I wanted to share the barn's website where I visited Friday, because the main page has a video showing what I saw.
In fact, you can see the man (who is the owner I found out) giving lessons, and they even show children how to put the gadgets on the horses to keep their heads down. Sad, even my colleague said how horses who carry beginners need these devices to keep their heads down so they don't hurt their backs. (So, what do we do with kids in America? I never had lessons as a child.)
Anyway, it's an honest view of this training barn, for sure!
http://www.reitstall-huebsch.de/reitstall/
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11 comments:
Maybe I just haven't interacted with enough Germans, but most of them I've seen ride don't ask their horse to be round and collected. I'm not sure if they don't know how, or they just don't care, but it give the impression of being bad riders. Most of the American kids I see ride are taught how to put a horse into a proper frame without devices or yanking on their mouths. It's really not hard to ride a horse into a frame.
Most german riders that I have watched ride, don't know how to ride a horse in a proper frame. Maybe the side reins are the reason why they haven't learned to ride properly. Why don't the drill team riders have their horses in a frame? It's not that hard to ask a horse to be round.
I sure wish I could remember when I rode over there in Germany better. My mind does not remember seeing the neck stretchers on the horses at the barns I rode at...but, with so much time between then and now, I just cannot say for sure...
Tara
Interesting website!
The Friesians are beautiful, such manes!! The ponies, OMG! I love ponies!!
I was a 4-H leader for 13 years. In the US we do not tie the heads down for beginners! The only one that regularly wear a tie down are gaming horses.
If a beginner has a problem with a high headed horse we usually blame it on hard hands! And teach them accordingly. I have never heard beginners can cause a horse bad backs.
The fad right now is snaffles and bitless bridles! The natural horsemanship thing.
Oh and I could translate the website to english, but not the video! LOL
heather, i honestly cannot say - most of the riding stables i've seen are local and perhaps things are different here. i can only generalize that a much higher percentage of this country's population ride horses regularly, so i would hope they'd work on technique and not just to sit on a horse riding circles. the group lessons i've witnessed are so large it's impossible for the riders to get good feedback. however, it's ridiculously cheap!WHP seems to agree with you though, from his experience.
tara, i should point out, like you said, these devices allow a horse to move his head down, just not up.
reddunappy, thank you - i have no experience in this area. this is not the only barn that said beginners will ruin their horses' backs, in justification of the devices.
Most of the riders in the video weren't using the sidereins--were they? Yes, the littles were...and I wonder why, because those ponies looked lovely to me.
I adore the levade-ing pony, although I'm absolutely sure that (because he is a pony) he uses his skills for the forces of evil.
All-in-all, the video looked mostly-harmless to me. I do wish the kid on the Spanish-walking horse was wearing a helmet, of course.
It looked like only the little kids or very beginner riders were using them. It can be beneficial to use them so that the beginner rider can focus on what they are trying to do (sit on the horse without falling off!) without having to worry to much about what the horse/pony is doing.
I was never allowed to touch the reins until I learned balance, had to do each gait with my arms out and then stretch down and touch each foot with the opposite hand and had to keeping my heels down and my toes forward, then I had to learn to post at the w, t and c. That one kid holding on to the saddle, I was taught that was a big no no when I started lessons at 4. Then there was a lot of the kids who feet were pointed every direction except forward. I think the classes are way too big too.
I enjoyed the video. It was fun to see so many different types of horses - and of course, I smiled when I saw the Haflinger!
I've never actually been to Germany and can't speak with much authority on foreign riding practices... But I will say I have learned to tread carefully around those that lay claim to a "German training style," or worse, someone that just "rode in Germany" for a few years.
As far as my experience goes, it's one of those things like Natural Horsemanship -- there are some that are genuinely qualified who also just happen to have that blurb on their resume. More often than not, though, my instincts to steer clear are right.
(Not that there aren't plenty of people giving my disciplines of choice an equally bad name...)
What a totally gorgeous Friesian!! And Andalusian and adorable mini. Those manes are impressive, but I don't think I would want to take care of it lol.
I like that most of the little lesson kids had on protective vests. :) Cool. You can tell the ponies are used to the neck stretchers because they move around in a perfectly set frame. I couldn't tell if they were actually using their backs or just in a false frame because the clip was so short. I think the classes are too big to really teach them how to ride. The little kid's feet were too far forward and wasn't posting . . . more like getting bounced forward. It looked uncomfortable actually.
It looks like a well cared for and nicely maintained stable though. Fun video. It's really cool seeing how different it is over there. Thanks for sharing the link.
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