Spotting new challenges

November 30, 2012 1 Comment

I’ve been riding different horses when I can, and last night I had a lesson on my friend Amy’s big Appy, Manny.  This boy is darling and such a character, I just love him.  He’s also a saint and I had a great time riding him – he’s much easier for me than Tucker.  Riding these different horses is making me appreciate the feedback they offer to the rider who listens.  All of them “tell on me” when I’m out of whack.  Adding the fact that each has their own set of evasions and habits to the mix creates a real challenge for me as a rider.

Manny has done a lot of everything, including dressage, but for the last few years, he’s been a hunter.  His owner Amy is a lovely rider who can make this big boy move very nicely, so I knew that he had the goods, even if it takes some coaxing to get him to deliver. I put a dressage saddle of Christy’s on him and off we went.

For Manny, last night’s lesson had to feel like a challenging yoga class.  I asked him to remember his dressage training, come onto the bit, round and bend throughout his whole body.   Manny made it clear that he preferred not to bend and instead offered to go around braced in a counter bend.

Don't WANT to bend! Manny was bracing in a counter bend (or trying to) for a lot of the ride.

Don’t WANT to bend! Manny was bracing in a counter bend (or trying to) for a lot of the ride.

This was actually a great situation for me, because I don’t use my inside leg effectively enough.  I’m happy to let it hang and imagine that I’m getting the response I desire.  Copious video evidence suggests that this method doesn’t work.

Christy had me work on spiral in/leg yield out and at the beginning it as a struggle.  In addition to the the counter bend, Manny had a couple other evasions he threw at me constantly – popping his outside shoulder out, and when that didn’t work, cantering.  We did quite a few inadvertent trot-canter transitions until I figured out how to regulate (and hold) the trot tempo with my seat.

manny nice

The spiraling worked, however, and as I got my act together, Manny came right to me.    As I sat up and rode,  the evasions lessened and he became focused and soft. I had to work to keep him there, but it’s easier to make minute corrections than to fix a braced neck.

manny canterWe finished up with some canter work, which was easy and fun.  I loved riding Manny, because he let me work on myself.  Riding Tucker is a different story.  I find him devilishly hard to ride, which is probably a combination of his fancy gaits, short wheelbase, substantial training and responsiveness.  Tucker reveals and amplifies mistakes I make.  He requires his rider to have their act together.  He’s a real challenge for me.  Come hell or high water, I’m really determined to ride him will some day.

In other news, I’ve had to resort to some chemical help for Derby, as we go into our third week of stall rest.  He’s starting to exhibit his pent-up energy when we’re handwalking, so I asked his vet for some help.  She left us a big bottle of Ace, which is doing the trick nicely.  The ring is getting crowded and from a safety standpoint, I can’t have a Thoroughbred kite on the end of my lead rope when we walk.  He is going to be re-scoped on Dec. 10, and will be hopefully cleared for turnout that same day.  Fingers crossed!

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Getting by

November 17, 2012 Leave a comment

Stall rest for Derby continues, but so far he’s handling it well.  Christy tells me that he’s quiet during the day, and though he’s a bit grumpy now and then, for the most part, he’s pretty laid back.  We’ve started doing some hand walking, so I’m able to get him out of his stall for a few minutes at least.  I’m also doing as much as I can to provide him with entertainment and distraction in his stall, including using small-hole haynets to make his hay last a bit longer and equipping him with a couple different LikkIts.

Solitary confinement.

In the meantime, Ive been riding Tucker, who’s made a few appearances on this blog previously.  He’s a fancy little Quarter Horse with a lot of training.  I’m still feeling a bit out of whack on him still – he has an entirely different build and way of going than Derby.  We’re getting more into synch, and Christy tells me we look okay, even if I still feel out of balance and ineffective.    I’m trying to ride a few different horses while Derby is laid up, and get the most out of this time as I can.

 

 

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Post-Op

November 8, 2012 5 Comments

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but that’s not for lack of news. On Monday of this week, Derby had tie-forward surgery to correct persistent displacement of his soft palate (DDSP) and his tendency to aspirate food into his airway.  It was big surgery, requiring general anesthesia, which freaked me out, and a short stay at the vet clinic afterward.

Ultrasound

 

Scoping. No twitch needed when you have Xylazine on board!

