Myth No.10: Saddlebreds wear horribly cruel curb bits with very long powerful shanks and this is why they carry their heads so high.

Colt with snaffle bridle and martingale Photo: courtesy of UPHA

Answer: No Saddlebred is introduced to a double bridle or a curb bit until the rest of his education is complete. His poise and carriage are developed long before he sees a curb. They are usually worked daily in a little jointed snaffle. They are not taught to seek the bit and 'come on' the bit like a dressage horse, but to have soft mouths and stay above the bit thus creating the very lightest of contact. Once they have graduated to a double they are well grounded in this, and also come to a halt on a verbal command. A good rider on a well trained horse will never need to use the curb punitively. As and when they have to be used, the two bits of the double have different functions: the snaffle (bridoon) is used to remind the horse to keep his neck raised and help him keep his collection, the curb's duty is to correct any tendency to poke the nose. In both cases the lightest and briefest of tweaks is all that is necessary. As Xenophon, the Greek equestrian who wrote way back in 400BC about the rider/trainer teaching the horse to "go with a light hand on the bit and yet to hold his head well up and to arch his neck. …this will make him do just what the animal himself glories and delights in" - what better epitome of those ancient words than the show Saddlebred?

Myth No.11: What about the devices used to teach them to rack?

Answer: Again, Saddlebreds inherit the inclination and right physique to execute this sensational gait. The training only maximises and improves upon that inheritance to ultimately produce the magic of the five-gaited horse. Youngsters are introduced to performing this gait on command once their strength and balance has been established in trot. No devices are used and usually they are started totally barefoot. The trainer, with superb feel for timing, rhythm and balance, pushes up the walk and shifts his weight in the saddle at precisely the optimum moment to 'shake' the horse into the amble, usually using a distinctive voice command at the same time. Soon the horse goes into amble on the voice command alone and then work can begin on improving and refining this amazing four-beat gait into the breath-taking slow-gait and sizzling rack. Much time is spent on ensuring that the horse can collect and balance himself before any duration or speed of performance is demanded. Once these extra gaits are established, work commences on the highly animated canter. All this training is undertaken with the horse wearing a simple jointed snaffle bridle and possibly a running martingale. (I have never seen anything as potentially restrictive as draw reins attached to girths or chambons being used in a training barn - although in the right hands these devices can be useful.)

Myth No.12: The rack is a very strenuous gait and causes much damage to the horse.

The rack: One foot takes the weight - here it is the near fore; the off hind is about to go down and the near hind is just lifting. The off fore will be on the ground after the off hind. This horse is probably progressing at 30mph !

Answer: Yes and No. It is a strenuous gait when polished to the requirements of the show ring because not only is it four-beat (one hoof on the ground at a time) but it is executed with spectacular knee motion and sizzling speed. But it does not in itself cause damage. The Saddlebred has the right conformation to perform it - inherited from his English Ambler forebears. The whole point of a daily work out is to keep the muscles toned, the lungs and heart healthy and powerful, the brain engaged. When the horse is fit and raring to go there is nothing he loves better than his racking - it shows on their faces and in their willingness to perform it. The inherited ambling gait on which the rack is based, is an easy comfortable ground-covering gait that was prized by those 'in the know' - lords and ladies, military generals, kings and queens. Only the peasants had to ride the bumpy trot and horses that could only trot were known as 'torture horses' by the Romans. It is totally erroneous to refer to it as 'unnatural' or 'man-made', it is most definitely inherited from fine horses in the days when equines were the only form of transport. The fact that this knowledge and blood has been lost in the UK, and amongst jumping devotees, does not make it unnatural, just a very rare and precious ability that needs preservation. Thank goodness the American breeders of the past managed to preserve this wonderful gait, even though perhaps they didn't set out with that altruistic intention!

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