Why Bitless Dressage is Stupid

An MS Paint Special brought to you by SprinklerBandits Blog.

Premature PS: If you're looking for a serious discussion of this topic, hop on over to Austen's blog. If you like snark, ms paint masterpieces, and have your popcorn ready, keep on reading.

There's an article going around right now about yet another petition to allow bitless dressage, which at present isn't allowed in competition by any credible organization anywhere in the world. This is fairly unusual--the only other thing people are as united against is child porn, but let's not think too hard about that.

Instead let's think about dressage. It's done by people on horses.

This is a person.

this cool person has a top hat

 This is a horse.

In case you missed the big red flag there, a horse weighs around 10x what an average person does. Interesting. Hold that thought.

Next, a HUUUUUUUGE component of dressage is having the horse "on the bit".

pictured: not on the bit

Why? Because dressage isn't a series of party tricks performed in a big top tent for a paying crowd. It's an art, a dance even, where two separate entities together become something more than either one is on their own. A person doing dressage without a horse is just an idiot in a tail coat and a horse doing dressage without a person is out of control.

What's more "on the bit" doesn't mean "head down, nose tucked in". That's called "head down, nose tucked in" or "hunters" or "trail riding" or what-have-you. Head-down-nose-tucked-in is fine, but it's not "on the bit".

head-down-nose-tucked-in

When a horse is on the bit, it's the first step in a larger dance. It's the moment where the horse and the rider change from having two minds and two balance points and two ideas about life to one. It's where "awkwardly tripping over the other person" becomes "ballroom dancing". It's not static--this is a dynamic tension between horse and rider that is the first and most elemental step to all the steps that ever follow.

and you thought i was a one-trick pony

That's why it's not piaffe when your OTTB inverts and jigs. That's inverting and jigging. There's no connection (whaaaaaaat it works on so many levels)(all puns intended).

So let's circle back around to that first part.

Horse.

Human.

Size.

There's a reason "bull in a china store" isn't a pleasant descriptor of dance or dressage. Think about it. The horse outweighs you by a factor of 10. Human biology is such that even if we can lift 10x our body weight, it's not a pleasant, graceful, melding of two entities. It's raw, Neanderthal-esque brutality.

And I'm not saying that to piss on Neanderthals--they surely serve(d?) a mighty purpose, just that purpose wasn't horse dancing.

this chap does not have a top hat

A bit is the Colt .45 of the old west (God didn't make all men equal--Mr Colt did. C'mon. Keep up.). Because we puny humans are exponentially smaller and weaker than our equine partners, we need a way to be in balance with them that doesn't involve sheer 1:1 force, because given the simple physics of human vs. equine size, that force is and must be unreasonable to both human and horse.

In simple fact: a bit is not a device to allow humans to muscle horses around. A bit instead permits two-way communication between two partners whose two separate balance points have become one single point.

A bit is the lifeline of communication. A bit allows us to whisper straight to the horse's mouth without all that trouble of shouting at it's face like an asshole.

top hat doesn't make it a good idea

So bits. They give us the nuance of communication between human and horse in a way that both parties and understand and respect. They enable the balance that takes us from awkward tripping in a high school gym to the show ring and beyond.

Now yeah, a few of you are going to get up in my face and MY HORSE CAN BALANCE WITHOUT MY HELP JUST FINE AND I CAN BALANCE WITHOUT HIM AND THE BRIDLE IS JUST FOR STEERING YOU MEANIE PANTS BLOGGER YOU.

To which I say:

And also:

1) If you're not part of the balance, maybe you need to reconsider what the hell you're doing up there. But. Who am I to judge your very majikul konnektion and yes that was three ks figure it out.

2) The number of people who believe they don't need a bridle vs the number of people who actually don't need a bridle is a scary, scary number. Of ALL the accomplished equestrians I know across all the disciplines, I can think of 1 person who I would trust in public (you know, like at shows, which is what we're talking about) without a bridle and that person told me in no uncertain terms that in her mind, riding without a bridle is stupid because of the vast capacity for things to go wrong. You think your bridle is for steering. I think you're a dumbass. I guess that's as far as it gets.

And to clarify--I'm not hating on riding at home in a halter or hackamore or whatever scary-ass bitless leverage contraption you've strapped on your horse's head. Do whatever the hell you want. I'm just saying that at shows, your logic is invalid. The level playing field is predicated on all of us actually trying to achieve the same thing. So like. Go ahead. Be a champion of head-down-nose-tucked-in, but just don't do it at tense-inverted-jigging show if you want to win.

Ok internet. Go nuts.

Because I'm an Amateur

He is the best at dressing up

I've talked a lot on here about being an amateur and how that changes the way I ride, the way I dress, and the decisions I make. I've profiled other fun amateurs and attempted to share the journey for others to participate in.

And then Sunday, I got to demonstrate just exactly what that means.

All of you know that I'm quite a fan of my little bay horse. He is sweet and fun and hardworking and good to be around, and every once in a while, he can be quite a pig. Sunday's flat ride was mostly focused on warming up to jump--loose reins, forward and back, not too worried about contact or anything.

LOVE his outfit. LOVE.

He seemed just a teeeeeeny bit resistant, but I wanted to ride forward through it and not pick at him. (And yes, I guess I was full on ignoring S when she always tells me to pick little fights with him so he gives up the big ones more easily. Oops.)

Anywhoodle.

The jumps were all set up a bit because I wanted to expand on Wednesday's brilliance, but I did start by trotting into a crossrail. He jumped it great with his front end, then just sort of decimated it behind.

DAYUM they look good. No stopping pics.

This from my horse that always jumps clean. Hm. Should have been a clue.

Aimed him at the next crossrail. I didn't give him the best ride ever, but it was no worse and anything else. I mean, I tipped forward at it a little, but it wasn't like I hurled myself up his neck...

BRAKES.

I seriously almost ate it.

This wasn't going well, so we dropped the X down to rails on the ground and the sucker stopped AGAIN.

I. Was. Pissed.

Look who is jumping panels like a normal horse!

