Teach You Tuesday: Stirrups

Equitaly has got it going on

When I posted about my beloved flex stirrups last week, it came to my attention that possibly not everyone is quite as obsessive about tack as I am. I have to be reminded of that sometimes. In light of that, I wanted to do a quick rundown of the types of stirrups irons available on the modern market and their various uses.

boring is as boring does

1) Fillis Iron

This is the most basic and common model of stirrup iron on the market. It's widely available and can generally be had for around $25-35 brand new. Fillis irons are widely accepted as "traditional" (for whatever that's worth to you) and are legal to show in all English disciplines. These things have been around for decades (centuries?) and they certainly get the job done.

They work really well for some people and cause excruciating pain for others. The difference seems to be that people with previous lower limb injuries like a fixed foot? Dunno. I'm injury free and these things murder me.

I call them "leg murder irons"

2) Fillis flex iron

The next evolution is the fillis flex iron. I think Sprenger was the first to come out with a model ($224). MDC has another one ($184) and thank god for knockoffs-- Dover carries a basic model ($49.99). It's the same exact set up as a fillis iron, but with joints inside the rubber on the side. These are also show legal.

These have the same narrow footbed as the fillis irons. My .02 on these is that I really don't love them. They tend to be too flexible. I initially got a pair of knock offs because they were trendy and they sort of helped alleviate some knee pain, but they were just too loose in the flex section and made my leg less stable. Also, if you don't have knee problems and do have knee pain, maybe you should quit bracing your lower leg. ;-)

basic Royal Riders, wide footbed

3) Composite "iron"

The next big leap forward was switching from stainless irons to a composite material--essentially high quality plastic. Composite irons can be as simple as a fillis iron made of different material ($30) or it can be much more cool. Royal Rider (I think) was the first to come out with the wide footbed ($145). Prestige also makes one ($184). If you're cheap like me, the knock offs are made by Equiwing ($65).

The wide tread composites feature the "cheese grater" stirrup pads that theoretically improve grip. Maybe it works. Maybe it doesn't. I don't know. I do know that the wide tread is frequently a game changer for people with joint problems in the legs. I also know that the black composites are NOT LEGAL in the eq ring and I suspect they're frowned upon in hunters? There are silver/grey models coming out now that are legal. Hunter peeps, help me out here.

flexi royal riders oooooh

4) Composite flex

THIS my friends, is where it's at. For me. Royal Rider again has the corner on the market ($179). I'm half tempted to get a cheap/broken pair of these just to dissect them and see what's inside. Regardless, they look like normal composites with a short rubber section on either side of the branch. Inside this segment is mechanism that allows the stirrups to flex slightly. It's not the multi-hinged type flex you get in the flex fillis irons.

To be perfectly honest, I actually prefer the Equiwing knock offs ($126) of the RR flex model. The RR is ever so slightly flexier and I want a little give, not my ankle to break in half. Both of these models combine the wide tread, cheese grater pads, and a small amount of flex. They are brilliant. You'd think this is the top of the market, but there's always something more.

just swivel the thing at the top

5) Offset Iron

Offset irons attempt to compensate for the normal amount of torque put on the human leg by the stirrup leather wrapping around it. The MDC collection offers a top that swivels to present angles that you can individualize. Other irons incorporate some sort of twist to design of the stirrup to alleviate pressure for the rider.

Offset irons frequently also incorporate flex, like the MDC Ultimate ($210). There is also famously the Sprenger Bow Balance ($224). There are some interesting non-flex models out as well. Newest on the scene seems to be the composite non-flex Royal Rider Evo 80s ($110ish).

Lorenzini

6) Aluminum/novelty stirrup

This is probably two distinct categories that I'm lumping into one because I can. It includes things like Jin Aluminums ($275), my beloved (someday...) Lorenzini titaniums ($265), and of course the to-die-for Equitaly line ($260+). There's also the Free Jump line that you're starting to see at jumper shows. Try not to gasp too hard at the $400+ price tag that doesn't include the specialized leathers you're also supposed to buy.

These stirrups are substantially more expensive and some of what you're paying for is style points. HOWEVER. This is where the innovations are at right now. These are the people questioning the function of the basic design we've had for ages to see if we can improve it. I'm certain that if/when they do, the cheaper knock offs will filter down.

trippy. expensive. plastic.

