSc(HONS) BVSc MRCVS
The Brooke (Brooke Hospital for Animals) is a UK charity providing veterinary treatment for working equines in developing countries and advising their owners on good management practices.
Lameness is one of the major welfare problems affecting working equines (horses, donkeys and mules) in developing countries. A welfare survey of 4903 animals in Egypt, Jordan, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan showed that lameness was the most common problem in working equines with over 75% of animals having limb deformities and abnormalities of gait (Pritchard, 2005)[1].
An ongoing research project led by the University of Bristol in partnership with The Brooke aims to get a clearer picture of the types of lameness and limb problems in these animals. Field-based survey work is being carried out which will allow identification and prioritising of the major causes of lameness. Once the most urgent problems have been
Identified, a full risk assessment will be carried out, with an aim to prevent animals becoming lame. This work also aims to improve the clinical skills of the Brooke vets working in the field, in their examination and treatment of lame animals.
I would like to thank Kelly Marks for her kind donation of a Dually™ halter for use whilst examining working donkeys.
Look for these upcoming issues!
• Monty is adding Special Clinic dates to 2008 calendar!
• Part III of Two Year Olds in Training from Monty
• Six Necessary Steps For Any Horse to be Reasonable to Ride
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