I applied a couple of artificial aids and my little bay horse leaped over it, but you could see it in every line of his body. Courage did not come to play today.*

Redheadlins coached us a little and after forward/back work, we jumped the first crossrrail without doing anything stupid. Then I marched him up to her, tossed her the reins, and watched my horse jump around the fun course I'd set.

Bam. Knees. Also jumping across.

I call it amateur privilege. Could I get him around it? Probably. Could redheadlins get some very quality work out of him without damaging my confidence and at the same time build up my horse's?

YES. That my friends, is why we pay professionals. (Ok, well I don't really "pay" her, unless you count tack as a currency.)

So off they went. She looked great, he looked great, and after the first couple of sticky fences, Courage was able to jump a complicated course with inside turns and cool panels and related distances like a total champ.

Admire cute horse. Ignore rider position. Very wtf.

And then I got back on and had a few more successful fences.

It's not a cop out--I'm working to become a better, stronger rider. That said, I believe strongly in giving my horse the best chance possible, whether that's with me (most days) or with a better rider (some days). Taking on a green horse is a huge project and I wouldn't want to go it alone. 



*Noted: Courage being a bit of a pig is a normal occurrence about once a month or so. If he felt in any way off or the behavior persists, I would certainly follow up on the physical side of things. I know this horse well enough to know that sometimes he just needs to remember he's not the alpha.

Never a Dull Moment

Dental day started out kind of fun--I chatted with the vet about the sedatives he was using and then was duly impressed by what a lightweight my little man is. Seriously. He pretty much just sniffed them and was under. His girlfriend took twice the dose he did and she was still quasi awake.

Once his teeth were done, I literally left Courage standing in the stall with the front and back doors open because he was so put of it that I knew he couldn't go anywhere. I mean, his head was about 2" off the ground and he was snoring. Loudly.

I paid the vet, chatted with friends for a bit, then closed the stall doors and rode another horse at the barn while Courage recovered enough to go to his own stall. By the time I got off the other horse, he was sort of clumsily wandering around the stall so I pulled him out. He was all dopy and cuddly. I stuck him in the cross ties and hosed him off to clean up the dust he accumulated in the dry weather.

He didn't like the cold water, but it was 70f and sunny, so I scraped him off and stuck him in his run to dry in the sun while I picked up my stuff.

But he started shivering. His hind end was shaking uncontrollably and his front end was twitching. His skin was ice cold to the touch. I put his halter on and hand walked him in the sunbeam, but he back end was super stiff and he was still shaking.

If that wasn't weird enough, then his nose started bleeding.

Yikes. I put in a call to the vet, let the BO know that he was having some trouble, put a fleece on him, and hand grazed him in the sun for a while. (Noted: at this point, he was awake, just really, really cold.)

Poor little man. :-( It took a crazy long time, but he warmed up slowly wearing both fleece and standing in the sun. The vet got back with me and said that as long as he perked up, it would be ok. By the time I left, Courage was muching his hay, though now wearing his 220gram medium winter blanket in the nearly 60f weather.

He seems fine now. My BO checked on him overnight and I'll be out this morning. I've been around plenty of sedated horses before, but I'd never seen a reaction quite like that.

Bridles Part 1: Aesthetics

I love bridles. I suspect most of you have picked up on that by now. I bridle shop enough to know just what type of bridle I like (giant, fancy, padded, monocrown, preferably with sparkles somewhere), but I also know that not every horse can wear every style. I always wished that someone would write a useful style guide for those of us who only had one horse to shop for and didn't want to just buy and return stuff constantly.

So I wrote one. You're welcome.

Here's a look at the facial types I've dressed and what looks work best for them.

good

Izzy

Oldenburg Mare
Facial type: bold lines and features. Simple markings. Straight profile.
Dressing difficulty: easy

Izzy was well bred and a nice mover, but clinicians always called her a "handsome" mare and she was frequently mistaken for a gelding. Her face, while expressive, was plain. That allowed me to dress it up just as much as I wanted.

Here she's rocking the Nunn Finer event bridle. I chose brass highlights because I knew she could handle the extra pizzazz without being overwhelmed. It worked ok for her. There was nothing wrong with the look and it was always clean and workmanlike. That said, her face could handle something more.

better

Naturally, she also had a figure eight. This is a Five Star Tack piece--I don't remember which model. Again, because her face is simple, the white contrast stitching and padded monocrown worked really well for her face.

She had just enough white to set it off without so much that I was worried that the details would get swallowed up.

best

This was absolutely Izzy's signature bridle. It's another Five Star Tack model that has unfortunately been discontinued. It's the Magnolia bridle. She's actually wearing it in oversize because that's the only one I could find.

It's hard to see the details in this shot, but it had a 1.5" noseband with a detailed browband and white contrast stitching. I loved all the details, right down to the buckles, and it looked fabulous with the simple lines of her face. The width in the noseband helped refine her otherwise common lines and the details added visual interest. If I still had Izzy, I would still have this bridle, no question.

OH MY GOD NO

Cuna

OTTB gelding
Facial type: complicated lines, small muzzle, very refined, lots of detail, slightly dished face
Dressing difficulty: HARD

Cuna was immensely difficult to buy tack for, which just meant that I bought a lot of it. I tried the bridle on him that was perfect for Izzy, and we were all horrified and amused. The details that made it pop on her completely overwhelmed his face and looked atrocious.

also no

Then I went in the opposite and tried understated. This is a plain raised, horse sized edge wood bridle that I picked up for cheap somewhere.

Horrible.

In trying to get away from the overdone look of the Five Star bridle, I screwed up and got everything wrong. Cuna needed something simple, but this was too refined for a 16.3 hand gelding. He can't do complicated, but he is too big for this to work and the unique edgewood leather pulls all the wrong colors out for a red horse.

He looks sick.

not quite

I put him in the Nunn Finer. Because it is such a basic bridle, it worked pretty well for him. That said, I bought it with brass details to set off a plain head (Izzy) and brass+chestnut is pretty much a no-go.

Between his adorable fluffy forelock and bright red color, the brass was just too much.