That's a basic round up. There are certainly more out there. It is interesting to note that different thigns work for different people. I can't ride in a jump saddle without flex irons--Jess can't ride with them. Some people with leg pain swear by new technology and some can't handle it. I'm not a doctor and I haven't the foggiest idea what will work best for you. If you're experiencing leg and/or back pain, it's definitely worth the time to try a few of these out and see if they might be the ticket for you.

Who else has had sets of these and can share a little knowledge?

Wondermare At Rest

As I mentioned yesterday, Izzy got a day off. It was partly because I had this ridiculous schedule that left me with 20 minutes to tack up, ride, and put her away, and partly because I didn't even want to deal with her.

It's not that she's been so bad lately (although she has), but because her left front was puffy. Being the logical, rational person that I sometimes am, I immediately leaped to a Kristin and Laz styled scenario. I didn't want to know any more about it and Stephanie told me she'd wrap her leg before leaving for the night, so I left Izzy in her stall and instead watched a dressage lesson for 20 minutes.

Thankfully, Stephanie didn't let me know that when she went to wrap Izzy's left front fetlock, the problem area, both front legs were puffy, particularly through the tendon area. Izzy was sensitive and sore and seemed quite happy for the extra attention. I say fortunately because I would have promptly freaked out, left the family gathering I was at, headed to the barn, and continued freaking out in the cold to no specific end.

Instead, I showed up this morning to find that both Izzy's front legs had been bandaged, but Ms. Mare had started removing the bandages. I left her alone while I fed and started the turnouts because I know she's way too smart to do anything to hurt herself. Then I unwrapped her, bracing myself for the worst.

I should have taken a picture of Izzy's cold, tight legs. She looked perfectly normal standing still. Stephanie had me jog her out, and said it looked like she had a grade 1 (non severe) lameness in her right front, but despite lots of manipulating and palpating, even the drama princess mare didn't have a response to any localized pressure.

Mostly likely, the limited turnout induced by the rather icy conditions mean that Izzy isn't exercising herself at all. That would explain why she was completely wild under saddle on Sunday and why when I turned her out in the indoor on Monday (had a hunch) that she galloped and bucked like a maniac. Unfortunately, galloping and bucking like a maniac in soft footing is not the best for soft tissue and she probably tweaked something.

Due to the low grade stiffness and Izzy's gorgeous legs this morning, the best thing for her is to go back to work and sleep in bandages for the next few days. She tried to get a couple mashes and a pool boy, but no luck.

The wondermare, chilling out.

First Fall Post-Crash

Check out this action. This is the jump set up for my (and Devon's) lesson on Saturday. It looks pretty cool and a little confusing, and it totally is.

We started out by doing some position exercises--mostly two point at the walk. As the sun came up, we went to trot around the whole arena, and just as we passed the spot where I'm standing to take this picture, Izzy took off like a bat out of hell. I give you this section from Izzy's perspective:

"So I'm totally trotting around with mom bopping along on top of me. I have no idea what she's doing (nor.mal.) so I'm just looking around at these big pretty bushes. Clearly mom has no idea what's going on-she's just kicking me forward and keeping the reins loose. Doesn't she have any idea what -might- be in there???? OMFG GIANT ATTACK BUNNY RABBIT!!! RUN RUN RUN GET AWAY SAVE YOURSELF!!! SADDLE SLID!!!! ZOMFGZFZFZ THERE IS A DERANGED MONKEY HANGING OFF MY SIDE WHERE DID MOM GO MUST GET AWAY FROM MONKEY!!!!#%^#@%!!!"

At this point, I fell off. Izzy stopped a stride or two later and gave me a bit of a look. Her saddle was twisted off to the side. Thankfully my breastcollar kept it from going under her. Nothing like a loose-ish girth and a round horse, is there?

Anyways. There were drag marks in the arena from me. I landed on my butt and my neck and it hurt like crazy.

I got up, rearranged everything, and got back on. After all, I am having a lesson. I'm not going to lie. It was terrifying. It was all I could do to bite back the tears and grit my teeth. I MUST finish. I WILL finish. I hurt, but I will.not.quit. At least, not until the lesson is over.

After all, I still had this to do. (NOTE: video is of Stephanie on Foster. This is to demonstrate the exercise we were doing.)

