GALLOP POLL: YOUR FAVORITE TRAINING EQUIPMENT
Horse & Rider’s known for its hands-on training articles with top experts. We want to know:

What’s your favorite piece of training equipment, and why?

We're also asking this question in the February print edition. We’ll print the results of this poll in an upcoming issue.

My favorite piece of training equipment, hmm, at first I would say my dressage whip because with it I can ask my horse to go faster and on the ground use it to encourage her to go slower, even stroke her with it; then I thought no, my halter and lead rope - we can go for walks, practice showmanship, negotiate obstacles and do other ground work.  Well, but what about my ground driving equipment?  Bridles and saddles, longe line, ground poles, bells, tarps, bridges, pinwheels, pool noodles, where do I begin?  Where do I end?  But then it came to me that my favorite piece of training equipment is the one that allows me to use all the other pieces of equipment more effectively, to be flexible and creative in my training, to produce training lessons, organize training sessions, and develop training goals so, my favorite piece of training "equipment" is my BRAIN!

 Cindy Payne

 

 

My hands (touch)!

Steady - calm and reassure

Firm - encourage and guide

Soft - reward and soothe

Sensitive - examine and communicate

Strong - groom and protect

My invaluable tool!

 

A rope halter and a 12 foot lead rope. I'm a firm believer in ground training.

For me, because I have older well trained horses I have to go at things differently than those with the younger horses, I'm more into conditioning rather than training. So for me, I am using the lunge line with surcingle and side reins. (side reins are not used at each lunging session) I'm needing to strengthen the back and get them to stay round and collected. My gelding suffers from Shivers which effects how he carries himself because of the stain on with his hind limbs which makes him hollow out his back. I need to lunge him to pick up his back so he can carry himself better and stronger. My stallion is 25 and is loosing his top line and becoming a bit sway back. I will be lunging him this year to get his top line back up so he can continue to be my #1 trail horse for hours.

Well after a very long time away from horses, well over twenty years,  I've recently found myself right in the thick of them again and loving every minute of it,  I find my favorite training tool lately is my clicker.  What a difference it has made with my new 3 yr old very aggressive, mean and awnery Saddlebred mare.  We will be starting under saddle as soon as the ice and snow melts.  Been teaching her tricks since November and she's learned quite a few fun things and it has brought  us very close.  She's my new best friend.  Planning on using it with ground and saddle training as well.  Yes sir.. my clicker is my favorite training tool!

 My favourite training tool is myself. Having a good conversation with the horse. In my life, its not training, more like a budding friendship and a constant two-way communication. Speaking, listening, respect, trust and a strong partnership...everything else just seems to fall into place, even the new stuff.

The number one training tool will always be two tools- you can't use the one without the other. Our number one training tool is a great halter and lead rope, but more importantly, the human brain. Without the ability to think our way through different situations, training horses would be impossible. Our senses tell us how the horses are reacting to what we ask them to do, Our instincts tell us what to do next. Our feelings and emotions keep us in tune with our horses. Without a doubt, the mind is the number one training tool.

The halter and lead rope is the second most important tool. With it, we communicate with our horses in almost every situation. With the exception of riding, most of what we do with our horses is done with the halter and lead rope. Leading, lunging, tying, groundwork- it's all done with the halter and lead rope. The halter and lead rope can keep us safe when we are dealing with a dangerous horse. It helps us sensitize and desensitize our horses, as well as teaching them to be respectful of us by helping us get them to move their feet when we ask them to yield to us. It allows us to keep them in place when grooming, putting on/taking off tack, trimming their hooves, and many other activities. If we didn't have the halter and lead rope, training our horses would be much more difficult.

My roundpen! :)

Who ever knew that a simple circle pen could help diagnose and solve so many issues!

I have an old, beat-up full-cheek snaffle that I use on just about every horse at some point. My sister bought it at a tack swap 20+ years ago in a box full of junk, and it's still hanging on my bridle rack :) I use it on green horses and go back to it with my broke horses. I don't know what makes it different from all my other snaffles, but the horses all seem to get along well in this one.

Patience....you can have all the fancy and unfancy tools in the world, but if you don't have the patience to use them, not one will work!