I'm going with the anal retentive theory... Some of that is a little to over the top. Teach them to get the bridle on without taking out the horse’s teeth or pulling off an ear. Teach them to do it so as not to create a horse that sticks his head in the air each time you come near him. But you "must" place over the left ear first??? You "must" use a double-sided Latino???

Some things are interchangeable. Some things are done a certain way for a VERY good reason. However, I think that some of what you were talking about was people just pushing the greenies to try and do it right. Maybe also trying to be a little more attractive to the more anal-retentive type of student that wants things to be "perfect" and needs to understand the why's of everything.

There are some things I am a stickler on. My husband is not a very experienced horse person (though please don't tell him that). When it came to saddling up his horse he would do well until it came to tying off the Latino. He would usually not place the saddle back to far or to far forward, he didn't bang them to death with the stirrups, but when he tied it off... Well let's just say it wasn't pretty. I can't even describe what he had going on there, with wrapping it and all. It just wasn't good, and not what I would call safe on any level. Well, we had this argument I don't know how many times. He would saddle his horse up, I would quietly come around and check the cinch and then retie the latigo. The whole time he would gripe and complain that "Just because it isn't done your way doesn't mean it's wrong." "There is more then one way to do things you know!" Well, sure there is. But I wasn't too excited about the prospect of have to pick him up off the dirt because the cinch came undone and he had ended up on the ground, or spooked the horse he was on and ran through a fence. He has given in finally. I think riding with other people and seeing that it wasn't just "my way" of doing things, but the "right way" of doing things!