[rwinksters]

Originally Posted by shepherd406

My mare has a problem throwing her head up when she backs & she tried to fight the bit a lot. We used a martingale (or training fork as some call it) on her for the first few months I had her. She started holding her head down naturally, but still would fight me to back up. (She's had this problem since I bought her) She 'graduated' to a tiedown last month, but it wasn't tight enough. We tightened it last weekend & this weekend she was better.

I was always told a tie down helped with a horses balance & getting his rear down around turns, when stopping, etc. And also that it just reinforces his head set.

I have no problems with someone using a tie down as a training aid, but too many people use it as a crutch. A good barrel racer won't need a tie down. It is in no way necessary to get a horse to use it's rear or to stop. Those are training issues. Also a proper head set has nothing to do with "tying down" a horse's head. It's all in how they carry themselves. The head set is actually the last thing a trainer should worry about when teaching a horse to use it's body correctly. I can see many ways that a tie down can help a horse, but as soon as the rider trains the horse to do without it, the aid should be removed.
If you watch the NFR finals on youtube, you will see that none (I haven't seen them all so one or two might use one) will use any training devices.

[shepherd406]

Well I've been riding mine for 6 months & she still needs it. It's teaching her to stop fighting me so much. She's getting the point, but very slowly