Legs before hands

-
Necessity is the mother of invention.
Look ma, no bit!

Q was developping lip sores because his baby bit became too small for his growing mouth. It was too bad because it was a great little bit and thin enough for his small mouth. I have a new-to-me bit which will probably work well although it doesn’t have the copper.

Meanwhile, I didn't want to aggravate the sores with any bit so I decided to finally try a hackamore. I tried the barn sidepull but didn’t like how it sat on his face. Then our fearless BO pulls out this rope thing she got in Costa Rica and I thought it might be cool to try.

I pulled it on and proceeded to a group lesson doing drill work. It was all at a walk and a great transition session for the change in steering wheel. Obviously the pressure points are completely different with this bridle. Instead of direct pull reins it works better with neckrein and a more “suggestive” steering.

Turns out that Q loves it and I was able to confirm that his neckrein skills are in top shape. For me neckrein starts with seat and legs, with the rein tailing all the aids.

Our second session was a quick “brake check” in the arena, loping circles with frequent teardrop turns and lead changes, and a few halt/pivot/lope transitions. He was brilliant. Feeling pretty confident, we took off for a solo ride.

Despite the ominous clouds and risk of rain, the ride was beautiful with lots of autumn colors and budding mushrooms. We were able to mostly ride without contact and he was very obedient to my leg for turns. Cool.
Beautiful stretch to canter
Lots of mushrooms underfoot. 

The stiff halter left some indents on his nose so I have since covered it in vetwrap. Trying to be cautious of the braking power of the hackamore, I still have to work on speed maintenance. His trots kept getting faster and he would struggle to maintain the quiet jog I wanted. I would hold and release the hackamore but I felt there was way too much micromanaging for my taste.

My favorite loop with lots of good footing for trotting.

Im curious how this option holds up under pressure and Im sure to find out as I have signed us up for a mystery word rally in 10 days. No doubt we will have lots of trotting/cantering rider and buggy teams to contend with. Im going solo as the Unicorn Team.

The unicorn team.



Comments

  1. TeresaASeptember 25, 2019 at 5:30 PM

    That bridle is really pretty.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nat DNovember 12, 2019 at 9:01 AM

      It is a delicate feature for his delicate face. I covered the noseband in vetwrap because I didn't like how it pressured his nose. And finally, I bought a fluffy flower hackamore that I will be setting up soon.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Q gets acupuncture

-
Image
There is a wonderful veterinarian-turned-acupuncturist that works in our area, and Q gets an exam and sometimes a treatment once every six months. With our latest saddle restuffing, I thought it was good timing to take a look. This lovely older gentleman has over 30 years of equine acupuncture practice (in addition to 20 years as an equine vet) and many a story to tell but the biggest stories come from his patients and his magic hands. While I have never tried acupuncture on myself, I have been successfully treated for many ailments with osteopathy and I believe in the body as a system that can often heal itself. So today was the day, and I watched him do several treatments before it was our turn. Q had no back pain or soreness, but his weakness in the left hind was flaring up and probably connected with the increased work on collection over the last few weeks. So, he got some needles and then I watched him slowly drift to sleep as he licked my arm slower and slower. After these
Read more

Harvest season

-
Image
Was a lovely day spent in an apple orchard with a deluxe food basket for two and a bottle of local cider. The weather was brisk but sunny and it was lovely to be surrounded by an abundance of ripe fruit! Q got the day off after five days of good rides. He will get all the treats tomorrow with some nice grass if all goes well.
Read more

Preparing Patagonia

-
Image
I may come to regret this, but Im not as prepared for this trip as I was for Alberta’s epic trek last spring. In part because I havent ridden in 3 weeks. 😃 The days will probably be shorter (4-6 hours of riding) and its pretty slow riding because its over glacier rocks …. so maybe Ill be fine? Also looks like its just gonna be me and the gauchos as the other riders had flights cancelled last minute. So this trip will be Spanish (actually Castellano) immersion too. The last few weeks in BA has been momentous, from the run to the final of the World Cup, to the dozens of people who ran in the streets in defense of a small dog in a hit and run, to the amazing fresh fruit and vegetables, to the delicious food and mountains of gelato. BA is big, at times wild, messy and very passionate. I havent found much indifference here. But now, I have to figure out how to get my backpack to weigh less than 8 kg to fit all the clothes I need for weather ranging from polar sun to blizzard. Yes, I have l
Read more

What the whip?

-
Image
Im no stranger to spurs, whips and nosebands and I understand their purpose. However I have chosen the slower path to training objectives and have foregone all of the above in my work with Q. Which has been working well so far, in part because Q has a lot of try and is very sensitive. Despite the icy trails, I still made the trek to the barn today and was planning on riding in the arena because ... I just realized I havent cantered in 2 weeks! Partly because of poor trail footing, partly because of rambunctious Q, partly because of slower training objectives. Regardless, I woke up this morning with a mission. A canter mission. We were in the arena with two other trainers, one in reining, and the other in dressage. All was good, and it was just about managing traffic and keeping left-to-left despite their circles, spins, canter half passes, and protruding dressage whip, etc. I had a good session with Q and I was really happy with his canter-to-trot transitions from my seat. We
Read more

Come ride with me, in five sections

-
Image
I thought I would share some pics and video from our trail system that surrounds our barn. Known as one of the best places to ride in Eastern Canada with 300 square miles of trails in natural woodlands on protected, municipal and private land. Our surrounding land owners contribute to almost 60% of the trail network and we are forever grateful. Q wondering why we are stopping... In the winter time we share the trails with x-country skiers (they have their own trails that intersect ours) and skidoos, and atv bikes and joggers/hikers all year long. The motorized vehicules have their own trails, but they intersect ours. And of course on private land, we might encounter anything from atvs, fat bikes, dog sleds, etc. The network is split into five sections and Ive become familiar with all of them after riding on these trails for almost 30 years. Below is a picture of the trail map. Our barn is smack in the middle of section 2 and where I spend most of my time these days. Section 2
Read more