Monday morning, I went over to the clinic for the pre-surgery scoping and ultrasound.  They didn’t find anything to stop them from going forward, so I kissed Derbs goodbye (on the butt since they immediately started clipping and scrubbing the incision site, under his jaw) and headed home.  I wrung my hands for a few hours, and then got the call with the news that I wanted to hear – that Derby was awake, recovered from the GA and back in his stall, munching hay.   I got to go visit that day, and while he was still a bit woozy, he looked great.

Derby in his stall at the clinic. You can see his shaved face and throatlatch.

He came back home yesterday afternoon.  We’ve had to remodel his stall, to keep him from lowering his head as much as possible.  He’s eating out of a raised tub, and we’re feeding hay in a net above the tub.  It’s working fairly well.  He also has a new mint-flavored Lick-it but he’s not shown too much interest in that yet.

He’s on stall rest for the next thirty days.  In mid-December, we’ll be able to get back to light work.  In the meantime, I’ve lined up a few other horses to ride, so I don’t get too rusty.

 

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The Outside Rein

October 30, 2012 Leave a comment

I commented to Christy last night that over the last few weeks, I’ve added a lot more blocks to my foundation, but as I’ve done so, I’m aware of even more gaps in my fundamentals.

“Welcome to dressage!” Christy replied.  She went on to note that the changes we’ve made in my leg (un-pinching my knee, among other things) and seat (more awareness/use of seatbones) has improved my posture in the saddle and Derby’s gait quality. In particular, she said, I’ve got more throughness, better connection and more hind end engagement.  This was music to my ears.  It often feels better – I’m glad that the improvements are visible, too.

Last night we worked on my feel for getting the horse into the outside rein.  I noticed that I ride fairly correctly, with good “feel” and response, going to the right. However, going left – the direction in which I fight my physical crookedness and a stiff hip – is another story.

We repeated an exercise I’ve done before – turning the shoulders with the outside rein, while giving the inside rein.  Christy diagnosed one of my problems – an “eh” response from the horse, and reminded me that I can’t accept that from him.  He *can* step under himself with his left hind.  He can leg-yield nicely to that direction.   And I can’t let him get away with saying “eh, don’t really wanna.”   So my take away was that I need to think as much about what I’m training Derby to do in every ride, as well as my own riding.

“Bad habits are compensation for no response,” Christy noted.  I am paying attention to correct response. The horse is not allowed to ignore the rider.

So, back to the outside rein.  Getting the horse into the outside rein also requires two things that I need to work on – using my inside leg, and giving my inside rein.  While we worked on giving the inside rein, I also paid attention to what I was (or often, wasn’t) doing with my inside leg.  When I put it together, the cause and effect is pretty stark:

A braced neck. We’re hanging on each other.

 

A stride later. I give with the inside, hold the outside, and apply my inside leg.

Voila. Round. Rinse and repeat. Continually, for the rest of my life.

So, in addition to honing Derby’s response, I need to be aware of and hone my own, whether it’s giving the inside rein, or issuing a swift correction when necessary.

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Real sitting trot!

October 19, 2012 3 Comments

In my defense, he’s hard to put together. Derby doesn’t have ideal conformation for dressage. He’s a thoroughbred, and is built downhill. (Nice badonkadonk, though!)

Today I had a real breakthrough , and it was totally unexpected. We achieved real sitting trot. By “real” I mean connected, round and working back to front. And it was amazing. More specifically, it was an epiphany!

But first, let me tell you what we’ve been up to lately. Ofter the debacle at the last show, I told Christy that 2013 starts now. She upped the ante on me, and started to require work in two-point and without stirrups.  The last few weeks have been difficult, but interesting.  As I work new muscles, really getting into my hip flexors and abs in particular, I’m starting to see the effect my biomechanics have on Derby’s way of going.

The work in two-point is a case in point. Contrary to popular belief (or at least how I learned a zillion years ago) two-point isn’t simply a matter of standing up in the stirrups and resting your knuckles against the horse’s neck.

“Which muscles are you using?” Christy said as Derby and I tootled around in what would commonly pass as a two-point.

“Ermm. None?” I ventured.

“Right. None. And your horse is shuffling along on his forehand,” she said. “Now try this …”

With constant coaching, Christy put us together, and taught me that you can influence the horse while in two-point. But it has to be an effective two point, I’ve learned.  At first, I thought Christy was crazy when she got after me to put Derby on the bit, get him round and bend him – in two point.  But as she put us together, guiding me into a balanced version of the two point, Derby miraculously began to round and carry himself.

“See?” she said.  “It’s not about training the horse.  It’s training the rider.”

