Interesting study on rein tension

[Heather]

http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=17218

[Mossy]

There was a similar thread to this somewhere??? I call it somebody being overpaid to state the darned obvious! Did I read somewhere that the Spanish school in vienna once they have picked up their reins keep the same tension all the time, just use finger tip requests? If they can do it with the airs and graces they achieve......
ETA Does it depend on the bit as well, 'cos if you are taught that hanging onto an eggbut snaffle is the b all and end all, then you pull, the horse is taught to lean therefore you pull etc .....? If you have the equipment there and operate it with delicacy and tact then a virtuous circle is set up from the start.

[TashaKat]

There was a similar thread to this somewhere???

http://www.enlightenedequitation.com/ee/boards/index.php/topic,42278.0.html


Oh that it was obvious though!  Like a lot of things it's a case of 'this is how we've done it for the past 20 years so why should I change it'.  People still believe that you have to dominate your horse, that it's acceptable to use pain and that a good position is nothing more than 'looking pretty'    Unfortunately whilst instructors are still teaching you to 'get a hold and kick' then things aren't going to change 

[Naiad]

Interesting. Geez if horses avoid rein tension and don't just adapt to eat to eat grain, with grain being pretty motivating for most horses, then in what other situations would they ever adapt to rein tension?

I guess the researchers expected the horses to just get used to tension and tolerate it (like many horses would presumably seem to when being ridden with rein tension), but rather, with time the horses built up an actual aversion to tension and tolerated it less and less each day - I think that was what was supposed to be unique to the study. It is interesting. They seem to suggest that when the horse does accept the rein tension, it is not because it is a natural reaction to do so, but suggest that disciplining actions may force the horse to accept the tension. At least that is how I read the article...