what is a german olympic martingale?

Think of a "German Martingale" as a cross between a running martingale and draw reins.

Your reins have small dee rings on them, that the V part of the martingale attachs to the girthat the bottom of the "V", then up through the rings of the bit, then to the dee rings on the reins. The farther back toward the rider's hands that you snap the V to, the more severe the pressure it applies to bring the horse's head down and IN toward it's chest.

It works the same as draw reins; except the matingale allows you to only worry about one rein instead of two and prevents you from riding off the draw rein.

The martingale goes up through the bit and snaps to the reins with the rings. This creates a head set and causes the horse to flex his neck. When you pull back on the rein the horse fells a downward pressure as well as backward pressure. How much of each depends on which ring you attach the martingale to. The further back you attach the martingale the more downward pressure he will feel.

you say he's a young horse, therefor he won't be capable of coming down into a proper outline yet. Also martingales are designed to stop a horse evading the bit - not for tying a horses head down. A horse on the bit comes from behind - not from tying it's head down, this will put the head around the right place but you will have no impulsion and it's hind end will trail - you need to push the horse up into the bridle. If you really want to work on his headset then a pessoa or lunging in side reins are the best options. The pessoa especailly because is also encourages the horses hind end underneath it. Please don't try to force the horse to hold his head in - you will just ruin him. If you work on pushing him up into the bridle from behind then he will naturally come on the bit and bend at the poll and will collect properly. If you are into dressage at all, or even just for good basic training you want to get a book called 'The Complete Training of Horse and Rider' by Alois Podhajsky. He used to work at the spanish riding school, I think he was the principle or something. The language can be a little stinted but it is very sound training techniques and will result in a horse that goes beautifully.

Its a type of Running Martingale - The top piece goes around the neck to prevent the horses head from dropping to low - the leathers with rings keep the head from going up - by applying pressure to the reins which in turn apply's pressure to the bit.

It provides rider with unusual control with minimal pressure. Martingale ends pass through rings of bit and snap onto dees on reins.

Here is a link so you can see how its different then other martingales! http://www.chicksaddlery.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv...

a martingale helps to keep the horse from putting his head too far down or up! idk what the german olympic part is