Clinic recap: Stop being so sexy

The clinic was at a LOVELY private farm near Lexington

Once again I have fallen behind on things! #boxofshame

Hamp and I went to a LS clinic back in August. As usual, Lauren had all the right prescriptions for the little issues we have. Most notably, making the trot half pass level. Hampton has always been ... well, rein lame in the trot half pass. There's really no other way to describe it.

Turns out, Hampton is not Valegro. If I had too much bend and too much sideways, he physically just cannot do it and becomes unlevel. So, Lauren told me to "paso fino" sidways. Keeping him very upright, and just a tick of bend. "Stop making it sexy."

And that did the trick! As long as I don't overbend, and keep him feeling upright, he remains level. Is it a 10 half pass? No. But I will take a 6 or 6.5 happily thank you much.

The other thing we did was try a Finesse bridle.

Big honkin' pads on the crown piece

Handsome

This thing looked pretty odd from up in the saddle, and I am really not a believer in "miracle equipment." My motto is "suck less" and I feel most training issues are probably a rider issue or failure in communication. But I will say that Hampton DID remain more up in the bridle with the finesse bridle, and quieter in the mouth. 

Unfortunately these bad boys are insanely expensive ($700+ for a double bridle) so I dunno. I doubt I will actually buy one. It's just too expensive. I have looked into other ways to pad up the crown piece though. 

Anyway, it was a great clinic and Hampton did great especially in the heat (it was 90+ that weekend). 

Cows were moo-ing in the distance.
Hampton's bloodthirsty obsession with cows will be addressed in a future blog.
Standby.