Do you see the line? Not yellow to yellow. Low yellow to red to red. Three jumps. One stride between each. 45 degree angles. One straight line.

There is no time to make adjustments or use the reins. You have to come in perfectly straight and stay perfectly still.

Izzy and I totally rocked it. I may have been terrified to trot around the perimeter of the arena, but I could canter complex courses. So it goes.

Sunday was not my best day ever. I couldn't turn my neck and I was in constant pain. I opted not to ride, but I noticed that after I came off, Izzy was still super spooky every time we went through that corner. I had to grab mane each time just to keep from hitting her in the mouth.

So Sunday I booted her up and we went to lunge in the scary corner.

Damn, she looks good.

I made use of our groundwork training from this summer, really getting her to be responsive.

I kept her forward, made her stop and reverse directions on command, and let her work the kinks out. All without turning my head. Ouch.

No worries--I am/was the expected level of sore, so nothing is broken. It just hurt.

I have not been back on yet. I was all alone at the barn today and am in process of replacing my helmet, so I decided that plus the residual pain made it a bad idea. Still, I am playing through my head mental video of what happened and trying to change my reactions. I need to correct this 'cling like a deranged monkey' trait. It's really not helping anything.

Whoops

Officially, Izzy and I are not jumping until September, because pretty obviously, I have SERIOUS position/leg issues to deal with.

Unofficially, Izzy is bored out of her mind doing dressage right now and I need time in (out of?) the jump saddle to solidify my lower leg. Soooo...

Yesterday, I set a trot pole and a cavaletti. The cavaletti was only like 12" tall, so I figured we'd be fine. She usually jumps it on her first go, then just lazily trots over it after that.

HA!

Not this fearless, brave pony mare. SHE WILL JUMP, thank you very much.

She looks lazy in this picture, but don't let her fool you. The dragon is resting...

We had a grueling warmup, in which all she had to do was stay forward while my bum never touched the saddle. Ok, so maybe not at all grueling for her, but I wanted to die. I figured we would finish up with the set obstacles. We went back and forth over the trot pole, with me practicing keeping her straight, keeping my position, and moving in rhythm with her.

Then we turned for the teensy tiny little 1' cavaletti. We were trotting in, until about three strides out when she just charged at it and took a MASSIVE FLYING LEAP!!! WHEEEEE! JUMP!!

I brought her to a calm, collected halt, then trotted off again.

She remained enthusiastic. I settled for keeping a balanced canter to the itty bitty rail that was BARELY off of the ground, and then halting sometime after it. Apparently, she was getting a wee tich bored of the whole dressage pony thing.

Could a dressage pony rock this halter? Get real.

Today, we were back to stirrupless dressage again. My legs are getting to be downright amazing, y'all. Also they hurt a lot. Anywho. My plan is to continue riding stirrup free to help develop a nice, long leg and a better seat. However, since I can't ride her as forward as I would like without stirrups, periodically I will put them on and see how much can stick when we add in forward.

Yes, I realize that the best of both worlds would simply be to ride that forward without stirrups. If I was amazing at riding the sitting trot, I would consider it. I am not, and as such, I only ask for as much trot as I can sit without functioning as a jackhammer on her back.

What makes everything better for Izzy is that the apple tree has started producing. The BO raked up the fallen apples and leaves them in a cart on the way back to her field.

Pony pitstop.

Lastly, here's a shot of Izzy munching a few extra apples in her grain bucket.

Maybe she looks just a wee tiny bit less fat than before?

I'm Getting Restless

I'll admit it. I do not handle inertia well and this year has been pretty much complete inertia. First the freezing cold, then the heavy rains, then the busyness of moving, then the ulcer issue, now the soundness issue... We have made progress, but we've had to cram it in between sorting everything else out.

Did I mention that Izzy's wither rub is back? If I didn't, I did now. My theory is that the wither pad I was using worked well for a while, but now has flattened/stretched to a point that it doesn't right now. It doesn't really matter right now because we're not riding due to the soundness issue, but it gives me one more thing to worry about. Besides, even if I can't ride my horse, I can saddle shop, right? Not saying it's a good idea, just that it's possible.

