Total Saddle Fit Shoulder Relief Girth

Mikey had last Wednesday off, then we road walked on Thanksgiving, and then worked Friday in the arena. We had several discussions about moving off my leg into half pass. We also had a discussion about simply going straight in canter on centerline. No changes, no half pass, nothing. Straight and then track the direction we were bending. It was difficult for him. So difficult we will have to repeat in our warm ups every ride. A handful of the tests call for cantering up centerline, trot, halt at G or wherever, and in the past he's always been "What now, what now?!?!?" and made it difficult to get a good final centerline. Nothing ground breaking about the ride. Just a good, solid ride.

Sleeping in the sun Saturday morning instead of eating the hay I put out for his skinny ass.

Saturday I borrowed my barn owner's Total Saddle Fit Shoulder Relief girth. I mentioned it in a previous post. I had mentioned it to her when she said her horse got very funny about shoulder and back restrictions, and she went out and ordered one a few weeks ago. Her horse loves it.

All tightened up.

Maybe I should have cleaned my saddle and used a fresh saddle pad.

He loved it. Absolutely loved it. From the moment I sat down on him, he was more forward and less pokey. No pushing for more unless I wanted extended gaits. His shoulder was freer for sure. He had much more swing in the shoulder when I looked at him in the mirrors. His trot became hard to sit, and not because he wasn't through and so I didn't have somewhere to sit. No, he was very through and connected. He had so much swing to his step and lift that he created a much bigger motion to sit. His canters were forward from the walk, no shuffles and immediately off into a nice canter. I worked with my curb rein hooked through my saddle pad's velcro straps (see the above pic for the gray velcro), but that wouldn't have made that big a difference in his quality of work. We worked centerlines again, and I mixed in one flying change on centerline, and it worked! We worked 10m circles at the start of the long side in canter, then trot half passes and canter half passes from the centerline to wall. We did a couple flying changes on the diagonals to an extended trot to finish. He was absolutely stunning. I'll be ordering a girth for myself. He was so much freer in his movements, and so happy to go to work.

Total Saddle Fit Shoulder Relief Girth: A+ rating. Try it! The leather is super soft and supple, and it feels like memory foam when you squeeze it. At $134 or so after shipping, it's an incredible value. If you have a horse that is just not as free moving as he could be, give it a try. The company does 110% money back and a 30 day test period. You can't lose!

Simply stunning horses get to stop working early and go for a road walk!

Lessons with my Trainer

This is a long overdue post. I am no good at posting when I am on vacation from work, I just don't sit at my computer! I hauled Mikey over to my trainer's winter barn for a lesson the Monday/Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I got to my barn early Monday afternoon to hook up, get hay set up, and get loaded in 50 mph wind gusts and rain. It was awful. Mikey backed off the trailer too, something he hasn't done in years. We has a discussion about staying on the trailer and not moving until I get the butt bar up. I load by myself 90% of the time, he has to remember to stay on! The sun came out as I was leaving, yet it was still raining on me. I made a turn off the barn's road and looked back, and I saw an incredible triple rainbow. The first arch was super bright and had multiple layers of red and orange, and blue and violet. The other two were very faint and could mostly be seen off to the right.

This picture doesn't do the rainbow justice. The naked eye was the only way to view it. It was stunning.

Monday Evening Lesson:
We worked for a short time to show my trainer where we were at. She was happy with our progress. Our half passes are more correct, and he's much more through. We started with trot half pass, and while correct, it lacked expression and his right hind was quiet. She suggested dropping the curb rein on the double bridle so I don't overly engage it by accident. That seemed to help with the lack of expression. We worked a bit on canter half pass next. To the left, he was solid for 3-5 strides and then petered out and trailed his hind end. She said it's just a strength issue, and as with many things, will come with time. At the end of the first one we did a neat and perfect flying change left to right! She was very pleased. For the canter half passes right, he lasted about two strides before becoming a "saucy boy" as she put it and blew through me, skipping right to the flying change. She said he needs to be that cocky about the other lead change, and at that point we can start putting counter canter back into his work and picking the time to do the change. We agreed he absolutely understands the changes and I need to change up how I ask for it every ride. For example, one day use the serpentine, the next on diagonals, the next half passes, the next centerlines etc. We ended up doing 10m circles in the corner after centerline, then making it a 15m, then going down the wall or quarterline, wherever I ended up, and then half passing from there for the canter half pass right. If I didn't, he'd do the first step of half pass from centerline to the wall, then leap out from under me to do the flying change and ruining our connection. Basically I need to change it up enough that he's not anticipating the change.