We compromised on this one. The bridle wasn't "bad", it just wasn't best for him. I pulled the brass browband off and we made do.

getting there

Then we tried the hunter bridle route. This was sold to me as a Hadfield bridle, but I've never found a maker's mark to prove it. It worked ok on his face.

Ok, I actually quite like this bridle on him and still have it, but the truth is that his conformation and movement style are NOTHING like a hunter, so while nice, it was a bit superfluous. Still. We were on the right track. His face is busy, so I needed something simple and elegant without being too refined.

handsome

The next attempt was the strangely nice Ovation wide noseband bridle. I dressed it up with a fancy brownband and experimented both with and without the flash.

What I really liked about this bridle was that it balanced the 1.25" plain raised cavesson with very refined cheeks and simple buckles. It really set Cuna's face off very nicely.

While it worked for his face, it never quite satiated my need for "pretty". It was workmanlike and effective and slightly prettier than the Nunn Finer. It did the job.

Best

Then I found something new. This is a Mark Todd bridle imported from England. I actually love how the unique curves of the bridle balance the delicacy of his face with his large size.

If I'd spent more time playing around with it, I think I would probably have removed the flash just because Cuna doesn't like it or need it.

The buckles are technically brass, but they're a matte finish that is quite innocuous. Can I just say I love this bridle?

Of course, as soon as I got Cuna's bridle selection hammered out, he went and retired and I got to start over with facial type #3.

too big

Courage 

OTTB Gelding
Facial Type: Long, narrow face. Lots of space to fill between jowl and mouth. Flashy white. Plain lines.
Dressage Difficulty: Medium

Courage is funny to dress. His big blaze should dictate simple lines because it takes up so much visual attention, but the lines of his face are rather uninteresting.

I started him out in the go-to Nunn Finer bridle. We put a figure eight on it because after 6 years of race training, there was a lot for him to learn about what was and was not acceptable. Unfortunately, despite being 16.1 and 8 years old, he has a tiny little face and the horse-sized piece just hung uselessly on him.

ok

Next we went to Cuna's surprisingly nice Ovation bridle.

This worked pretty well, aesthetically. The refined cheeks didn't overwhelm his narrow head and the cavesson/flash filled up space pretty well. That said, it was a horse size bridle and he was on the last hole of pretty much everything.

It wasn't going to be our long term solution.

good

Our next step was the micklem bridle. For those who have aesthetic complaints about the design, I don't disagree. It's different. I find them a bit distracting when I'm looking through event pictures, but if they stick around, I think that will be overcome. Let's face it: they're not as ugly as (god help us all) drops. Ew. Hate those. (And yes, some horses go well in them. Life goes on.)

Regardless. Because of his facial structure, the micklem actually worked surprisingly well. It's very busy between the jowl and the chin and that is PERFECT for Courage who has a lot of space there without a lot going on. I've used both the bedazzled browband and plain, and they both work with his face.

This bridle is actually cob sized and fits him quite well. That said, it's unconventional looking and no horse of mine can have just one bridle, can they? The horror!

nope

We borrowed a flat hunt bridle in cob size from our barn owner.

I have to say, I'm glad I didn't buy it. Although it fit well, the bridle was all kinds of wrong for this face. It just emphasized how narrow his head was without showing off his character well at all.

I tried it on twice and the results were the same. Although he is a super cute horse, this bridle isn't aesthetically the best choice for him.

best

Here's my favorite so far. It's the cob sized Dover Circuit bridle. It's very similar leather to the edgewood that totally didn't work for Cuna, but Courage is a totally different color and the slightly red tone looks LOVELY on him. (Note: I would never, ever put this on a black or black bay. HATE that combo.)

The figure eight fills up space nicely and the contrast stitching on the plain raised section is just enough detail without trying to overrun his big blaze.

I will say that I also stuck a d ring bit on it because I knew it would look cute. That's not a concern for under saddle work, but I was dressing him for a photo shoot and cute was at a premium.


And that's not even all the bridles I've ever owned. Please, no one go through and total up the cost for that list for me, haha. Not every bridle works for every horse. This post is just about the aesthetics of the bridles I used. I'm planning another one on function and quality, because hey, I love bridles, and Courage is on Christmas vacation at least until all this nasty ice melts.

Anyone have a picture of a bridle on their horse that is just stunning? Maybe one that is less than stunning? Email it to me. (hakunamatata@gmail.com). I want to do a set with reader photos too. Please include the bridle make/model (if know) and any relevant details about the horse. Headshots are easiest to look at bridles.

Having a Moment

Cute ponies eat cookies

Cuna is a stereotypical chestnut OTTB, right down the his ridiculously sensitive skin. I literally can't keep hair on this horse and I have NEVER had that problem before him. For being as smart as he is, he does some really dumb things, like peeing in his stall and sleeping in his run, thereby giving himself hock sores. Yay! 

Anyways. Last week, I noticed he was starting to get a rub -under- his saddle. The saddle hasn't changed, his muscling hasn't changed, the pad hasn't changed, the detergent hasn't changed. I assumed it was the super hot, dry weather we've been having that has been aggravating his skin issues anyways. To treat it, I switched to putting a sheepskin under the saddle pad, and then put equyss moisturizer on his rub spot after every ride. 

The only weird thing was that there was a rub on his right side, but not the left. 

Huh. 

It finally hit me. The saddle isn't rubbing Cuna--I AM. Dammit. It's my asymmetry affecting his conformation. It explains why on our long hacks my right hip has started cramping. It's probably compounded by the fact that I've been doing a lot of riding without stirrups and hacking, but zero dressage to keep me in the middle of the saddle. He is showing me my latest and most fun weakness. 

Red ears always make me feel better

I spent yesterday having a fun emotional meltdown and making a huge deal out of stupid things. It didn't help that I made a great plan to treat our asymmetry including a pilates instructor, a physical therapist, and a riding instructor with a degree in exercise something or other, but all of them are unavailable for the next few weeks. Cuna and I went for a walking hack, because I needed to be with him, but didn't want to make him worse. I focused on keeping my weight even in my stirrups and getting my butt out of the saddle. 

