21/04/2026
I’m not sure that I can correctly explain what Bill Steinkraus told me about why he used running martingales on many horses. He’s no longer around to say it himself, though, so here’s what I THINK he was saying---
First, some context. I never had a lesson from Bill, nor did I know him well enough to consider him a friend. To me he was always one of those “towering figures” who were legends in their own time. But I did get to know him through being at meetings at the USET board in Gladstone, NJ, and Bill was a natural teacher, so he would take the time to explain riding theory to some of us younger riders.
He told me one time that he didn’t use a running martingale so much to control the horse’s head position, but to influence the placement of the horse’s hind legs and hocks. If he was galloping at a fence and saw that he needed some collection or shortening, and he applied a half halt, and the horse’s instinct was to raise its head and invert its back, the running martingale would limit the extent of the inversion, and not allow the hocks to trail.
By being able to spring load the hind end, he could get a better jump. I don’t remember if he told me this, or if I read it somewhere, but Bill said something like “Using a running martingale saves me about one rail each round.”
Anyway, those are my recollections from years ago. Words from the mountain!!