Some things I realized that night is Mikey doesn't like slippery footing (the arena had been watered but not dragged) and he gets upset when he knows the right answer and can't do it. For example: I didn't set him up right for one of the canter half passes left, and it didn't put him in the right place for the flying change at the wall, and he became very upset that he couldn't make the change when I asked.

Tuesday Morning Lesson:
Our warm up walk and trot work were much better and more relaxed since the arena had been dragged and wasn't slippery anymore. The canter work was better as well, and we warmed up paying attention to him being upright and bending in the corners and keeping the jump and lift in the shoulders. She had me tie up my curb rein and drop it, and we did the canter work without it. We warmed up with a 10m circle at the start of each long side, paying attention to bend, forward, and throughness and then repeating the circle until all of those came together. We then moved on to the half pass from quarterline to centerline so we didn't trip his flying change fuse. We did that both directions, and then did a couple flying changes on short diagonals. He had significantly less attitude, mostly because the arena footing was better and he had settled overnight.

Overall, she liked the new march he had in his walk, the overall throughness and obedience, the progress with the flying changes, how he was going much more off my seat, and just how he seemed to really enjoy his job. She reminded me to keep taking him out for walks- the road, around the farm, anywhere outside of the indoor. He's working well now, but I don't want to ruin his good attitude with too much ring work. Our homework for the next few weeks is to continue the canter half passes, with and without the flying changes. IE sometimes half pass and flying change, sometimes a simple change through walk, sometimes leg yield back to centerline or the quarterline or wherever and then keep tracking the direction I was going. Another thing she said to do was to canter down centerline, maintaining straightness without any change of direction at the end. She also wants me to continue working in his double, but hooking the curb rein to my saddle pad (I hook the front billet velco straps together almost like a grab strap), and doing my work with just the weight of the weymouth in his mouth without engaging the curb.

I loaded him up and took him back home where I promptly turned him out after a couple horse cookies. He was happy to be rid of me!

"Bye Mom!! I don't miss you."

My parents were away Tuesday so I drove to their house to pick up their dog and take her home with me so she didn't spend the day alone. She wasn't sure about hopping all the way up into my truck, and I had to lift her down when we got to my house. She's a 14 year old dog that sometimes has a limp (it's sporadic and we haven't pin-pointed it yet), and I wasn't about to let her jump out of the truck and hurt herself.

She was an excellent truck dog. She loved sitting in the middle of my backseat and staring out the front window. Too bad she doesn't get along with other dogs and barks at horses, otherwise she'd be a perfect horse show dog!

Penny the cat (under the left curtain) and Chuckles the dog (under the right curtain) sharing the window.

What do you do on Thanksgiving?

Make a tiny crossbow from popsicle sticks, embroidery thread, hair clips, and glue! It shoots about 30 feet and can be used with matches, cotton swabs, or snappers taped to matches!

My husband made one too. We agreed we're just big kids!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for these ears. Other things too, but I am very thankful to have these ears to look at every day.

Start of Vacation Riding Updates

First off, I got Mikey new "underwear". I replaced his lavender stretchies shoulder guard with this navy one from Schneider's.

"Mom, I can't believe you bought me underwear."

I am also on vacation until Dec 1! Well, I'll still be home, but I don't have to be at work! Yay! I had to log on this weekend from home and do a couple things, but oh well. I'll be seeing my trainer this week and spending time with family.



I rode again Saturday after stalls, and the whole goal was to be able to repeat Thursday's flying changes. I spent a lot of time at walk getting him through and connected, then at trot, doing half passes and lots of changes of bend through serpentine and circles. I had to spend extra time unlocking his jaw, he tends to not want to connect as well to his double bridle. I usually just hold his body straight and bend his head and neck right and left. Eventually he softens and I can push him into the contact.


