What's in your Trainer's Tack Box?

We all have them. Tack boxes that have stuff in them that nobody but us needs to see. Tools that we have used in the past that would make a NH rider faint dead away. I'm talking about us trainers. Those evil minded, money grubbing, horse abusing maniacs that everybody ends up needing, at least once in awhile.
Some of us are truly invested in turning out the best horses and riders we can. We aren't evil. Really. We are under tons of pressure, from owners, time, each other. Our short cuts are stashed away in the back of the tack room. The stuff we want you to see will be hanging up in plain sight. The other stuff is in our tack box, pushed behind the saddle racks.
I was sitting around with a bunch of trainers after a 2 day clinic with one of our gods. If you want have some fun, try to watch or attend an open rider only clinic. The gloves are off man. There are no niceties, no feelings spared. Your guts are ripped out, and everybody rides over them.
At the end of the day , every concept you ever held true is ground to dust, your pride is shattered beyond hope. Then we all sit around with our clinician, the beer flowing free, talking into the night.
I heard of one trainer who will drive a screw through the balance point of his hackamore (bosal) and warm up before a class that way. He takes it out right before he shows. This way he can get his horses soft without soring their face.
I heard of another who won the NRHA snaffle bit futurity. His colt was a terrible gaper. He fixed it by drilling a hole through his horse's back molars. He had a wire back there that he could latch with his fingers when he bridled his horse. That held the horses mouth shut.
When they checked his bit at the end of his winning run he unlatched the wire as he removed the bit, and no one was the wiser.
A common practice is to use a logging chain wrapped in vet wrap to ride hackamore prospects. It keeps the nerves on their face sore without leaving a mark.
Another trainer covers the sores on his paint horses with white house paint. When it dries the paint is stiff enough to cover the spur marks and mouth sores "even if they're still bleeding." You learn a lot by sitting quietly in a corner.
The clinician, our god, noticed I was getting visibly upset. He changed the subject to which of the big name trainers are gay. (I'm telling you, the gossip is amazing at these things!)
The next morning, as we were warming up for our next day of abuse (that would be to us trainers, not our horses:>), the clinician pulled me aside. He said, "I can see that you are a very gentle rider."
Ever on the defensive, I replied,"I know I have to step up, I'm sorry."
"That's not what I'm saying" He said.
"There is a place for riders like you in this business. Your technical, and thorough. I like that. "
He then rode with me for half an hour, and gave me tips on the old fashioned development of a bridle horse.
He told me to keep my filly in the hackamore for two years. He said if I had a problem with her to work through my issues, instead of the standard practice of alternating between the bit and the hackamore. He gave me exercises and drills to soften her and drive her without scaring her into running through my hackamore. (Which is how the screw on the nose comes about) He told me if I did that I would develop in to a true hackamore horseman.
Then he winked and said, "Let's keep all this between us, we're driving those guys nuts."
Of course the rest of the day was filled with yelling and hollering, but I was on cloud nine all day.
My tack box doesn't have much in it. I have held true to the advice I was given and work hard to explore developing a true bridle horse. I've gotten pretty damn good with a hackamore.
My methods are simple. My training philosophy stays on the premise that if my horses doesn't understand something, I have to backtrack and start again until they do.
If they are pulling through my hands I go to less bit, not more.
I am quiet on a dull horse, and am active on a sensitive one.
If you are going to a new trainer, cruise through their barn. Be careful, we're a touchy, cranky breed, don't judge or comment, just look.
Look at their bits. Look at their spurs. Find their devices.
Check out the horses. Not just their weight. Are they happy and alert? Or do they stand with their head in the corner, listless and dull? Do they push at you, invade your space? Are the sides of their mouth raw? Are there spur marks on their sides?
You won't find the tack box, I can guarantee that. But we all have them. If the training equipment you see makes you nervous, remember there is stuff you don't see that is much harder. Be aware. Be responsible. Choose a trainer you can live with morally, not just the guy that can keep you in the ribbons.
Gotta go, the morning is beautiful and the wind hasn't started blowing yet.