Unfortunately for my muscles, she’s right.  The work in two-point moved into a variety of no-stirrup exercises, and then we started to put things back together, applying the new lessons, as I posted.   I had a couple moments where I generated real throughness with the new position – and I wasn’t demanding it from the horse, as much as I was putting myself into the position that encouraged the horse to go there.  Experiencing this was a real revelation in and of itself, especially when Christy had me practice going back and forth between  “doing it wrong” and trying to maintain a correct position.

Again, the effect on the horse was immediate and noticeable.  As soon as I’d arch my back and stick my butt out (whether posting or in two-point), Derby’s gait would immediately slow.  Re-positioning myself into my more correct and balanced position fixed the problem just as quickly.  At first I resisted Christy’s suggestion of going back and forth between bad and good.  However, now I realize that she was teaching me to feel my point of balance, and what happens when I deviate from that point.

So fast forward to today.  I had done quite a bit of work and was taking a walk break.  Derby started to fuss, resisting contact by flipping his head.  When he does this, Christy has had me working on getting him forward, holding the reins, and letting his pulling anchor me even more deeply into the saddle.  Today, as we worked things out, something different happened.  When I kicked Derby forward when he was resistant, I closed my legs and deepened my seat, holding the reins steady and anchoring myself with my core.  I’ve learned from Christy that when I do this,  any pulling Derby was going to do was only going to make my seat deeper – and it’s now one of my most important tools.  He softened and rounded, and I got a nice walk for a stride or two. Then he popped into a trot.  Because “forward” was absolutely the right answer, I didn’t want to ask him to downshift immediately.  So we trotted, and I chose to sit a few beats.  In that brief moment, I applied some of the learning imparted from Christy and actually rode it with some purpose, drawing on and our work on effective two-point and without stirrups, and made a point of finding my balance and keeping my hip angles open.

Lo and behold, we wound up doing a nice sitting trot.  Derby was on the bit, round and his hind legs were engaged.  And it felt great!
“Christy.   CHRISTY.  Look.  Sitting trot.  His back is up. I’m doing it!!!”  I shrieked to Christy, who was also riding at the time.

“Wow, that looks great!” she replied, stopping to watch.  We went all the way around the arena, and then did it again.  Was this a fluke?  I tried it again.  And got the same good result  I switched directions,and had to work to put Derby together, but we got it done.  We did a couple laps that direction.  I experimented a bit, asking for a big bigger trot with my seat and legs.  It worked.  Derby stepped forward into a bigger gait. I think I’m going to be more effective once I master the sitting trot.

Needless to say, I was thrilled and Christy was happy too.  I was particularly pleased to have put the sitting trot together by myself, by paying attention to what the horse was doing under me, minding my position and using the tools Christy has given me.  I feel like I’m developing some independent competence as a rider. It was a thrilling ride, and I can’t wait to try it again!

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Fair weather friend?

October 8, 2012 2 Comments

This picture taken by Caitlin pretty much sums up my day. We were at the show, but missing from action.

Well, the show season is a wrap, and for me, it ended with disappointment.  Yesterday’s IDCTA championship show was a complete bust for Derby and me.  He loaded and unloaded beautifully, an settled in nicely.  But once we got tacked up, left the warm barn and out into the crisp, breezy morning and prepared to warm up, Derby became unglued.

The problem began with a tippy mounting block, which tipped as I stepped up into the iron. I got a bit hung up and am so glad my friend Brittany was holding Derby, limiting how far he could go with me clinging like a monkey to his side.

That incident upset him, and he developed horror of the mounting block. Great.  I walked him around for a while as the clock ticked down on our ride for the championship, and then – with Christy feeding sugar cubes and Brittany holding him, managed to mount.

The warm up ring was busy, but we’ve handled that before. However, yesterday Derby just wasn’t with me. He wasn’t going to relax and walk, so I started to trot him.  We changed directions a couple time, and I put him on a circle to get some control over his hind legs.   But it quickly felt like it was going to go south as Derby started to feel uncharacteristically light on his front end.  His neck was like aboard and there was no softening.    It felt like it was escalating to me, not improving. We didn’t last long.  I dismounted, because I felt like we were going to become a menace (and risk) to the others in the warm up, and ourselves.

I was bitterly, bitterly disappointed.  The show venue was beautiful, and I was so happy that we hand managed to qualify.  Our work has improved daily.  I really felt read to put in a great ride. But, as they say, man plans and God (and your horse) laughs.

