So I did a Thing

 

So I did a thing.  I’ve been wondering for a while if Cruise’s Bates Artiste is a touch too long for his short back and is bumping his shoulders, especially at the canter.  The saddle ticks all the boxes for me and seems to fit him fine with no back pain.  But.  He continues to struggle with forward sometimes.  His canter is getting sixes and sevens on tests but it doesn’t feel fully free in his back.  I looked around to see what the Internet had to say about dressage saddles on short backed honies and kept getting directed back to Pegasus Butterfly Saddles.  I also remembered that Meaghan at A Enter Spooking had borrowed one for her hard to fit horse and he loved it.

By chance I found an older model of the above, previously called the Uta Gräf, on a FB saddle page for under $900 shipped with a 7 day trial.  Done.  I’m 6 or so rides in and Cruise obviously loves it.  The saddle fits his back so well I can leave the girth a touch loose.  He is much easier to get forward, his canter has a new lift of the shoulders, and his up canter transitions are getting smoother every ride.  Oddly enough, I find the saddle as comfortable as the Artiste and feel really secure in it.  It’s a little beat up but serviceable and I feel lucky to try one of these saddles out without committing to the new price tag.

Time will tell, but so far Cruise and I are totally pleased with this purchase!  

Accepting the Contact and Bit vs Being on the Bit

This little VIDEO really succinctly explains the difference between acceptance of contact/having a following contact and being on the bit.  Basically, the horse has to have acceptance of a following contact and then being on the bit adds another layer.  Starting at the trot in a accepting/following contact the rider asks for forward and then catches that forward delicately with the ring fingers.  Leading to that circle of energy and engagement of the hindquarters with a slight flexion of the jaw.  Forward but not forward if you will.  Another way to describe impulsion maybe.

I’ve tried adding this into my rides after a loose rein then following contact warm up and WOW.  It takes a few times to get the burst of forward then adding that delicate not forward leads to the magic.  Engaged.  Light.  Balanced.  What we’ve been missing.  I’ve been surprised by how instant Cruise’s forward has been and how lightly I can contain the energy.  And how he easily floats around after a couple of these. 

This explanation reminds me a lot of Jane Savouie’s connecting half halt but gentler and much more subtle.  I really like this YouTube channel and Josie’s down to earth explanations.  Just wish I had run across this video before I taped my last three tests…

Sitting Up

 

We just finished filming Training Test 3 for the Dressage Show Online Championship and I am twiddling my thumbs waiting on scores and placings.  I was pleased overall with all three tests but looking at the videos a few things came up.  Firstly, I am still not even close to sitting up.  Secondly, Cruise is not really on the bit/showing the circle of energy.  Thirdly, our canter and our canter departures are better(they exist!) but need improvement.

So as one will, I hit up YouTube for some answers and found this little GEM to help with one of our issues.  Basically to sit back the rider puts the reins in the outside hand and grabs the cantle with the inside hand at the walk, then the trot, and then the canter.  I tried this exercise today and WOW.  Deepest seat ever.  Completely sitting back and easy to balance.  Much improved sitting back when not holding the cantle.  If you’re looking for me for the next month or two this is what I’ll be doing.  A lot . YouTube FTW!

Finally

 

I’m so excited that I’ve finally found a local boarding barn to haul into on the weekends.  It’s a small facility about 30 minutes from my farm.  Nothing fancy, but very serviceable, and in return for renting a dry stall at a reasonable price, I can trailer in any time I want.  I have a stall to pop him in and out of.  I can come early the first few times when things are low activity and do groundwork and targeting.  I can resolve the other horses, more going on, and work on his focus on me at my leisure and on the ground before I tackle it under saddle.  Starting this weekend.  Pretty excited to go back and get this step we missed in his education.

In other updates, we’ve working our way through filming all three Training Level tests for the year end DSO show.  Test 1 is already filmed and sent to be judged.  Test 2 will be this weekend and Test 3 the weekend after.  I’m spending a week preparing for each test and polishing things up in the hope of reaching my goal of 70+% on each test.  We’ve been mixing things up by adding in some pole work and “trail” rides with targets.  I’ve also had a couple of big epiphanies lately that I’ll share soon.