planBE

Caveats galore, we haven’t cantered and haven’t ridden with others at speed, yet. But so far, the return of the hackamore adventures is going well. Not crazy about the jarring fluffy on his nose, so Ill either change to an S hackamore or get a leather padded noseband next. WIP. Q is a monster when he drops his head to eat, but aside from that, he is quite attentive when I pick up the contact. We encountered the tree that busted my knee last week, and he was more maneuverable that I expected. Of course the contact was tight and my legs were ON. When we stopped bushwhacking and got back on the trail 10 seconds later, Q had that look of “whats wrong with YOU”? 👀  Tomorrow Ill try it at speed and hope for the best. We also got Q his first massage this week and it was adorable. We now have homework of daily stretches prescribed and I need to figure out how to train Q to stretch himself. 

Annual Trail Rides : 148/200 (Bareback 10/12) Ive been wanting to do this for a long time. Ive been amping up my speed on trail quite intentionally, being more consistent with canter departs, lead changes, and transitions. Ive also been working on much longer canter stretches, pushing my endurance and managing my breath.  The result is that Q has now defaulted to a lovely cadenced canter on trail for long consistent stretches, while I have dropped all contact and sit on the buckle. Which helped introduce two bucket list items: 1) cantering downhill (Im so fearful of tripping hazards since my last horse was a daisy-cutter) 2) I managed to film a long sequence with my phone while cantering on the buckle Talk about trust! The small clip is below. Ive also been spending consistent time with my horse loose grazing under the power lines after a ride and bath. He loves it because his turnout is in a dry paddock! And recently he has been coming to graze next to me, while I sit in the grass...

Annual Trail Rides 133/200 (Bareback 7/12) These last two years I put some focused effort on cantering more, more often and with more variations in pace. My trips and rides abroad taught me that I was riding way too conservatively on my baby green Q.  Once that mindset shifted, I realized that the precision of my canter transitions left much to be desired. Q didnt always take the lead I requested, and I was sloppy about precision half the time ... Meaning if he didn’t take the right lead I didn't correct it. To be fair, in our first year or two of riding, Q would get supremely defensive and uptight if I micromanaged him. Since then Ive toned down the speed and harshness of my corrections, and he has become more agreeable to being corrected. Lots of “good boy”, neck pats, and letting go, make up for my occasional mistakes. Last year we made great progress on our canter transitions which have become smooth and accurate 90% of the time. I still get sloppy about correcting mistakes, so...

My quest for a good enough bit is still ongoing. I had a great d-ring copper thin snaffle that worked great for 3 years from our early saddle starts to our summer trails of 2019. But then I noticed lip rubs this summer and realized that Q had outgrown his bit. I switched to a hackamore while his lips healed, and then I borrowed BOs eggbutt stainless steel snaffle in a slightly bigger style. Q was ok with it, but he had become quite mouthy, often fussing with it. My guess is that his small sensitive mouth does not handle this thickish snaffle very well. So then I borrowed a myler comfort snaffle. It was ok on trail, and ok in the arena. But he was still fussing when the contact started. And more importantly he stopped wanting to take the bit when I bridled him. Which was outrageous because Q has now learned how to bridle himself and will usually grab the bit on his own. Now, he was spitting it out. I took it as a sign. So we tried a smaller copper snaffle and Q liked th...

We had a mild sunny day yesterday and it was just enough to melt some of the ice and make for a lovely ride. It was a slow roll but a lovely break in the monotony of arena work. I have been worrying about my newest bit lately as Q seems to detest it (constantly mouthing) and Im working in more contact. As those things do not go well together, I was able to borrow another bit from a fellow boarder and it was quickly adopted by Q. It is the Myler comfort snaffle. We did not work with the bit yet, just went for a quiet walking trail on the buckle. But I am looking forward to our Saturday drill practice to see if Q still likes it with contact. He has such a small sensitive mouth with delicate bars and it’s hard to know which type of bit will give him the right relief, me the right brakes, and keep us connected on those few times I ask him to take the contact. Copper, loose ring, thickness, double or triple jointed. Too many choices. Fingers crossed the myler works well in t...