Anyways. I know this is going to be difficult for all the reasons I talked about last time I was in the saddle market. Izzy's still very picky, there still aren't any saddle fitters in the Boise area, our local tack shop is still hit and miss, and my budget is very small. In an ideal world, I'd buy the new version of the saddle I have now and I'm fairly sure it would work. In the world we live in, $3000 is way beyond my scope.

So anyways... I'll try to distract myself from obsessing about that by obsessing about the ponyface. I got her out and groomed her today. She was sweet and happy to see me. I took her over to the round pen (her first time venturing out of her run and pasture since she arrived Tuesday), and she was very quiet. I just let her trot around the round pen a few times each direction, which confirmed what I already knew. She's still not right. I wasn't really expecting her to be, but I was hoping... Oh well.

PS The best saddle fitter I know is actually Izzy, because she lets me know right away if she likes something or not. The problem is that I can't really test on her when she's lame. It's not fair and I'd have trouble reading her.

At Least There's Always Western Pleasure...

Izzy got her shots on Friday after I rode. She got Saturday off due to a freak snowstorm and it being freezing out. Sunday we just did some basic mounting/dismounting manners style work, mainly because of this:

Yep. The Bubble of Doom was down for repairs over the weekend. Weird, huh? It's way different then this, which is it's usual look.

Note: The above picture was taken several months ago. So, yesterday I got on Izzy without really thinking about it. We walked off. When I picked up the contact on the right rein, Izzy threw her nose to the right and almost fell over she ran back wards so fast. What? Yeah. I didn't really know what to do with that. I'm pretty familiar with her evasions (as I'm sure you all know), but this isn't one I've seen any hint of before.

I decided not to punish it because I knew about the shots and I knew she had a fairly adverse reaction to them. I know it's a bad idea to let a horse who constantly tests authority get away with something like that, but I thought it could be pain related. Cathy came by and watched us a little bit. She agreed that it was probably residual stiffness/soreness from the shot, so Izzy and I had a hacking day. Think really long reins, just plodding around. We did walk/trot stuff on the buckle, but she absolutely couldn't canter. We tried.

So I guess if eventing doesn't work out for us, I can sell her as an appendix western pleasure horse.

A little bit of pain seems to do good things for her, though. She was soooo incredibly mellow today. We were riding during our eventing buddy's lesson, so we did a lot of standing and watching, then going out and doing something, since Irie the halfie is still pretty green. Izzy was a doll. When we were done, I got off and could just cuddle with her. Awww. Her neck was definitely better, but not back to 100% yet, so we played hunters and just went forward on a pretty loose rein. She was lovely.

Here's a picture of her wearing her new boots on a walk we took on Sunday.
PS I loaned my jumping Ansur to my eventing buddy and completely ruined her. Now she wants one, too.

Forget You Ever Knew That

Due to being stuck in a long boring class last night, I spent about an hour doodling horses. Then I moved on to drawing specific diagrams of Izzy's back and how the saddle sat on it, what pads I was using, and why I was using them. I remembered that she again (sigh) had funny sweat marks yesterday after another frustrating ride. I should probably scan those drawings, if only for amusement's sake.

Anyways, the sweat mark made me think that it must be a saddle problem. She is exhibiting similar behavior to the last time we had saddle trouble. When I drew the diagram, I realized that the funny marks appeared the be under the stirrup bars, and I remembered reading in a tack book that treeless saddles had trouble in pressure reading with pressure in that area. It's a good thing that I didn't have Jean's phone number handy, because I wanted to call someone who knew what I was talking about and ask if that was the problem. (It was 9 here, so probably almost midnight there.)

I didn't have time to go to the tack store this morning, but one of my other diagrams made me think it might be a padding problem. A couple days ago I screwed around with different pads without actually tightening the girth, so I had a pretty good idea of what was available and how it fit Izzy. This morning, then, I pulled out a new pad. I had been using a wedge pad to lift the pommel up off her withers. Today, I tried just a simple foam pad that was even all the way through. It's completely counter intuitive, because we all know that if a treed saddle camps on a horse's wither, it's like the bad news bears moved in to your house and threw a party.

The new pad obviously didn't lift the front as much, so the saddle looked a little different. I was concerned because it gave her back VERY little clearance over the spine, and I thought that once we'd been riding a while, it would sit on her and make her hurt. And of course, you know her reaction to hurt is rear. That's not really my favorite thing about her. I lunged her before I rode (she was wearing blue polos with a matching blue lunge line. So cute!) and she was kind of looky, but really good.

