Bit of Evolution

Our last couple of lessons have been less than stellar.  At first I attributed it to not jumping a whole lot and Peebs being excited to jump. He was wiggly and forward, but would take much offense if I used too much hand.  And by too much hand, I mean pretty much any hand. When we jumped if I had more than just the barest amount of contact he'd flip his head and scoot sideways. It got to the point where it felt like I couldn't touch his mouth and had to keep my hands super low.

Peebs puts up a lot of my amateur mistakes, but there's some things he had to have his way.  One of those is bits.  After trying countless bits when I first got him, it was decided that Peebs goes in a pelham.  It was a smooth, single jointed short shanked pelham and he has been super happy in that bit. It was the bit his previous owners used on him and they said he went well in it.  They weren't wrong.

angry Peebers

But it's been almost 3.5 years since I got him.  His mouth physically is much better. Three years of dentals every six months will see to that.  He's a lot more educated in the contact now, and while I'd like to think I'm a better rider in general, I know I'm better at riding him. And what I was feeling when jumping was not a happy Peebers. 

and yes, I got keepers for it

So I put him in a plain full cheek snaffle. Same mouth piece as the pelham and I hoped the full cheek would help with some of our turning issues.  I had tried him in a plain eggbutt snaffle when I first got him, but had zero braking ability when jumping.  I'm glad to say that now we have brakes! The first ride in the full cheek was great.  I tried a rollback that we had really struggled with in my lesson two days before and it was night and day difference.

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Guys, my horse can go in a snaffle!! Peebs has been very picky about his bit but the last few rides in the pelham, it was clear we needed a change. Still need to work on recalibrating my hand and leg to a snaffle but it feels great to have my horse back! #goodboypeebers #plainsnaffleftw #nomoredoublereins #itsamiracle

A post shared by Molly Basney (@mollybasney) on Jun 16, 2019 at 10:53am PDT

I had a lesson Sunday morning, and was hoping to get my trainer's approval of the full cheek. She did note that he was heavier in my hand during our flat warm up and said I need to be cognizant of not letting him hang on my hand.  But part of that is still me learning how much leg and hand I need with the snaffle vs the pelham. Over fences she was sold.  I could actually take a feel of his mouth and ride him toward the fences, as opposed to being super soft and trying to not piss him off.  I could hold in the short three stride and he didn't flip his head and get pissy.  I could sit and push him around the turns without him trying to fly sideways. It was such an awesome feeling to finally be able to really ride my horse again! There's definitely some kinks to work out as far how much feel I need, and how much is too much, but I'm glad to finally ditch the double reins of the pelham!

Back at it Again with the Pelham

One of the things that stuck with me from the awful, horrible, no good clinic was trying different bits with Peebs.  While I don't agree that my pelham is worthless and whoever sold it to me should be shot (technically it would be the nice checkout lady at the local feed store. Sorry girl, I really liked you!) its not a bad idea to try something new once in a while.  

I already knew that a plain snaffle or a French link is ok for flatwork, but I have no breaks when jumping.  A slow twist pissed Peebs off so much that we ran sideways into standards.  I tried a rubber mullen mouth and we also went spinning sideways. I tried a waterford and it went ok for three or four rides.  He wasn't super soft in my hand like with the plain snaffle, but I had breaks.  He was more reactive to it than the pelham, but not as much as with the mullen or slow twist. I did put a standing martingale on because he was a bit high headed but ultimately decided that I didn't like him in that bit.

I do like the look of a big hunter dee ring

So back we went to the pelham.  I tried adjusting my chain like she said to and I think I might need to see if I can take a couple links off.  Peebs just seems easier to ride with the pelham, and as much as I'd like to not have to ride with two reins, his comfort comes before mine. I might do some flat rides with the plain snaffle, just for funsies and who knows, maybe one day we can drop him down to it full time. But for now we'll stick to the awful best bit for him.

Dis my favorite bit.

Bits and Pieces

One of my goals for the first half of the year is to figure out Peeb's bit.  When I went to try him they had him a broken snaffle pelham with a bit converter and one rein.   He was heavy in my hand, especially in downward transitions, but didn't protest my nervous picking at him.  I told my trainer that it seemed like he didn't need that strong of a bit and I wanted to try him in some others.

