From: Christine
Hey Jessica! Thanks for all your help recently! Since you asked me to, I will up date you on my situation. The horse cookies are great! The school horses at my bar get 2-3 each, and they just love them. The first thing they do when they get into the stall is go running to the feed bucket to look for them! How cute, huh?! My riding's doing a lot better, I'm still riding the same horse, by the way, I just wanted to clear this up, Reddy(the horse) isn't that advanced, but he has his basics down so well that advancing isn't a problem for him.
I talked to my teacher about talking to you and she was impressed that I would do so much to get help, and she sat down and we talked a bit while I untacked and groomed Reddy. Well, I don't want to bore anyone (too late Christine, they're all asleep) so I'll get to my question. My teacher put a gog(spelling?) on Reddy because he was being a brat about going on the bit and she wanted to make his back muscles work. Is this a good thing for me? I don't really know too much about what it does, can you tell me? Does it mean that I can't put him on the bit properly and this is meant to help me? Thank you for any help you can give me! Christine
What she's put on Reddy is almost certainly a DeGogue. This is a piece of equipment named after the French cavalry officer who invented it -- it's a variation on the Chambon (yes, named after ANOTHER French cavalry officer).
The Chambon is fairly simple: a strap attaches to the horse's girth and runs between his legs to his chest, where it attaches to the middle of a long cord. The ends of the cord run up on each side to a padded strap behind the horse's ears, pass through rings on each end of the strap, and come down to the bit, where they are attached where the reins would normally be fastened.
Still with me? The Chambon encourages the horse to move forward while lifting his back and stretching his head and neck forward and down. If the horse raises its head high and hollows its back, the Chambon tightens and the horse feels a pull in two areas: poll pressure from the strap behind its ears, and a pull in its mouth (upwards, on its lips) from the bit. This encourages the horse to move away from the pull, and when it drops its head and neck, the pull disappears. In the hands of an educated trainer who knows how to adjust it correctly (much more loosely than you would think!), it can help a horse teach itself to move more correctly.
The Chambon is meant to be used for longeing, but not for riding -- the DeGogue is a Chambon modified to be used while riding.
There are two forms of DeGogue, or rather two ways of adjusting it: "independent" mode and "command" mode. In the "independent" mode, it's adjusted like the Chambon, but instead of the cords fastening to the bit, they run THROUGH the bit rings and fasten to the chest strap again. This is usually used for longeing and occasionally for riding. It would probably be the preferred adjustment in your case.
The "command" mode is commonly used for ridden work. Once again, the cords pass through the bit rings, but this time, instead of being fastened to the chest strap, they are clipped to the ends of specially-made short reins. The rider normally uses two pairs of reins: these, and a pair of conventional reins, which are attached to the bit. This isn't something to try unless you're quite good at using two sets of reins!
Like many other training tools, this is meant to be used by an expert who is training or retraining a horse. It's not meant to be used as a tie-down, and it's not for everyday use! A horse can be dropping his back and lifting his head for any number of reasons, including sore muscles, joint injuries, a sore back, an unbalanced rider -- or a rider that isn't proficient enough to encourage the horse to lift his back and stretch his head and neck. If any of these things are causing Reddy to move badly, it would be VERY unkind and inappropriate to use the DeGogue as a way to force him "into a frame" -- and the almost guaranteed result will be a lame horse. I once visited a barn at which the "dressage trainer" had put tight DeGogues on all of the school horses, and called them "dressage head-sets" -- ALL of her horses were lame.
I'm assuming that your instructor is planning to use the DeGogue on Reddy ONCE OR TWICE, just to give you the an idea of what your horse will feel like when he is moving in a better outline. Then, with that firmly in mind, you'll be able to go back to riding with your normal bridle, but this time you will know exactly what your horse CAN feel like if you use your aids correctly and encourage him to move well.
Good luck!
- Jessica
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