Our ride started out kind of bumpy. She fussed, she didn't want to go forward, and then... she did. I like the new pad better because due to the nature of treeless saddle, I could feel that I was sitting on the wedge, and it interfered with actually feeling Izzy underneath me. The new pad didn't cause that at all. It was almost like riding the gulletless Classic again. I could feel Izzy's back again and she was much better.

Progress is good. She was much happier, and we were back to having the problems we had before she decided not to be happy again. I think we took a couple training steps backwards this past week, but we're ready to go forward again. Of course, now she has a couple days off while I go out of town.

Making Plans

I feel much better today, but Izzy was still very up and stiff going to the left. I think it's partly because she's stiff on her right side. When we go right, she stretches through her left side, but she's probably hollowing her left side just a bit. When we try to go left, she's stiff/sore, and doesn't want to stretch her left side.

At least, that's my opinion. I finally understand what a wonderful dressage clinician tried for years to drill into my head at least. She'd be thrilled, if a bit dismayed that it took me so long to get here.

There is probably more going on that I'm aware of. I know my equitation isn't what it once was, so now that we're working on refining the aids, things that I did that didn't matter now matter a lot. With that in mind, I'm on the schedule for a lesson next week, or sooner if someone else cancels. Cathy owes me a couple lessons anyways for working while she was out of town, so this should be good.

It's also possible that this is like Izzy's rearing on the lunge. We'd work through it, then it would come back, then we'd work through it, then it would come back... every time we worked through it, she understood a little more, and now she hasn't done it in quite a while. (Knock on wood.) At any rate, if she's not going forward, there is absolutely no point in trying to push her into jumping, so we're just waiting again. I was really hoping to get her started this fall, then let her have the winter off, then pick it up again next spring, but it's more important that she understand the basics well than that she can half do a bunch of advanced moves.

Oh, horses.

Hmm.

I'd recommend starting reading my post by going to Kate's blog and reading her post from today. I woke up way too early this morning and I was in a lot of pain. Back, neck, shoulders, head, everything from the waist up hurt. It was weird because I really didn't do anything out of the ordinary yesterday. I lifted some hay bales to help feed, but I do that pretty regularly and it's never bothered me before. I feel better now, but there are still twinges of pain.

I think it could be related that when I rode Izzy today, she was ok to the right, but absolutely not going forward to the left. It could be partly lazy green horse stuff, as she was doing it a little bit before this week, but to have it come to a head right when I'm hurting too? Seems weird enough to be related.

Also, I think I'll have pictures by this weekend or early next week.

Houston, We Have a Problem

Sooooo...

The chiropractor came out yesterday and I had him look at Izzy's saddle in relation to her back. The good news is that we have a problem which can be fixed. The bad news is that school is about to start ($$$) and I have a saddle that "doesn't really fit well"($$$).

Sigh.

At least I decided to go through with having him look at her, rather than leave her uncomfortable.

Anyways. I've checked the saddle numerous times, and it seems to fit. It clears her spine with a perfect three fingers all the way through. The panels make steady, even contact with her back. The only trouble was that after I got done riding, there was a slightly odd sweatmark kind of under the stirrup bar. Nothing to unusual, just not quite kosher. Cathy commented on it as well.

According to the chiro, the problem occurs because the saddle's tree goes like this: | | while her withers go kinda like this: ) ( . Because of that, her saddle bridges a little bit and puts pressure theoretically on her withers and back, though I've just noticed it on her withers. Either way, the saddle is too narrow for her shoulders. I'm inclined to think that this is the result of working her. When we started (and when I got this saddle), she had never really been worked. Now that her muscles are developing, things don't fit how they used to.

It's sad, really. I love my saddle.

I have already tried every non-dressage saddle in the tackroom on her. They don't fit. Wintecs, particularly, I don't like. (Which sucks, because that's what my other saddle is.) The wintec profile is just too curved for her, so the saddle is effectually a rocking chair. That's no good. I posted an ad on craigslist to see if anyone had a 17.5" close contact saddle with a wide tree to sell me, and I've had one response from a lady who has just the thing: a Barnsby Skleton. After looking it up online, I've come to two conclusions: 1) It looks like a fabulous saddle 2) Used ones are well beyond my budget.