Today, I had to stay close to the barn, so we worked on dressage. I practiced riding straight lines in the freshly worked arena and being very conscious of his body movement and how I affected him. We circled and serpentined as I focused on keeping his hind end engaged without driving from my seat. I tried to keep the weight even in my stirrups and sitting bones, which is remarkably easier on flat ground than it is in the hills. We were actually having some excellent work, right up until I had to leap off and meet the vet for another horse. 

I'm going to keep the sheepskin next to his hair, and back off the no stirrups while I get myself sorted out a little bit. I'm keeping an eye on his rub spot, and I think we might actually make some positive changes here. Finally. 

Feeling the Squeeze

Let's just say it hasn't been the best month ever, money-wise. The show we went to Saturday cost me a grand total of $34 and that was a near thing. I've been wanting to buy clips for my pretty breastcollar (a total cost of like $2) and it's just not in the budget right now. I've been making it, barely, and I'm trying to actually start making headway. You know, putting money into savings, acting like a grown adult.

It is tight. I am a master scrounger, seller, and saver of all things, but even I am wondering how some things are going to work out right now. I watch clients with real jobs go to shows that cost considerably more than $34 and think that someday, I might like to do that too.

Things aren't exactly getting better yet, but I'm hopeful that they will soon. Why?

Well... I wrote the last check for Mr. Hakuna Matata this morning.

This was his best pose this morning.

This goofy face is here to stay.

It's left me rather poorer than I'd like, but I am now done paying on him. :) Yay!! Old man horse is all mine.










With all his foibles and fidgets, he is still the best horsey thing that's happened to me in a long, long time. He is immensely patient, fun to be around, and almost oddly wise. He is fiery enough to need a big bit to run xc, and quiet enough that my non-horsey mom can safely hold him at a show and never have a problem.

(Husband not pictured. He and Cuna dislike pics.)

We are officially done buying tack, going to shows, and doing anything else that costs money for the foreseeable future. I need to get some stuff worked out, because as much as I love the horsey lifestyle, I love financial stability just a hair more.

I'm back on a strict diet of eating only at home and not going out unless it's someone else's treat, but hey, when I've got these little buggers to come home to, what's there to complain about?

I want more colors. ALL THE COLORS!!

We've had our share of adventures this year. I hung all my favorite ribbons on the blinds above my kitchen sink to remind me, every day, exactly why I'm doing the dishes at home and not eating out.

Our first ribbon together (little blue on right), our first derby together (pink), our first horse trials together (big blue) and our most giant jumper ribbon (yellow). So much progress, so little time.

He's worth it. Every penny.

PS We used the plain ol' breastcollar on Saturday. I really should tell that story.

Shorts. Sliced Bread.

I'm totally trying to play off this casual, amazing attitude that's like, "Oh yeah, so we totally jumped a couple of huge ass jumps today. What about it?"

But the truth is, I'm more likely to squeal "OMGEEEEEEEEEE WE JUMPED GIANT JUMPS!!!!!" My apologies in advance if you're going to see me today (ahem, Carie).

I pulled Cuna out, unwrapped his cold, tight legs, hosed off the remaining poultice, and trotted him for Steph, sans any leg coverings. Sound. YAY!! It was just those silly boot rubs. <3 my sensitive princess horse.

Sexy wrap job

Because, of course, one simply doesn't jump in a lesson without some form of leg protection (particularly on a horse that isn't yet completely paid off with an instructor who has an evil sense of humor regarding our ability levels), I got to wrap today.

My early equestrian upbringing inclued zero information about how to do this, and my barn schedule means I rarely have time to practice. I think it took me like 15 minutes or something ridiculous, but they looked mostly ok at the end.

And then it was jump time! We have a show in like 8 days, so I'm super excited to take some lessons and maybe continue our streak of not completely sucking. This is a whole new concept for me, and I kind of like it. Because of my weird mental XC issues, we're doing the derby (dressage and XC) at 2'3", so we will most likely just jump tiny logs. That is FINE. However, we are also entered for a schooling round in the BN, which may include slightly larger logs and maybe even actual jumps.

So. Lesson. We started trotting in and cantering out of a tiny grid. 12" crossrail to 2' crossrail bounce, one stride to ground pole. So far, so good. Add left roll back turn to 18" crossrail with placing pole. Sure. End with right circle. No problem. I get tense over fences, so we jumped through the grid a couple of times, with me focusing on staying balanced over over him and riding forward instead of letting him suck back behind my leg over the second crossrail.

I was able to cogently discuss the failings of each attempt with Steph and then correct them, so that was good.

Then she put the jumps up.

You know, UP. ^ That way. Now it was crossrail to crossrail bounce, one stride, GIANT FREAKING OXER, left rollback turn, GIANT FREAKING OXER, right hand turn to another line of bounces, right hand circle. Whoa. Intenseness.

I made a first attempt. We were ok through the grid except I tried to grab his face and hold for an invisible stride, then realized it wasn't there and just grabbed mane and prayed, then made a decent rollback and CHASED him to the second oxer, and then Steph thought maybe we should try the whole thing again, this time with some thinking and breathing and whatnot. Quite a concept.

Here's what I'm most happy about: I agreed with her. I was able to discuss what needed to change, and I actually wanted to try the course again. I wanted a chance to do better and give my horse a decent ride. I wasn't afraid. I wasn't wishing I was dead. I was ready to have a decent go.

Again. This time, I kicked him forward through the grid, let the fences balance him, and stayed in balance as he jumped the first huge oxer. We got our lead before the corner, cantered the left rollback turn, and I sat and waited as he took me to the fence. As soon as we cleared giant oxer #2, I used a strong inside leg to keep him out on my line for the right hand turn to the line of bounces. I got him straight, locked on to a line, and kept him between my hand and leg through the bounces. We finished with a right hand circle at an excellent canter.

Super giant

Oh yeah. Casual like shorts. Awesome like sliced bread. That is us, today. I even got the working student to take a picture of me by giant oxer #1 once Cuna was rinsed, re-wrapped, and put away. Then I measured it. 3'1", baby. I didn't even freak out.