The first two changes I tried (one each way), were failures. I didn't get the half pass right. I spent the whole half pass worrying about if I was setting him up properly, and in doing so, I didn't set him up for success. Instead I micromanaged him which didn't allow him to change, instead he gave me the hop of trying but no change. I decided to then focus on the half pass and only the half pass. Make sure the haunches are keeping up. Make sure we're going sideways enough. Keep the outside leg engaged. I actually dropped my left stirrup for the half pass right to try and get better reach with my leg. I hit the rail, swapped my legs and seat, he swapped his lead. No problem! I praised him and kept him collected on the short side, extended down the long, collect, back up centerline to half pass left. I paid attention to the half pass again, the strong right leg now, hit the rail, swapped my legs and seat and he swapped his lead! Not as through or soft as the first change, but who cares, throughness will come. I praised him and immediately got off to walk him out a little.

Sunday (Today) was close to 70 degrees, so I brought Mikey in from the field and fixed his body clip. I had clipped him several weeks ago and he grew a significant amount of hair back. I trimmed some more hair off his hind legs last week, and the two different clips obviously didn't match. I figured I could let the second clip grow out and it would eventually meet the rest of his body... well it didn't grow fast enough and Mikey was fuzzy so I shaved him again. He has to be presentable. I'll be seeing my trainer this week, and the German Riding Master next week. I banged his tail as well.

I finally got around to riding him, and I decided today was our walk through and connected day, so that's what we did. He'll be working hard Tuesday and Wednesday with my trainer, so a walk day won't hurt.

Nothing dramatic to report, I pushed for extended walk to collected walk and back and forth. We did some turn on the haunches, and I realized how to apply my seatbones to get the turn just right. He usually wanders a bit more than I would like, or gets stuck and pivots. We've been hitting the perfect mix of the two all summer, but it's sticky now that he's out of practice. We did more bending and then worked on centerlines and halting. He has a habit of tracking nice and straight, and then sticking out a hind leg in the last step.

Ok, so Mikey isn't this bad.

Due to the mirrors in the indoor, I can finally watch what happens, which means I can correct it. I need to halt more off my seat, holding slightly more pressure in my right rein and leg as that is the side he consistently steps out on. We did several of those, and when he marched down centerline, halted promptly when I asked, while remaining through, and then adjusted his feet so he was square, he got a pat, good boy and long rein.

I gave him a quick hose down to get rid of any stray hairs from his clip then a vetrolin bath. He didn't really work hard enough to need it, but he's been working hard for 3 weeks now. He wasn't sure about the bath until I starting sponging the vetrolin on him. I love how he always relaxes when I start sponging it on him, I like keeping my partner in crime feeling good!

I let him graze out in the sun until he dried, then covered him with a sheet so he'd stay slightly clean and put him out (when I left I could see the mud on his neck and face). I packed the trailer... his feed barely fits in the gallon baggies I keep for traveling. He's eating 2.5 lbs of Nutrena Pro Force Fuel, 1 lb of Nutrena Boost, 1.5 lbs of Dumor Alfalfa Pellets... at each meal. 10 lbs of grain a day. Though I guess 3 don't count because it's alfalfa grass dried and pressed into pellets. Still. With his slow feeder ring (he likes to bury his nose in his feed and scoop it onto the floor using the side of his head, the ring stops this awful behavior), he takes forever to eat. Slow and steady right?

Ecstatic Happiness

I had a very average to slightly disappointing ride Wednesday. I used my Drift helmet cam on the wall, I'll have to post some video later. There isn't much to see.

But now to the real reason for my post's title...

I rode last night, using Mikey's double for the first time in 2 weeks or so. I spent those two weeks really working him over his back and getting him to fill up the correct neck muscles in his Micklem. I also worked on quiet half passes in trot and canter, quiet simple changes through walk on the serpentine, and quiet flying changes while being respectful of my left aids.

He tried to dump me in the first 5 minutes sitting on him- we're just walking and I'm pushing him into the bridle and forward and thinking Spanish walk to get a little extra reach. He just became a spooky bastard about the arena door and did his neat sit and spin to the left without the hard stare that usually happens first. I wasn't as vigilant as I should have been, but he's been spooky about the arena for all this time without reacting to it, I can usually just push him through to work and he forgets about it.

So how does this equal "ecstatic happiness"?

After working through quite a bit of tenseness, I went to canter, did a couple medium/extended canter to collected canters.

I then turned up centerline (tracking right) at the spooky arena door, half passed right from centerline to the wall, and when I hit the wall, I asked for a flying change to see what I would get.