Here's hoping the lady has no idea what her saddles are worth.

Speaking of budget, I'm thinking that if this (or another saddle) works, I could sell my current two saddles to make money/room for it. Izzy's not going to get narrower, so the close contact one is done and I never really liked the wintec. It was a nice first saddle, but now that I've had leather, I don't want to go back.

So if you were selling a saddle, would you do consignment through a tack store, craigslist, or another online listing? Or what?

Teenage Day

Izzy's at that stage where she's starting to figure out what to do, but she isn't sure she really wants to do it. I know that pretty much all horses go through this, so I'm not worried, but it is kind of frustrating. Ten days ago, we could walk, trot, and canter both directions. We were starting baby leg yields, and had turn on the forehand down pretty well. She got a little stuck once in a while, but nothing to be concerned about.

Then came the rearing incident, the ensuing rest and saddle checks, and then the major head-throwing /spook incident.

So now with all that behind us, I went out today. I knew that we wouldn't get much canter work in, because I'm still building up confidence again. I did a lot of work with Izzy on the lunge, doing transitions up and down. She's getting pretty responsive, and only picked up the incorrect lead once. I don't get after her for that. Right now it's more important that she canters when I ask her to than that she always has the lead I want. When I felt that she was relaxed and listening to me, we stopped. I adjusted her saddle a little bit to make sure it didn't slide forward. Then, as usual, we walked all around the arena to look at scary stuff. She wasn't particularly worried about anything, which was nice.

She stood quietly to be mounted. I've been careful to give her a loose rein when I mount; I'd rather she walk forward and make me circle her back than that she feels trapped and thinks rearing is a way out. Not that she was trapped last time she tried that. I don't know. Anyways, we did quite well doing our walk/halt/walk transitions, then walk/trot/walk. She was still fairly responsive and listening. Rather than having her ears locked on outside stimuli, she held them with one forward, one back. I was thrilled.

Then I took her down to the non-scary end of the arena to see if we could do one canter before we quit. Here's where the problem cropped up. She decided not to go forward. Her biggest evasion is to get behind my leg and back out of things. I'm not as quick at catching this as I should be and she's determined enough in doing it that we have to do a lot of work in this area. So, instead of cantering, we worked on walking. I tried to be mindful of why she was backing out. It wasn't related to bending a certain way (which could be related to saddle problems) or going at a certain gait. There was just one 30 foot stretch that she decided not to walk forward in.

Because the problem was locational, I did the same thing we did with trot poles a few days ago. I let it be ok for her to walk through that area. I didn't try to force her to trot. We just walked and walked and walked. When she tried to stop, I would squeeze with my legs, keep my weight behind the motion, and not let her back out. If we stood, that was ok, but we couldn't go backwards. After about five minutes of this, she could walk through there. Then I would trot her up to the point where she seemed to get sticky, walk through that, and trot again. When she seemed comfortable, we tried trotting through. It worked the first time, and I got off and took her saddle off once we where out of the sticky spot.

She's just one of those horses that doesn't respond well to being pushed. She needs to figure it out on her own.

In other news, I still hurt a lot from Sunday, but it's mostly muscle soreness from rafting, I think. I've self-diagnosed the head hit as a concussion of a minor degree. I read the Mayo clinic website about it, and I don't need to see a doctor unless something gets worse. That's reassuring, because I really loathe going to the doctor.

Ouch

This is my final round-up of show pictures. Here's Izzy trotting past her friends on the rail. Please ignore my form...
And here we are, walking up to a halt.

I rode Izzy Sunday morning. She did very well til she spooked at something and threw her head up in the air, making contact with my chest and face.

I hurt a lot right now. Also, I kinda saw stars. That wasn't fun.

We just had a nice, low stress ride this morning. I'm pretty nervous; between the rearing and the face-whack, it really wasn't that fun of a week. I could put a standing martingale on her to curtail another head toss, but that could potentially unbalance her in a dangerous way if she tried to rear again. A running martingale might be safer, but I really don't like that the action is on the bit... I'm trying not to fuss with her mouth too much.

Any ideas?

I'll try to take a lesson this week. That usually does good things for my confidence and focus.

Ok, Now What?