When we brought him home I put him in a full cheek slow twist.  Peebs can pop both shoulders and make circles much more egg shaped than round and the full cheek helped with our turning.  The first few rides he seemed a bit pissed if I got too handsy when jumping and proved he is a master of the angry head toss. So I dropped him into a d-ring french link where he promptly ignored me. He wasn't bad or mean about it; he would just stick his little nose in the air and go "La la la la la, I can't hear you".  So back to the slow twist we went.

Tuesday I set a few cross rails up with the plan to string together a little course.  We started warming up by trotting one and the second time through Peebs flipped me the head bird and ran at the fence.  I stopped him hard on the landing and came back to try again.  This time he was even more upset and had an epic head flinging extravaganza while I tried not to be completely freaked out.  Where the F had my easy lesson horse gone?!  I pulled a lesson kid move by picking up a tiny little trot, two pointing while grabbing mane, and just pointed him at the jump. Again, a few strides out he flung his head and tried to canter it.  We did manage a somewhat decent attempt at the jump after that, but both he and I were frazzled.

Obviously a lot has changed from his old home to now, and we all know trying to figure out what sets a horse off can be impossible sometimes, but to me Peebs' crankiness seemed mouth/bit related.  He needs his teeth done ASAP, and will get them done once I get back from my vacation next week. 

He likey

But he was so easy in the pelham when I tried him I thought what the hell and put him back in it, only with two reins instead of the bit converter.  Voila, instant happy pony. He was still heavy in my hand but there was no head flinging. We tried jumping the same cross rails again yesterday and it was a night and day difference. Little lesson pony trot up to and away from it, then cantered it.  The first time at the canter I saw the long spot and just supported him and he didn't care, second time I deliberately held for the short spot and again he didn't care.  If switching bits caused that big of a change from one day to the next, then we'll be riding in the pelham from here on out! I'd rather work with a heavy on the forehand horse than one running at jumps with his head in the air.  Happy Peebs means a happy Molly!

New Year's Rides

I had to work on New Year's Day, but manged to get out early and go for a ride on Buddy.  He's been lazy on the flat, not wanting to engage, ignoring me, and just plodding around.  I switched him to the pelham for a little wake up, and while it was great for our flat work it was too much brakes over fences.  He was listening to me and moving out well during warm up, felt really nice.  But once we started jumping any time I held even the tiniest bit he would back way off and get pissy.  I guess we'll jump in the slow twist and flat in the pelham.  Isn't it usually the other way around; jump in the bigger bit and flat in the milder one?  Once again Buddy proves he's an odd one.









What is with my eq??!!

We worked on having a rhythm and going to the fences, trying to have soft, soft, soft hands and impulsion.  He got tired which I was expecting since he hasn't jumped this much in a month or so.  We did manage to do the 3ft fence a few times and I was pretty happy with our ride.

I finally got back on Miss McKenna after 2 weeks, oops.  I've been lunging the snot out of her and we had a low key ride on Thursday.  She was understandably up and excited, so we did lots of circling and transitions.  Friday she was much better and we had moments of soft, round trotting.  Cantering is still a bit wild, she has a hard time balancing and swings her head up and down.  She's getting it and at times I felt like I could soften and relax instead of trying to hold her together.

She did try to take off with me once (we have stalls that back up to the indoor and a horse kicked the wall as we went past) and using the reins to stop in those situations only makes it worse with her.  Head shoots straight up, hind end drops, and she leaps forward.  But a strong "Whoa!" and she'll halt completely.  I know it's not the normal H/J thing, but I really do love the horses with a western background that stop like that off voice commands.  Pretty sure all my ponies from here on out will learn this.

Back to Buddy

Over the past few months I've felt like I've been neglecting Buddy.  First when he pulled his shoe and went lame there wasn't a lot I could do with him.  Once he got the shoe back on I was getting ready to show Tia and had to spend most of my time getting her ready.  Now with McKenna here I've been more focused on the new pony. 