I got a perfect, clean, prompt flying change! No fuss, no shenanigans, no problem. Lots of good boy, neck pat, and kept on trucking tracking left. Extended canter on the long side, collect, turn, half pass left, and a wobbly change. The half pass wasn't as good as it needed to be. He offered me a simple change through trot so I praised him, walked, changed directions at connected walk through a serpentine loop letting him chill (he kept trying to jig back into canter), asked for canter, extended down the longside, collect, turn down centerline, half pass left, hit the rail and asked for the change and BAM! Perfect, clean, prompt flying change.

Good boy, walk, pat, dismount!

I got it on video with my phone, except the changes. Where we hit the wall is in the tiny bit of arena my phone can't see. I'll just have to make the half passes better so they go more sideways and less forward so it fits in the frame! I'll post pics and videos later.

Weekend News

So after being out of the loop here's some updates...

I worked at the barn this past weekend, as always (from Nov 1 until at least March 31, 2015). I had average rides after my chores. Mikey is getting "stuck" in his canter and I'm unsure how to unstick him. Our changes were progressing very nicely on the serpentine, except now he's starting to find stuff to spook at as he's learned the pattern. I normally shy away from pattern work, I don't want him anticipating. But, he's had such a difficult time with the changes that all trainers involved in our lives have agreed that patterning him first, then adjusting the pattern and eventually breaking it, would be the best way for him to learn.

He's starting to get silly when we ride, so I  know he's patterned. Now I have to ride better to keep getting the good results, and I have to find the jump in the canter again. Perhaps I'll stick a couple poles out or something. He's just very sticky again and I don't think a hack in the woods will fix it.



I had a little time to kill Sunday after chores because the barn owner's husband was add mag-flakes (sorry, no idea on the spelling) to the indoor. They had to take out a considerable amount of sand to make the footing rideable, and so had to add back some of the anti-dust agents they put in before. So while I waited I did what any good horse owner would do, I took pictures.

The herd. (left to right: Civan, Cocoa, Duke, Eddie, Mikey)

Mikey sporting the one eared look. Normally he tucks both in his hood.

I tried setting my phone on the kick boards by C and the mirrors on Sunday to attempt to video my ride. I actually get a decent view of the arena and there's only very small sections where you can't see. I was pleased with the view, but not with the video capabilities of my phone. I rode for about 10 min thinking it was running, when in fact it had stopped at 3:31. So it missed anything interesting. So here's a screenshot.

Cantering a 20m circle at B in prep for a change that the camera didn't get.

His changes were less than adequate Sunday, and I ended up working him for longer than I wanted because he gave me 2 good ones, and then all crap. Can't end on crap. An unproductive ride.

I worked him Monday instead of Tuesday this week due to the balmy high of 19 (with a real feel of zero) on Tuesday. Monday night was super windy. The clear plastic sides of the arena were buzzing in the wind. I ended up much more jumpy than Mikey. I decided to keep it short and sweet and easy, and only focused on getting him very very very connected in walk. I added circles and serpentines and making square halts and keeping the connection in halt to rein back or halt to walk. He has a habit of halting square, then taking a hind leg and adjusting it out, ruining the square halt. Well I had nice square halts! I did a small amount of trot, and a half lap of canter each way, and was pretty pleased with how he was. The wind noise was awful, and he was a little spooky, but he went to work and stayed very very connected and round. All those good muscles on top of the neck were working hard!

Perhaps we'll do 3 days of flying change work, 1 day of ultra collected work (the work I did with the German Riding Master last time I saw him), and 1 day of walking very round and connected work that will slowly become very round and connected trot work. When the flying changes are sorted out, we'll work on something else those days, but for now, 3 days of that.

I'm going to ride tonight and work on getting more canter and more jump in it, and then work the flying changes. I also am going to break out my Drift HD helmet cam. It has a number of attachments and a remote control stop/start, so I just have to get it rigged up in the arena and leave it be. Plus it can run for 30-50 min without running out of space. Maybe I'll have something to show you all tomorrow.

I also decided to put my truck on all year insurance. The insurance company was going to make an exception for me for Dec 2, but I could see all kinds of bad happening there over a verbal agreement (make sure you get things in writing!!!). Plus I have a feeling I am going to have several more occasions when I want to use my truck.