I talked with the masseuse today. She said that Izzy's back is absolutely fine, but her poor lil' bum was sore, most likely from all the rearing she did on Tuesday.

Sigh.

I'm about halfway through Joyce Harman's "Horse's Pain-Free Back and Saddle-Fit Book" that I got at the library last night. It's an excellent book that I highly recommend buying even if you're not having troubles with saddle fit. As a result of my reading, I decided that Izzy's saddle might be sliding forward which jams it into her shoulders. This morning, following advice from the book, I attached the girth to the front two billets instead of the first and third. I also scooted the saddle back when we switched directions lunging. The sweat marks were much more regular when our workout was done.

All that would mean something if her back was sore at all. If it was hurting her, if there was a physical problem, it would show. It doesn't. She's completely relaxed. The masseuse didn't even charge me because there was nothing to really work on. Izzy loves to have her back curried, hard. I even lunged her for about half an hour today, then rode just a tiny bit at the walk, then had the masseuse look at her and still nothing. Izzy was thrilled with all the attention, though. I'll ask Cathy about ulcers and other possible internal causes, but this mare lives out in a pasture with a friend 24/7. She doesn't get worked up about much. Everything I've done with her has been slow and easy, because she's not a terribly quick learner.

So. Now what? She hasn't given me any trouble mounting since Tuesday, but I've only been on her twice, both times after a very long period on the lunge. I don't want to cause her pain, but she's not in pain. The masseuse did mention that she might be cold-backed, and gave me something to do before I saddle her that should help. I dunno. It's starting to look almost like Izzy's tried to revert back to her days with her previous owner, where she learned some cool tricks about scaring people. She's a smart girl, and she learned that when she was naughty, she didn't have to work. She'd never done that for me, but it could be that I was starting to push her a little and she wanted to scare me in to backing off.

Is that so unreasonable? I guess I'll try for a more normal ride tomorrow. Cross your fingers.

Rest Day

A shot from the glorious ribbon show. We are the farthest from the camera. **I realize I look like a total chunk in this picture, but I promise it's mostly the baggy polo. I'm not in fabulous shape, but I'm not obese like I look there.**


The pretty ribbons, waiting to be won.

Miss Izzy is scheduled for her massage tonight. I didn't want to get on her today, just in case there was residual pain. As such, I got her out, groomed her, and re-pulled her mane. I leave it a little long most of the time since we're not showing, but today I brought it back to almost show length. I screwed around with a couple different saddles, trying to see what fit her.

The trouble is that in all the books I read, general saddle fitting guidelines are provided, but for more specific information, you are supposed to contact a worthy local saddler. This is a great idea. A saddler knows both saddles and horses and knows what to look for. The only trouble is that I live in IDAHO. There aren't really even saddlers for Western horses out here; forget that fancy english crap. I spent a while looking yesterday, and the nearest ones I could find were in British Columbia and Southern California.

I just don't have that kind of money.

Cathy checked my saddle fit for me today after I spent 40 minutes fiddling around with three different saddles and different padding arrangements. She said that my lovely leather saddle that I love fits her quite well, which was my initial assessment as well. It was also the assessment of the trainer who I bought it from who looked pretty closely at it. The fact remains that she had odd sweat marks indicating pressure on Tuesday after her lunging for a long time. To an amateur, this leaves two possibilities. Either my flat pad and my gel pad added too much bulk and changed a fitting saddle to a non-fitting saddle or the saddle slid forward while lunging and jammed up against her shoulders. I think both are entirely possible.

When I lunged her today in a halter with my saddle by only a square pad and the firth fairly loose, I did notice that it slipped forward. I scooted it back, and I think that helped, but she didn't sweat too much, and it was hard to tell. My next option is that the chiropractor comes out in a few weeks, and theoretically, he's pretty good at saddle fitting and whatnot. Now I just have to save my pennies to pay him.

Oh my god. OhmygodOhmygodOhmygod!!

The title is simply what a fellow boarder said this morning. It precisely describes how I felt for a few seconds.

Everything started out normally. I got Izzy ready, trying to keep in mind some of the concepts discussed in "The Horse Behavior Problem Solver" by Jessica Jahiel. It's a new book I'm reading through. Izzy did just fine on the lunge line; just went along like she was supposed to. She was a little lazy, but that's normal for her.