I walked Derby around a bit, and he got worse and worse.  So we went inside, and I put him on the longe.  He got a good workout in the quiet indoor longe arena.  I took him back outside.  Any better?  No.  He was right back to his bad behavior, refusing to even walk nicely out of the barn. We walked all over the show grounds, and while he did settle enough to grab a few bites of grass when we were out of the center of the action, when we got near the warm up, he became unhinged again.

Once we got back home, I saddled up and rode my clean, shiny horse in my clean, shiny tack, in my white britches and sparkling boots.  We had some really nice work,  though Derby was pretty tired after his excursion and various inappropriate expenditures of energy.   He started to fuss and I put my leg on and gave him a swat with my new (longer) whip.  He came to, and we ended on a really good note, with some lovely trot work into a very good, on-the-bit halt.

I’ve concluded that (for now) he’s a fair-weather show pony.   Our three earlier outings in the spring and summer weren’t as bad as our two fall trips.  And past experience strongly suggests that Derby does get squirrely when the temperatures initially dip.  So I’ll focus my efforts on the earlier shows next year.  We’ll save cold-weather outings until our partnership (and my skills) are truly solid.

The 2013 season begins tonight at 6:30 sharp.

 

 

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Ups and downs in front of the judge

October 3, 2012 2 Comments

After attending several shows at the beautiful Sunflower Farms in Bristol, WI as a spectator, I was really excited about showing there last weekend.   We were fortunate to have a gorgeous day, and there were some bright spots for Derbs and me.

However, there were a bunch of challenges too, which started right off the bat when my sloppy horsemanship resulted in Derby taking a high-speed, unaccompanied tour of Silver Fern before I could even get his braids in.  I had left his door ajar when I went in to curry him as he ate his hay.  The other horses were being turned out, and Derby decided that he’d rather be outside with his pals thaninside eating hay.  He was all wound up, and proved to be the very devil to catch. I finally got him back inside, and braided, but he was still fizzing with energy, so I put him on the longe before loading up.   I was so unhappy.  This was not our routine!

Thankfully, Derby loaded easily, and the trip to Sunflower was uneventful.  He settled right in and resumed his breakfast, and was as cool as a cucumber.  Things were looking up.

Cool in front of the judge …for the moment.

Because I had the first ride of the day for our team, I didn’t have time to linger.  I tacked Derbs up, and we went for a walk around the grounds, giving him a look at the rings and in gate before strolling over to the warm up.   Derby was extremely composed and was being a very good boy.
The warm up went pretty well, but we kept it short, because our second test was soon after the first.  Fairly satisfied, we walked over to the in gate for our first test, Intro A.

Our 8 halt.

Derbs went straight in and went around the outside of the ring, greeting the judge with no problem.   Entering the ring, I could feel a little tension but he wasn’t bad at all.  In fact, I had to give him a bit of a crack with the whip as we started the first circle because he was a bit behind my leg.
However, he was leaning on my inside leg a lot, and I struggled to get him to move out throughout the test.

All in all, I wasn’t terribly happy with my ride, because (as is so often the case) we’re doing much better work at home.  But there were a couple bright spots.  We got a 7 on one sticky transition from trot to medium walk that has been a problem for us all season. That 7 represents a huge improvement.  I also got my highest rider score, with a 6.5, up from the 6’s I’ve been getting this year.  But the real surprise was the score for our last centerline and halt.  We got an 8!  My first 8! Yes, I was pretty thrilled by that.  We wound up with a 64.5%, which is our best score of the year.

We went back to the barn to chill for about 30 minutes, before heading back to the warm up.  This time, Derbs felt awesome.  We had some very nice work, and between that fact and his steady performance in the first test, I was feeling really confident about the second test.  I was looking forward to getting into the ring and really riding for a score.

Derbs, it turns out, had other plans.  He melted down on me, spooking at everything he saw, whirling and scampering around willy-nilly.  I got him past the judge’s stand, with the help of some enthusiastic coaching from judge Caryn Vesperman.  We went back and forth in front of the stand, and I thought things were under control as we headed for A.   He started the shenanigans again, and after hemming and hawing for a second I withdrew.  There were a lot of people and some other horses in close proximity, and I elected to stay safe rather than upset and possibly injure others.

Back in the warm up, after the melt down.

I dismounted, and stomped off to the warm up ring like a petulant 8 year old to go back to work.  I mounted up, and put him to work. And once again, he was great.

