Maintain Control with the Running Martingale

It’s not just for jumpers, says this top dressage pro, who shows you when, why and how it can help on your dressage horse.

You take your young horse to his first show, he sees 30 other horses in the warm-up arena and he turns into a basket case, throwing his head in the air, spinning and bucking.

You’re out for what you thought would be a relaxing trail ride when a dog comes crashing through the bushes. Your horse spooks, tosses his head and bolts toward a busy road.

You’re introducing a new movement—maybe leg-yield or flying changes—and your horse says, “I don’t WANNA!” He sticks his nose straight up, stiffens and runs through your aids.

As a general rule, when you can keep a young, excited horse’s nose down and more toward the vertical, you’ve got a far better chance of keeping him under control. And when he’s under control, you can give him the confidence to start thinking, “Oh, this isn’t so scary, horrible or difficult after all, is it?” But when he gets his head in the air, you just don’t have the strength or leverage to control him. What’s a rider to do?

Have I Got a Solution for You!
A lot of dressage riders keep their horses’ heads down (often too far down) with draw reins that run from the girth through the bit rings to their hands. I do NOT like draw reins, and I do NOT recommend them to my students. By simply allowing you to pull your horse’s head down with your hand, they can become a substitute for the correct pushing aids of your seat and leg. And they can quickly become abusive if you don’t know when or how to turn them on and off, especially in stressful situations such as I’ve described.

Instead, for the 30 years that I’ve been doing this sport professionally, I’ve used and recommended a device that you’re more liable to see in the grand-prix jumper ring or on cross-country: a running martingale. This terrific training device has a “collar” or neck strap that goes around your horse’s neck, and another strap that runs from the girth through a loop on the neck strap, then splits into two “forks,” each of which has a ring on the end of it. Your reins run from the bit through the rings to your hand.

What’s so great about a running martingale?

• * It truly is magical! Unlike draw reins, a running martingale that is properly adjusted to fit your horse—and I’ll show you how to make that adjustment—never gets him incorrectly overbent or behind the vertical. Unlike draw reins, it doesn’t ask you to develop an educated dexterity. And it never requires you to make a conscious decision: “Do I take a little more? Do I give? When do I give? And how much?” That’s because a running martingale doesn’t force or hold your horse’s head down—its only purpose is to keep him from raising his head too high. As soon as he does, it comes into play. At all other times, it just dangles there passively. And to me, that’s magic!
• * A running martingale with a snaffle (but not a double bridle) is legal for schooling and warming up at US Equestrian Federation-recognized dressage shows. Draw reins are not.
• * On the trail, a running martingale keeps you in control if your horse spooks or bolts. But if he happens to trip or stumble, all you have to do is let the reins slip and he instantaneously has the freedom to use his head and neck to restore his balance.
• * If your horse takes to bucking, the neck strap of a running martingale is often easier to find and hang on to than the bucking strap attached to the dee rings on your saddle.
• * Unlike some so-called training or correction devices, a running martingale does not require a breaking-in period. As long as it’s properly adjusted, you can just put it on and off you go. Usually, within 3 to 5 minutes, your horse will say, “OK. I got it. I’m with you.”
• * If you have a helper at the show, you can quickly and easily remove the neck strap-type martingale before your test without the disruption and distraction of dismounting or undoing your girth. Just use a small girth loop attachment or a girth that comes with a metal ring sewn in. You can snap the martingale strap to the ring for warming up, and all you have to do when you’re ready for your class is undo the snap, slip your reins out of the forks and unbuckle and remove the neck strap. (You can get a vee-shaped breastcollar-type running martingale with a ring at the point of the vee to which you hook the forks, but that style is harder to remove in a busy warm-up area, and if you leave it on, you may just plant a tiny seed of doubt about your horse’s submission and rideability in the judge’s mind: “Hm ... why does she need THAT?”)

I have just one caveat before you reach for a running martingale to solve a training problem: Check with your veterinarian or an experienced horseperson to rule out physical problems that may be causing your horse to toss his head—a sore back, an ill-fitting saddle, a bit that’s pinching, teeth in need of attention or aids that may be a little rough or abrupt.

Here’s How to Adjust It for Dressage

Running martingales are traditionally intended for jumping, when you want a horse to somewhat raise his head to look at the fences. The rule there is to hold both forks straight up against the near side of your horse’s shoulder and adjust the martingale so the rings are level with your horse’s withers to about a hand’s width below.

For dressage purposes, the rings should be about 3 or 4 inches lower than that, or just about level with the point of your horse’s hip when you hold the forks straight up. There should be an inch or two of slack in each fork when your horse is on the aids in about a Training/First Level frame, with his face on or slightly in front of the vertical and a straight, uninterrupted line from the bit to your elbow. If your horse is in such a frame and the reins make even a slight vee when viewed from the side, lengthen the martingale by a hole or two. If there’s more than an inch of slack, shorten the martingale by a hole or two.