That's how cool I am with Cuna. Scratch that.

That's how awesome Cuna is.

Inner Game

I had a fabulous ride yesterday. We flatted (har har) in the big arena. I kept Izzy forward and flexible, and then we headed out and hacked part way up the little hill by ourselves. Away from the barn and friends and food. Izzy was really, really good. I turned her around earlier than I wanted to, but at the same time, I wanted to keep it pleasant and happy for everyone. This can be fun. I felt great and couldn't wait to jump again.

And then I stressed out all morning because I was so nervous for my jumping lesson (which went great, btw).

It's so frustrating to deal with mental/confidence issues. I'm fine one moment, gone the next. I'm a very self-contained and self-controlled person normally, so it's driving me absolutely batty to not be able to deal with this effectively.

Blogosphere to the rescue!! I read a post by Cherie at Golightly Sport Horses dealing with sports psychology and the mental game that all athletes face, particularly in relation to their confidence. Then Ellie at Cedes of Change (yes, the amazing photographer) wrote another post about dealing with mental issues in her chosen sport, dog agility (which is wicked cool). Her post talked about making a list of five things you love about your chosen sport. Not goals, not plans, but the things that you actually enjoy, the reasons you got started in the first place. The idea is to help you refocus and figure out why you do what you do.

I gave it a shot. Here's my list of the five reasons I train for eventing:

1) I love the puzzle. Feed, farrier, vet, chiro, barn management. I like the challenge of finding the problem and fixing it.

2) I love the partnership. Finding what makes me horse tick and how to get the most out of her and myself.

3) I love the people. I'm constantly surrounded by people who share my same driving passion and interests.

4) I love the purpose. Each phase helps us develop as a well-rounded team, the strongest and most effective we can be.

5) I love the pride of working toward perfection and being judged by an objective standard. Because we can fail, we can also succeed.

The nerdier among you are appreciating my alliteration right now.

I feel like I'm starting to get my bearings. Writing out why we're working with an eventing trainer when jumping still scares the sh*t out of me helps clarify my position with myself. I always see eventing as the end goal of any training schema--you need the power and poise of dressage, the forward adrenaline of cross country, and the exacting discipline of show jumping. Maybe you don't--I do. It makes for well-rounded riders and horses and keeps riding interesting.

I am moving forward. I had an excellent (and non-terrifying) jumping lesson this morning. I do not understand where this fear came from, but I am attacking it from every angle possible. The more I ride well and get comfortable, the less fear I will have from the actual experience. I am trying to spend some time each day visualizing jumping well and safely so that I can start seeing myself being successful. I am also interested in reading up a bit on the mental game. Any sports psychology book recommendations, helpful blogs, or websites out there for me to look at?

Musing on Tack

I like pretty things. I like matching things.

As you can see, Izzy has very coordinated outfits. (You'd think this would spill over into my personal fashion department, but no).

All pretty havana brown leather for our jump tack. Black boots all around.










And dressage. All black, all matching. It's not that everything is the same brand, just that I make sure everything coordinates. I keep it clean and shiny and all is well.

Here's the rub: Stephanie cleans tack after every ride. Every time. As a result, her tack is soft and lovely and all, but it's completely the same color. You know, the lovely white contrast stitching I adore on my dressage and figure eight bridles? It would be gone.

Hm. I took the easy way out and just brought my lovely (and non-contrast-stitched) Nunn Finer bridle out to ride in.


Problem: when I ride in my dressage saddle, my bridle doesn't match. Havana and black? No thank you!!

I'm sure you're all relieved to know that I'm choosing a sensible solution instead of taking the obvious route and simply buying a havana dressage saddle. No, I am considering picking up a second dressage bridle. Der. You know, one without contrast stitching that I can use the crap out of and not worry about. I mean, tons of people have show tack and regular tack, right?

Right?

Rain, Rain, Go Away

We had insane winds here Sunday, followed by a ridiculous rain storm on Monday, so I didn't even go out to the barn.

Yesterday I was so exhausted that I just went out and lunged the mare. She looked good, happy, and forward, which made me wish I was riding. Then I realized I'd have to change into breeches, fight with my stupid dead boots, and saddle up, and I decided I would just turn her out instead.

I don't know what to think. I'm looking into cheaper ways to get omeprazole for her to treat for ulcers, but if she maintains her current behavior, then I'm pretty sure that we're dealing with a hormone issue. If it's hormones, then I've heard very good things about raspberry leaves, which are relatively inexpensive but I still don't want to spend money on anything until I have a better idea of what's going on.

Oh, and it's supposed to rain the rest of the week. Ugh.

I'm looking forward to riding tomorrow and maybe even doing a photoseries for It's In The Bag. (If you haven't heard of them, go there and buy away! I'm a tightwad poor person and I got a gorgeous three tube tail bag. Love the quality, love the product, love the cause.)

A Note

I had another great dressage ride on Izzy yesterday. We are starting to get the hang of shoulder fore. I did have to stop and do some turn on the forehand with her to remind her that she can, in fact, move her haunches right.

Mostly, I just wanted to make a note of this in case I ever need to come back to it. About half to 2/3 of the way through our ride, Izzy started switching her tail when I asked for more impulsion in the trot, particularly to the right. (Although her lengthen-shortens were lovely). I suspect it's because she was getting tired and wasn't sure she really wanted to work that hard, but I want to keep track and make sure there isn't a troublesome pattern emerging.

We have pretty recently stepped up our training program a LOT, and she is advancing every time we ride, as am I, so it makes sense that she's tired or maybe slightly body sore. Any ideas for increasing fitness other than just doing the work? We'll be doing trot and canter sets as soon as the track and/or outdoor arena is rideable, but I'm not holding my breath. It is still January after all.

In related news, we had a barn girls night and watched Secretariat last night. It was really fun, and since I rode over to it with one of my fellow boarders, I got to come back to the barn around 10pm (so late for me!). Izzy was adorable! She came over to the fence and sniffed me and let me pet her. As much fun as yesterday was, that moment really made my day.