I won’t kind you, I was (and frankly remain) very annoyed with Derby and disappointed with myself.  I wish I could have ridden him through that naughtiness, because he wasn’t legitimately scared. He was evading.

Back in the barn, Derbs was pooped.  I untacked groomed him, and left him in peace with a pile of hay.  But no cookies.  He didn’t earn extra cookies this time around.  The extra cookie bag remains in my tack trunk.  I’m saving them for the show when Derby is a good boy from start to finish.  And then, there will be cookies.  An obscene amount of cookies!

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Coiling power – learning to really half-halt

September 24, 2012 2 Comments

My half-halts are really quarter-halts.  I can use the half-halt to rebalance the horse, a bit, but my half-halts don’t add power.   So Christy has put us to work, retraining both of us to ride (and respond to) half halts properly,  which means focusing on generating, and then retaining and channeling, power.

The half-halts are instrumental in improving gait quality, because when done correctly, they engage the horse’s hind legs.   This is something I need to improve, so Christy set me to work on transitions, with the intention of developing my half halt.

We started out looking like this: pleasant, but not engaged.

Pleasant, but not engaged at all.

Doing transitions on a circle helped me get and maintain bend, while also starting to get a real feel for maintaining power through transitions.  Things started to improve.

More engagement. Derby is using his hind legs more actively. He’s still a bit on his forehand, though.

After quite a bit of work, we finally got the half-halt working the way Christy envisioned, producing our best work of the day, with Derby nicely connected over his back, off his forehand and moving with energy:

There’s a lot more work on this to do, but at least I’m starting to get a feel for a real half-halt, not the energy-draining downshift I had been using.

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Upward spiral

September 20, 2012 Leave a comment

He’s a good buddy.

I have to start today’s post with a little silly horse bragging.  Tuesday’s vet appointment was first thing, and there was a real chill in the air.  Between the crisp temperatures and the fact that everyone else had been turned out, Derby was a bit wound up.  So I put him in the outdoor arena to work off some steam before the vet showed up.  Work it out he did – running, bucking and farting – before finally having two good rolls in the sand. Then he went and grazed the clover and tufts of grass growing along the edges.  Out of the reach of the mower, and recently rejuvenated by some rain, the edges of the arena provided some good eatin’.

After 15 minutes or so, the vet rolled in.  As they were unloading their things, I went up to the gate and called Derby to me.  He picked up his head and sauntered across the area to me.  My vet’s assistant happens to be Derby’s old owner.  She was amazed that Derby – who is very food motivated – would leave grass when I called.   He’s such a good boy!

Now on to the vet visit.  The good news is that the scoping showed zero inflammation of the airway, and zero lesions.   But there was some bad news too.  Derby has started to aspirate food into his airway.  This is the very last thing I wanted to hear, because aspirating food into the trachea can lead to choke and pneumonia.  Scary stuff.

We talked about surgery, but in the meantime, because the matter appeared to be hay, the vet told me to soak his hay.   She also told me not to worry too much – the coughing he does clears the airway.  That explains why I’ve been experiencing more coughing lately.

I focused on using my inside leg to engage Derby’s hind legs, getting him to step up under himself and engage.

On Tuesday night, I rode after Derby had his evening feed.  It was a beautiful, cool night, and he felt great – a little coughing at the beginning of the ride, but then he was pretty quiet.   Last night was the same story.  The wet hay really seems to be helping!  Our hay has been very crumbly – the flakes almost fall apart.  This is due to the drought -the plants are short, dry and stunted.  So instead of having nice, long blades of grass and other plants, the hay has little scraggly bits.  And he must be sucking those into his airway.   So hopefully we’ll dodge a bullet by continuing to soak his hay!  That beats the socks off tie-forward surgery, which is big surgery (the horse is fully out, on his back) and carries no guarantees.

In our lessons this week, we’re focusing on two things – maintaining strong, forward gaits, and activating Derby’s hind legs.  As I’ve mentioned before, these are two historically weak areas for me.    On Tuesday, the focus was really on bend and getting those hind legs to step under.  On Wednesday, it was more of the same, but we added extra focus on gait quality.   I caught myself twisting in the saddle again on Tuesday, causing the horse to fall inward, and forcing me to refocus on my position.  Christy helped me through this by telling me not to worry about fixing my legs (which I was – my outside leg would creep forward, and my inside leg back – ugh) but instead had me focus on my seat and leading with my inside seatbone.  That was the solution to the problem.   We were able to spiral in and leg-yield out nicely.