How Long Will You Need One?
I tell my students, “Until you feel extremely comfortable and confident controlling your horse without a running martingale in any situation.” When your horse is new to competition, you may need to use the running martingale only for warming up at a few shows. If you live and school in a very quiet, very secluded atmosphere the way I do, where you never ride with more than one other horse in the ring, you may always want to use the martingale on the first day of a show, no matter how experienced he gets. A martingale could be a permanent fixture on the trail, where you’re never sure what might happen. Even at home, each new level and movement may create some initial resistance or exuberance that you didn’t expect. When I introduced flying changes to my young horse, Riddler, he thought, “Oh boy, this is cool!” He stuck his nose in the air and bucked. Well, Riddler is 17.3 hands and I’m 5 feet 6 inches tall. How simple was it to bring out the running martingale for a few days until he figured out that new part of his job?

Tips for Safety and Practicality

• * You can find inexpensive martingales made of nylon, rope and even cotton webbing. While leather is a bit more expensive, it’s the only material I recommend for the simple reason that it will break in an emergency.
• * Most commercially available running martingales for jumpers are too long for dressage horses, even the big ones that I ride, like Riddler. If you’re going to buy a martingale, try to get close to the correct size by doing a rough measurement: from your horse’s girth, up between his front legs to the base of his neck, then straight up to a point that’s level with the point of his hip. Even then, you may have to do as I do and take the martingale to your saddler to be shortened and restitched. But that’s OK! While he’s doing that, he can add a snap to the girth end for easy-on, easy-off attachment.
• * The forks of the type of martingale that I recommend pass through a loop on the neck strap at the bottom of your horse’s neck. You’ll need an inexpensive rubber keeper, available at any tack store, that squeezes around the loop, secures the fork strap and keeps it from slipping down and drooping under your horse’s chest where he could accidentally put a foot through it.
• * If your reins don’t already have sewn-on leather rein stops toward the bit end, you’ll need rubber or leather ones, also very inexpensive and available at any tack store. Rein stops keep the rings from sliding down and snagging over the buckle ends of your reins, where they could hold your horse’s head unnaturally low and cause him to panic. (I don’t know anyone who rides with a full cheek snaffle in dressage, but without rein stops, fork rings could similarly slip over the metal cheeks.) So important are rein stops for safety that you risk disqualification if you don’t use them with a running martingale in a USEF-recognized eventing competition.
• * Check the adjustment of your running martingale frequently. As your horse becomes more schooled and starts moving up the levels, his frame is going to become more elevated, and a correctly adjusted martingale at Training Level may be too short and restrictive at Second Level.

PHOTO CAPTIONS

Page 62 (left photo)
Falon, Sara Ellsworth’s 10-year-old 18-hand Swedish Warmblood gelding, spooked at something on the rail and did the first thing most horses do when they’re frightened—he threw his head in the air and started to spin away. As a result, Sara lost control and position, and Falon is free to run, buck, bolt or do anything else he wants to do to keep from going where she wants him to go.

Page 62 (right photo)
This time, when Falon spooks and starts raising his head, the properly adjusted running martingale keeps him from sticking his nose straight up and getting away from Sara (you can tell by the slight vee in the reins that the martingale’s been “activated”). Sara is a little off-balance—her hand is high and her heel has come up—but that happens when a horse spooks. With the martingale, however, she will be able to reestablish control and start building Falon’s confidence and trust in her.

Page 63 Fit and Equipment
TOP: I’ve buckled the neck strap of this martingale around Falon’s neck and hooked the strap that goes between his front legs to the buckle on his girth. I’ve already adjusted the length so that when I hold this fork straight up, the ring is level with the point of Falon’s hip. He’s in a Training/First Level frame with his face on the vertical, and even though Sara doesn’t quite have an active connection, the rein is almost making a straight, uninterrupted line from the bit to her elbow. The rein is sitting on the bottom of the ring, which tells me that with Falon correctly on the aids, the martingale is not active or interfering.

ABOVE: Properly positioned rein stops—about 8 inches from the bit between the bit and the martingale rings—keep the rings from slipping down over the ends of your reins where they could snag and hold your horse’s head down, causing him to panic. You can also see the rubber keeper that secures the forks where they pass through the neck strap, which keeps them from drooping down between your horse’s legs.

Page 64-65 The Running Martingale in Action
1. This is a lovely photo of Sara and Falon cantering along the rail. He’s listening and active, and her position is terrific. With Falon correctly on the aids and nothing going wrong, there’s an absolutely straight line from Sara’s elbow, through her wrist and down to the bit. The running martingale at this point is relaxed and “off duty.” It’s not interfering in any way. In the very next moment, Falon sees the thing that spooked him originally, and gets frightened and starts to raise his head (see photo at right, page 62).
2. With the martingale, however, look at that recovery! In the very next stride, Sara’s regained her position and without any fuss, she’s brought Falon’s nose back down. Even though he’s still a little tense and argumentative, her hands are back down where they should be, and she once again has a straight line from her elbow to the bit. She is leaning somewhat behind the vertical, but I’m OK with that because she’s doing it to really bring Falon’s haunches up underneath him and push—not pull—him where she wants him to go.
3. And in the next moment, Falon isn’t even arguing. Sara’s truly got him back physically and mentally because rather than fighting with her, Falon gave in to the martingale. He’s totally relaxed and he’s not only figured out that he can’t spook and spin and bolt, he’s starting to realize that he can trust Sara not to put him in harm’s way. He can confidently canter past the spooky place, and I guarantee, the next time around, he’ll be even more confident and less inclined to spook.