Aw. Pony snuggles. She is such a great mare. :-) I rode on Monday and it was not good. She alternately wouldn't go forward or ran on her forehand and was totally out of balance. We did a lot of halt/back/walk just to keep her more or less from falling over.
It wasn't really frustrating, but that was just because I was enjoying the challenge of trying to find balance. However, we had switched back to using the happy mouth bit in the micklem bridle.
Rabbit trail: Izzy has taken up yawning after a ride. I know someone blogged about what that means, but I haven't had time to hunt down exactly who and what it meant. If it was you, please reply. Anyways, I wanted to see if the micklem would relieve the yawning issue. It sort of did. Instead of 3 or 4 yawns, I had one. Hum.
Anyways. Yesterday, I went back to the regular dressage bridle complete with most fav pony mare bit and the problem of leaning/running did not resurface, but the yawning did a little.
You know me--I'm not happy unless I have a tack problem to play with. ;-)
At any rate, we were also able to ride outside yesterday, which is a larger arena and helps with the forward problem. Izzy was fabulous. I felt great. We didn't even end up working very hard because Izzy was being so good that I saw no point in pushing it.
Now I'm off to see if Izzy will let my lil' sis ride her. Stay posted!
Don yawns after every ride too! Just once, sometimes twice. I usually just chuckle about it since he looks so funny but it actually means something? I'd be interested to know too!
ReplyDeleteIt's usually a sign of release of tension - you'll often see a horse yawn immediately after a chiropractic adjustment releases something. It doesn't have anything to do with being sleepy or breathing. It's different than gaping, where the horse is clearly uncomfortable in the mouth. I like it when my horses yawn - it's usually a sign of relaxation - my horses often yawn after a good ride or a good grooming. Gaping, on the other hand, means there's likely a problem with bit, teeth or TMJs.
ReplyDeleteYep, when Salem was getting his massage last week he yawned over and over and over, biiiiiig huge long eye-rolling yawns. Like Kate said, it's a sign of release of tension -- good thing!
ReplyDeleteHey, I have that same bit...and Salem hates it. I guess he and Izzy are opposites, cuz his fave bit was the double-jointed Happy Mouth boucher.
Klein will yawn a lot sometimes after a conditioning work out or a jump school. I always have heard it's tension release and relaxation, which would totally make sense being that I know she loves those two things.
ReplyDeleteFinding just the right bit is tricky. Sounds as if you are on the trail to discover the right tack combo for your girl.
ReplyDeleteYea, I would agree..if the yawning is joined by lots of eye blinking, snorting, or if she attempts to bend down and rub the inside of her front knee with her nose...all goooood releases! :)
ReplyDeleteI know this is an old post, but I just had to comment. The horse I take dressage lessons on yawns after the halter is off, before I bridle him. My instructor says it's to loosen up his jaw before we begin lessons.
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