Working Out Issues

I had a brilliant ride this morning. Picture me saying that with a British accent and we'll be on the same page.

Since Izzy's back at the old barn with no turnout, I lunged her for a long time. She needs it. She's a horse that really and truly needs turnout. With it, she's as calm and mellow as she could possibly be. Without, she's a nutjob. I try to compromise; I turn her out in the arena when possible (but that's only about 20-30 minutes at a time) and I lunge before every ride. My lunging is not structured; it's just for her to blow off steam.

So anyways. After lunging, I hopped on and off we went. Izzy was really quite good. We worked on maintaining a steady contact and me riding her up to it from her hind end. (Yay! She's doing really well.) She seems to be figuring out that I'm serious about it, so she's been a lot better about it.

Next we worked on a jumping exercise. It looked like this:

|

Yep. A single trot pole. We trotted over it both directions until we could both do it calmly and in balance without rushing off afterward. Then we cantered over it both directions. My goal was to begin to train myself to see a distance. (And since it's a pole, no one cares if I screw up.) It was a whole new experience for me, but I got Izzy to canter to it and put her front legs on one side with her hind on the other. It took a bit for me to start saying "Ok, push for this one" or "I need to hold for that" and I have a LONG way to go, but I definitely felt like it was a start.

We finished by trotting a small course of trot poles. It was a pretty illogical course, but I was more worried about rhythm, softness, and direction and less worried about the flow of the course. Izzy did quite nicely through it all.

In other news... School has started here, which means that Cathy lost two of her morning cleaners. It affects me in that she wants me to pick up the extra hours. I don't want to, but I understand she is in a genuinely tight spot. HOWEVER, the life skill I am working on right now is making good decisions to reduce stress levels in my life. It is NOT a good decision to take on more hours when I'm already irritated about working too much to board at a place with no turnout, no shelters, and no indoor. So. I thought about it. And I said this, "Well, if you're willing to ride Izzy (full training) for a month, I'll take the hours for a month. We can figure something out after that." **

I know you're all proud of me for standing up and saying what I thought, but it gets better. Cathy sort of hemmed and hawed about time and then said something like, "Well, I guess if I'm cleaning, then I'm also not riding." Notice how I did not just back down and say, "Oh. I'm so sorry that would be an inconvenience. Nevermind."

That is what insecure teenage me would have said. Starting to grow up me is thinking that it makes more financial and equine sense to move Izzy somewhere she'd be happier and just have me pick up a few more hours at a non-horsey job to pay for it. And honestly, as much as I like and respect Cathy as a trainer and a person, I'm not willing to continue this arrangement forever. Izzy needs turnout. I need a trainer who can give me lessons reliably and will say no to other people instead of just saying yes to everyone and me getting pushed aside. Insecure me would say, "Well, they're paying and I'm just a working student." Growing up me says, "I'm providing you with a valuable service and I am worth your time."

We'll see where this goes. I'm intrigued by the idea of actually just paying board every month and letting someone else muck stalls. Of course I'll still be hands-on with Izzy's care, but I'm kind of over this whole thing I'm doing now.

**If I take on the extra hours, I will be responsible for the morning cleaning (and usually feeding) of 22 horses 5x a week. That's at least 20 hours a week and it more than pays for full training every month, I'm pretty sure. Oh, and I make more at my other jobs than I do there...

Dressage Lesson

After riding in the clinic over the weekend, I realized that I was getting a lot of similar comments to what I've already received. Since I'm a fairly sharp person, I figured that even if I don't fix a problem the first time, maybe by the 10th or 11th time I'm told it, I ought to figure it out, right? ;-)

So. As much work as we need jumping, yesterday I dragged out the dressage saddle to take advantage of Cathy's area of expertise. Specifically, I need to 1) ride Izzy's hind legs up to the contact 2) provide contact to ride her up to and 3) forget about messing with her face. This can be done equally well in any saddle, but the dressage is good for us.

Off we went. Izzy was absolutely lovely--she even let me ride her forward. She was accepting the contact pretty well and I just had to focus really, really hard on engaging her hind end. When I got her stepping up behind, everything else magically went right. (Shocking, I know. I seem to have to re-learn this every couple months.)

About 2/3s of the way through my lesson, I realized that I needed to get off and take care of some, er, pressing female issues, shall we say. Thankfully, Cathy was willing to hop on and take Izzy for a spin. It warmed my lil' heart to see Izzy give Cathy the exact same act she was giving me as far as leaving her butt behind and lifting her nose to try and get her to fix that instead of ask her to work harder.

They worked through that and left me with several valuable lessons. (And oh how I wished I had my camera handy--Izzy looked great at the end of it.)

Lessons learned (hopefully)
1) I'm not riding the horse's face, so I need to leave the face alone and engage the hind end. If I engage the hind end, then Izzy is able to push forward off her haunches, round through her body, and stretch down into the contact. It feels great when done right. Someday, we'll do it right.

2) Contact buggers me more than it does her. My old mare never wanted more than an ounce of contact in each rein, and I've transferred that to Izzy. Thus, while Izzy isn't particularly bothered by a strong contact, I need to convince myself that it's ok to have some.

3) As I rider, I'm soft and quiet and tend to be somewhat ineffective. :-/ Sad, but true. I need to be willing to compromise my "pretty" position in order to use my aids more effectively. For example, in the canter, I just left my seat flow along with Izzy, which means we run downhill and almost trot uphill. When I watched Cathy ride and use her seat more definitely, I realized that Izzy is capable of a lot more than I'm asking her for. I need to use my seat in such a way as to say, "This is where I want you," and then keep her there. Once she figures it out, Izzy is pretty compliant.

Hm. Sounds like a bunch of stuff I should already know. I'll finish out the week doing dressage I guess... then I need to put together a better schedule for Izzy and I. We need to jump (well, do cavaletti mostly), work on dressage, and I want to get her out of the arena more often. It's good for us to do hard things.