We’re working on engagement at the canter. The nice moments are coming more frequently, but we’re not yet maintaining the “niceness” all the time.

The canter is still very much a work in progress. I’m looking forward to the day when I have the same influence over the canter as I do the trot.  Right now I have two canters – crappy and decent.   While “decent” is a start, it’s not “working.”  I’m still developing my seat at the canter, and at the same time, I’m starting to think about getting the horse to move more forwardly, soften and engage his hind end.  We have quite a way to go in this gait!

Last night’s theme was “decide to do it.”  I had mentioned to Christy that I had difficulty maintaining a big, forward trot on a circle with correct bend and engagement.  After putting us through our paces, Christy diagnosed that (again!) the issue was with the pilot, not the pony.

“Pretend Robert Dover is watching you,” she said, hearkening back to the clinic, in which we saw what happened when riders were asked to expect more of themselves, and their horses. “Decide how you’re going to ride and then do it.”   So, I did.  I closed my legs, and was fast with a thump of a heel or tickle with the whip if he started to stall out.  Christy was right – it was more about making a decision and following through.   We finished the ride with few laps of big, forward, connected trot after all the work on the circles, and Derbs felt great throughout.

All in all, despite the scary interlude with the airway issues, I feel like we’re managing to spiral a little upward (in addition to in and out, in and out.) 🙂

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End of season crunch time

September 15, 2012 2 Comments

Still working on the canter.

Thank God. After a brutal couple weeks, I’m off the road, back at home, and back in the saddle. We’re shooting for a couple shows at the end of this month and the beginning of next to wrap up the season, so it’s time to buckle down.  The last show is the IDCTA schooling show series championships.  We’re qualified already, but I’d love to get one more show under our belts.

I’m pretty happy with how our rides have been lately, though as I discussed with Christy today, I really need to concentrate on making true forward gaits our default gear.  I’m still falling into the habit of letting Derby lollygag and slow down, rather than staying in front of my leg.  We’re going to focus on this issue in particular this coming week.

I’ve also been working on improving our bend, and really getting Derby to step under himself and into the outside rein. This is a real weak area for me but I’m determined to nail this key basic.  At the Robert Dover clinic last fall, a woman who was riding Fourth level on a gorgeous and talented horse wound up getting schooled for her lesson on bend.  It underscored for me the importance of mastering the basics.

So I’ve been doing a lot of spiral in/leg-yield out and other exercises assigned by Christy.  We’ve also uncovered a few issues with my position that interfere with (or mute?) my aids.  One thing I’ve caught myself doing – especially to the right – is curling my inside leg up, rather than encouraging the horse to bend around it.  In addition to clarifying my aids, I also need to insist upon a crisp response from Derby.

However, I’ve thought he had something else going on. He’s not entirely comfortable going to the right. His canter to the right can get lateral, and he’s harder to bend to the right.  So I scheduled a chiropractic appointment for Derby, and that appointment was yesterday.

It was fascinating to watch. Dr. Heinze from Fox Valley Equine work on Derby and the other horses.  He first evaluated each, and was able to identify areas (such as part of the spine, or a hip) where there was less motion.  In Derby’s case, he had little flexibility in his right hip, and also had some stiff spots in his spine.  We went ahead with the adjustment, and Dr. Heinze said I could expect to see improvement over the next few days.

I do believe he bent more easily to the right, however, I wasn’t riding terribly effectively today.  But when I finally got both of us warmed up and moving,  Derby felt pretty good.

Derby getting used to the Micklem.

However, I complicated things a bit by adding a new variable – a Micklem bridle.  I got a bit of a wild hair this morning and went up to the Dover store and picked one up.  It took some futzing with to get adjusted, but I think Derby liked it.  His mouth felt quieter and the contact was better.  However, Christy experienced improvement in contact and a softer mouth after having one of her own horses adjusted.

So whether or not it was the bridle or the adjustment, I don’t really know.  I  really should have just used my old bridle for the next few days, but I couldn’t resist giving my new toy a try.

In other news, I’m having Derby re-scoped on Tuesday.  He’s having more difficulty than usual with his breathing.  Normally, he’s fine after taking a few laps to clear his pipes, during which time there’s lots of coughing and sneezing.  Lately, however, the episodes of coughing and sneezing have been more frequent, recurring during our rides. Hopefully it’s just a little inflammation, and we can knock it back with some drugs.

We’re riding again tomorrow (the weather is perfect!) and I’m hoping for a better ride that will give me a better read on  how effective the chiro treatment was.

 
 

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