She's been a little fussy about standing by the mounting block lately. She would walk up to within a few feet of it, then just stop. I wrote it off to her knowing that she was supposed to stop somewhere and just wanting to stop on her terms. It's something we've been working on. So when she was fussy today, I didn't think any more of it than I usually do. She doesn't like to line up right, then doesn't want to step over. As usual, I just made a mental note that we need to continue working on ground work to get her to listen to my aids more.

When I mounted, she immediately tried to walk forward. I stopped her, albeit more with rein than with my seat. I was a bit annoyed. She knows to stand, but she's rather pushy, due to being spoiled by her previous owner. As I fumbled for my right stirrup, she flipped her head once, something she does usually when I've stymied her attempt to get away with something. Before my foot was even fully in the right stirrup, Izzy's barrel rose under me. This is where I insert the "Oh my god. OhmygodOhmygodOhmygod!!"

My initial reaction lasted about .1 seconds. It's the same feeling as when I know I've done something wrong and I'm falling. There is a brief moment of terror, and then I try to figure out what to do. I've been reading a little bit about rearing lately, but I've never, ever been on a rearing horse before. I knew immediately that the worst possible thing Izzy could do would be fall over back wards with me. She landed her first rear, then immediately when up again.

For some reason, I didn't have a hold of the reins to turn her and send her forward. I don't remember dropping them, but I must have. I think it's better that way. I hadn't mentally prepared for a situation like this, and I might have pulled back, even though I know that's the worst possible thing to do. As she went up for the second time, I noticed that I had a strangle hold on the neckstrap that I've put on her every single time I've ridden her. Thank God.

She went up a second time, then a third time. The rears didn't seem incredibly high to me, but it was kind of hard to judge from my angle. It was enough that I had absolutely no control. As she went up the fourth time, I realized that my left foot was quite steadily in my stirrup. Without further ado, I demonstrated an emergency dismount to make the ex-pony-clubber in me proud. I nearly landed on my feet, too. That would have been incredible.

As I collapsed in a heap near the rail, Izzy turned and trotted off to visit the horse on the far side of the arena. My first thought was, "Oh crap, I hope she doesn't break the reins," as she lowered her head to snatch some of his hay. I wasn't even really shook up, and I doubt I'll be sore tomorrow.

Cathy (my trainer) was in the arena and witnessed most of this. As I led Izzy back from the other horse and his hay, we consulted. She is a hard horse to rattle. Aside from the occasional spook, she's really not too bothered. Clearly, she wasn't overly bothered by this, either. That's a little unfortunate, as it means she might try again. We think the reason was actually from yesterday; while at our "show" we sat on our horses and judged each other for 25-30 minutes. That's not an extraordinary amount of time, but Izzy's back is probably a little bit sore because she's not used to having me just sit on her. Our theory is a combination of back pain and attitude.

As such, I lunged her again for 20 minutes or so, dealing with the attitude problems that came up by continuing to send her forward instead of letting her let me know when she wanted to be done. I then had Cathy stand by while I mounted Izzy from a block in the middle of the arena. I wanted her right there to yell at me if something went wrong, and she thought it would be best if Izzy was not restrained. I also didn't want the option of landing on the fence, as last time we were perilously close to it.

I understand that it's not a good idea to mount a horse with a sore back. If she were Cassie, or another older, seasoned horse, then I wouldn't even have attempted it. I would simply have listened to what they were trying to tell me and put them away with a nice scoop of grain mixed with anti-inflammatory and some rest. Because Izzy is still early in her education, however, and because she's used to being able to push people around, I thought it was important to make sure she understood that rearing is not acceptable. I stood on the block and rubbed her hips and shoulders just like I was mounting a baby for the first time. She was quiet, so I got on. When I had both stirrups, we walked off. We did a 10m circle each way, and then I got off. I immediately pulled her saddle off. Cathy checked her and said her back was a little sore, but nothing that should have prompted so dramatic a response.

She has tomorrow off. I'm going out Thursday, but I think I'll just do groundwork and some lunging. After that, we'll see about it. I have a friend who used to be a horse masseuse, so maybe I'll see if she'll work on Izzy a little. I have a lot to think about, though. I guess I have to wait and see if her back feeling better will clear up the problem or if she's now learned a cool trick that makes riding not happen. I sure hope not. :-/