It's Chiro Time

Despite my scatterbrained-ness this morning, Izzy was quite sweet. I rode her early, just after both her halfie friends loaded in the trailer and left for a few hours. She whinnied when they left, but she's just not attached enough to care about them when she has a person paying attention to her. As usual (now), I just saddled her up and hopped on in the arena. No lunging. No spooking. No worrying. I really, really love her brain with turnout.

She was good, for the most part. The arena is kind of hard and while she's sound, I don't want to push, so we just did flat work. She's her usual crooked self, pushing into both shoulders, but overall not too bad. She was a little distracted by the horse next door, but I asked her to focus and she did. So far, so good.

Then I got off and realized that I totally forgot my checkbook. I don't want to be one of 'those clients' who doesn't pay in a timely fashion, so I scooted home as fast as I could and got it. (Yay 40 minutes of extra driving). Toni, the chiro was already there when I made it back.

Izzy was her usual dear self. She's apparently really easy to work with because she's always trying to see what you're doing--perfect for getting her to realign her neck and the like. Toni pointed out that even when standing square, Izzy's left hip was low and forward compared to her right. In addition, since she puts her weight on her front left when eating and napping, not only is her front right taller, her shoulder is all out of whack because her shoulder blade is rolled back and down most of the time.

These two issues together make for some serious straightness issues and Toni even thinks that Izzy's right front was bad enough that there may have been some circulation problems which could contribute to her front-end lameness. Interesting. She worked Izzy through all that, and now Izzy is the straightest she's ever been.

In other good news, Izzy's saddle still seems to be working out well and Toni said her back feels great, which means that we don't seem to have any problems there. Also, the second wither rub is coming in black, which I think means I caught it in time so we don't have any follicle damage. I explained to Toni about Izzy's expressiveness as far as saddle fit and pain issues, and she complimented me for paying attention to my horse. Yay! Thanks to all of you for helping me along the way, but especially Jean and Kate who hounded me on certain things that needed hounding.

In yet more good news, my prize in the contest I won showed up yesterday. Thanks to Steph at The Aspiring Equestrian for the Dressage Today issues. She even put a pretty ribbon on them and wrote me a card. I'm having a great time reading through them already.

Mon dieu! C'est stupide!

Izzy and I had another jumping day. I got Irie's mom to help me set a barrel jump, and off we went.

Izzy warmed up really well. We had to do a little work with halting and backing to remind her that going forward did not mean hollow and run, but then she softened and listened nicely. She's getting more comfortable in the new arena, so she's not nearly as forward as she was yesterday. However, we did get some nice work on galloping and coming back in and she seems to do it pretty well. With her big stride and her speed, gallop is amazing to ride.

Then we jumped. She warmed up really well over the crossrail and then we headed for the barrels. (I had let her look at them earlier.) She came in, cantered a stride or two out, then launched herself over the jump. I managed to grab mane and stay on. As she cantered away, I petted her and told her what a good girl she was. We did the same thing again, with her launching and me grabbing mane, and then...

Nothing. We'd come in and stop. I'd make her stand in front of the jump, and then try again. Still nothing. I remembered what Cathy said about not making it scary and not making a fuss, so I didn't get after her. Irie's mom was there, but she's not a real experienced jumper, so while she pointed out that IZzy was backing off way in front of the fence, she didn't know how to fix it. Hm... Izzy is normally pretty bold and she had already jumped it twice. She wasn't off, she wasn't in pain, and she wasn't really in a mood, so I knew the problem had to be me, but I didn't know how to fix it. I also didn't want to quit without jumping it again.

Irie's mom was riding a jumping schoolmaster, so she gave us a lead over it. Izzy went forward pretty boldly, but then tried to rush the fence. She ignored my body half halt so I went to my hands... and got in her face... and she stopped... Oh. I had Irie's mom give us another lead, determined not to get in Izzy's face this time. Unfortunately, Mr. Schoolmaster decided to piddle over the jumps, so I had to pull Izzy out (well in advance) to avoid running over the top of him.

We circled around at the canter. I haven't cantered many jumps with Izzy because that means the jumps come up faster and I don't want to scare her. (Also, if she threw in a sliding stop, the canter would be harder to ride. Irrational, but true.) This time, I determined to let her do what she wanted and I would just sit still. We cantered in. Then she trotted. Then she cantered. I put my leg on and stayed in halt seat, determined to be out of her face.

She took one massive leap and we were over and galloping away.

That was easy.

Lesson learned: when the mare wants to canter, let her canter, you nitwit. They're her legs. She'll take care of them.

As I was driving away, I realized that a Pippa Funnell book I read about training young horses discussed this phenomenon. She mentioned what a challenge it is to jump younger horses because they don't have the strength for a slow collected canter, so they have to go more forward than you're comfortable with.

And at the core of this problem appears to be my confidence issues. If I trusted Izzy more, I probably could have avoided five refusals this morning. Live and learn.

Good News in Small Pieces

I'm trying to focus on the small positives right now. My grandma is in the hospital not doing well, so I apologize for the more somber attitude of late.

I did ride yesterday morning. It's finally dry enough to jump, so I set the scary plank jump and a little vertical with a striped pole and (get this) a teeny crossrail in front. That's right folks. Our first ever oxer. Izzy warmed up really nicely. I did a bunch of work with her in figure eights, focusing and on staying balanced through turns and changing bend. We even did canter circles with just a couple trot strides to change leads. (Jumper flying changes, here we come).

After popping over the vertical both directions a few times, I sent Izzy to the oxer. Every other time I've sent her to a new and scary looking jump, she's needed to stop and have a look. I know this, so I confess I gave her a crappy ride to it. I didn't even really have my leg on. I was thinking "be supportive" but I wasn't riding it.

Izzy came up, hesitated, then sort of stepped through it. I felt so bad! She totally would have jumped it on the first try if I'd given her a chance. Bad Sprinkler! I hopped off to reset it and then we trotted over it a couple times. She was pretty proud of herself, and I was too.

I didn't have time to ride today. It's just as well. I'm exhausted. Tomorrow should be better, I hope. At least I'll be able to sneak a ride in during the morning before heading back to the hospital.

I hope all is well with you guys. I'm a bit behind on everyone's blogs.