Luckily Amy's back from summer break and wants to part lease Buddy again this fall.  She's been out a few times over the past two weeks and has been getting Buddy back into shape.  I told her that he's been out of work, but she didn't seem to mind taking it slow with him. 

I did manage to ride him twice this week, once just a flat hack inside and yesterday we jumped a bit in the outdoor.  I switched him back to the slow twist from the pelham since Amy's never ridden in a pelham and he seems much happier.  The two times I've ridden he's been soft in my hand and stretching down into the contact.  I think the pelham will be our big bit for when he's naughty and we'll stick with the slow twist for every day use.

I got my baseline for the Two Point Challenge on Buddy during our inside hack.  2:53, not great but it's a start.  I dont' know how much two pointing I'll be able to do on McKenna so hopefully the challenge will force me to ride Bud more to work on it!

McKenna has started to show her 5yr old OTTB self.  She's been a little ADD and high, but not necessarily bad.  She'll look at things and tends to focus more on what's going on around her rather than me. She hasn't spooked at anything, including the donkeys and the mechanical cow our barn owners use as a roping dummy. The old trainer had her on a magnesium supplement that they said helped her focus, so I'm going to order some of it and see.


Baby's first time in the outdoor arena

Honeymoon is Over

After almost two weeks, our honeymoon with the pelham is over.  Buddy was very sensitive in my lesson yesterday, tossing his head and not wanting to give.  He was still better than he was in the slow twist but not as good as he has been.  Oh well, such is horses.

Jen was having me ride with a loop in my reins and thinking about squeezing my hands closed for the half halts instead of pulling back.  It was so hard to have loopy reins and for the whole lesson my hands were my main focus.  It went better than I thought it would, and he softened and relaxed by the end.  Since my hands and elbows tend to be my weak areas (when I get nervous I lock my elbows and shorten my reins) I was really proud of myself for working thru it.

After warming up we worked on a line that should have been a 5, but we didn't have the pony power and went for a 6.  The approach to the first fence was short and uphill, and combined with our hand/bit issue I just couldn't get him forward enough for the 5.  Once we got a couple nice 6's with a somewhat happy pony we moved on to a bending line in 4.   For the most part it was pretty nice, as long as I had him forward to the first fence.

We did the bending line a few times then Jen wanted me to do a rollback to a 3'ish oxer. I wasn't too sure we could do, we would have to turn immediately upon landing I was sure I would pull on his mouth too much and piss him off.  The first, and second, time we took the outside turn and it was pretty nice.  I didn't even care that the oxer looked big. 

Ignore crappy cell phone quality.  The inside turn was before the red oxer

 

To compromise, Jen put the oxer down to a vertical and had me do the inside turn.  The first few tries were awful, he hid protest the sharp turn and I lost our impulsion.  We did manage a couple good times thru and called it quits with that.

Squeeze like a Sponge

I had a mini lesson tonight.  Jen was out doing some of the other girls and I was hacking during their lessons.  She asked if I had jumped him yet in the new bit and I hadn't so she had me take him over some to see how it went. 

It was great, as long as I started with enough pace.  If he was behind my leg, I couldn't see the distance and would pick at him, pissing him off.  When he was forward and moving, all I had to do was close me hand, or as Jen said squeeze the reins like a sponge, and he was right there.  We worked thru a line then did a figure 8 with two diagonal fences.  He was turning really well, actually bending and giving instead of bracing on my hand. 

Apparently I have a habit of giving my outside rein in the rollbacks, then picking it back up on the straight away but didn't have that problem tonight.  Jen said my hands/rein length/connection looked great and Buddy was soft and willing.  The only thing that tripped us up a couple times was making sure I have plenty of leg when I half halt and don't pick at him.

Pelham FTW!

While no means a miracle fix, the pelham worked great today.  Buddy took a little bit to get used to it and had a couple mini tantrums but was so much softer and willing to give and bend.  His tantrums came in the canter, when he wanted to get strong and run down the long side.  We did some transitions and lot of stopping and backing.  We cooled out by walking around the field.  Hopefully my barn owners can mow soon so we can move the jumps out for the summer.