Rain...

Dressage: French for "make me feel like a bad rider". Courtesy of Shannon.

Thanks for the perspective, everyone. I laughed a lot.

I've been wondering, though. Izzy doesn't feel quite as pushy and forward in my jumping saddle as she did in the dressage. Now, this could easily be because I let her go more forward in the jumping saddle and don't ask for as much and am not aware of how pushy she is OR it could reflect a saddle issue. I'm just kicking this idea around, so bear with me.

The Ansur KonKlusion has a gullet. (Oh, and the website appears to have new pictures. Sweet. So wanting one.) Admittedly, mine is an older model with the older pommel style and the trauma foam system on the bottom may or may not have collapsed. I'd have to get with Jean to figure that one out, and it's hard when it's all done online. So. Izzy has a wither rub. Yes, there are pommel issues with my saddle, but when we used the sheepskin lined pad with a slight lift pad, her spine stayed nice and dry.

Yesterday, I used the Ansur Classic, which is a gulletless model. We incorporated the same padding arrangement and had all the forward/not forward issues. When we were done, her spine looked the same as the rest of her back, as far as moisture was concerned. This could be causing the issue, I guess. Fortunately, regardless of which saddle is causing a problem, the pad on order *should* take care of the issue.

Now that I've laid it all out like this, I've talked myself out of this theory. Izzy loves the classic. It's the first treeless saddle she went in and she's totally fine with it. It's got to be my riding that caused our issues yesterday. The wither rub still needs to be dealt with, but I don't think the forward was a pain issue.

I didn't ride today. I felt exhausted when I got up this morning, then went running and cleaned all the pens (like 20 of them) and Izzy was spooky and silly on the lead. Thankfully, it started raining when I turned her loose to play in the arena, so we just did some groundwork and then I put her away. It's good to get her out like that, though. It's a good basic reinforcement for her and it reminds me of why I like her so much; she really has the most adorable personality. Oh, and when she knows what I want, she usually does try really hard to do it.

Funny story: My sister who's in college is home for spring break this week. Tuesday we went on a day trip together, so I didn't go out to see Izzy for the first time in several weeks. Wednesday I was running a bit behind, so I didn't make it out to feed before my lesson like I usually do. (The horses were still fed; it's just that Cathy did it.) Izzy was slightly miffed with me for not seeing her, so she made me wait a while before she'd come up for the halter. Silly girl. I think she's jealous.

It's a Long Road Ahead

I've been so excited this past month about Izzy and what we can do this summer. I mean, she was great at the shows we went to hang out at, and the jumper show where we did trot poles, I literally got her off the trailer, tacked up, and went in (to her first ever indoor arena) with no warmup, and she was great.

Then we have days like yesterday. There must have been something wrong, because both Izzy and the horse Cathy was riding were really uptight. Cathy's horse was looking for something to spook at. Izzy wasn't waiting. She had a massive bucking explosion on the lunge line. I was barely on before she had her first under saddle spook. I kept working on the things we've done before; if I lost her focus, I pushed her sideways or changed direction, or something(!).

And then... I didn't see at first that the neighbor girl was bringing her horse over to ride, but Izzy did. She freaked out, slammed on the brakes, bolted forward, etc. I kept spinning her around and smacking her to get her to go forward, but she tuned me out because she was more interested in something else.

Here is our biggest problem right now: I needed to just ride her through it. I needed to keep after her and left her know that while I acknowledged something unusual was going on, it was my job to worry about that and her job to do what I told her.

I didn't. I mean, I stayed on, but I'm not confident enough in my skills yet to really push her when she starts ignoring me because I'm not comfortable with her rearing... A part of me tells me it's normal and natural to not be comfortable with that. Rearing is a dangerous habit, and she has proved that she's willing to go there if she thinks she can get away with it. The other side of me argues that if I'm too chicken to confront her about this, then she has my number and I might as well sell her now because there's always going to be something interesting to look at.

I think that (as usual) the answer is in between the two. I'm just having trouble finding exactly where it is.

And there's another side to this; Izzy has been in from her beloved pasture for over a month now because of the weather. She has a 14'x14' shelter with a small run, but she really does much, much better mentally when she's out all day. I need the rain to go away so I can turn her out and get her brain back. I think that would help our other issues immensely.

Weather Starts Improving

It's thinking about being nice outside. It was actually 40f when I got up this morning, so the ice is melting and the arena started thawing. I checked Cathy's outdoor arena this morning, and it was probably ok if I was desperate, but between strong winds and having a nice, wind-free indoor just next door, we made another trip to the doom bubble. It's not as threatening as it used to be.

And yes, I will try to take pictures tomorrow and get them posted by the end of the week. It is unfair for me to sit here and describe it without visual accompaniment.

I was hoping to expand on what Izzy and I worked on yesterday, but we had a new challenge to deal with. Our usual riding buddy couldn't make it. Cathy brought a horse over to lunge, but Izzy had to deal with that horse leaving. Yeah. Pretty dramatic. I consider it good practice for an imaginary time in the future where we do big, fancy shows. In general, I was impressed by Izzy's response. The other horse left, and she panicked a little bit. I kept her going forward on the lunge, and within two circles, she was pretty much back to listening to me.

Then another girl came in to ride a strange horse (well, strange to us. It's her normal horse). It was fun to watch, because she rides at a much higher level than Izzy and I are capable of right now. We worked on circling, staying out of the way, and not trying to kick the expensive horse when it went by. In addition to paying attention to my seat bones, I tried to keep Izzy's neck straight and influence her balance and direction by shifting my weight. Overall, she was good. We'll hopefully be participating in another dressage clinic at the end of this month or next month, depending on how the scheduling works out. I'm looking forward to that.

In the mean time, here's a little visual history for you.

This is Izzy on one of our first few rides ever.


And here she is a couple months ago: (pre-new bridle and indoor arena).

I will work on getting pictures of the indoor arena and us in it, but that depends on having a camera person, and those are hard to come by when it's freezing cold outside. Oh well. Maybe I'll just do a walking tour or something.