The Bitting Bandwagon

There seems to be this new trend type of clinic gaining in popularity these days.

There are a handful of individuals who are giving bit-fitting clinics. they evaluate you and your horse, and advise you on which bit or bits may be most suitable.

Be prepared to cough up close to $250 for ONE SESSION with some individuals.

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Kudos to these people who found a marketing niche and jumped on it. They certainly make bank with what they are charging. Wish I had thought of it first!

However.

And this is my sometimes snarky opinion coming out here ...

Is your bit really the problem? Is it REALLY?

Now in some cases, yes having some expert advice on bits will help. Especially if your horse has issues such as a funny palette, or is just sensitive in nature.

But in general, I find these clinics to be a marketing scheme. And people fall for it - thinking that this will suddenly fix all their problems! Pony will FINALLY take the contact, or stop pulling, or stop wagging his head or .. or ... or.

And OF COURSE they market the most f-ing expensive bits on the market. A $280 curb bit? Are you out of your mind?! Unless of course is magically fixes all the problems I have with my horse.

Which it will not.

Because a magic bit is not the answer. 

What is the answer?

I think it might be hard work. And lessons. And training.

And hard work.

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You Spin Me Right Round baby

After showing all weekend, Hampton and I took Monday off and then back on the trailer on Tuesday to haul up to Indiana for a lesson with JK!

I was really looking forward to getting my butt kicked, and hoped I could make that correction in the left canter pirouette that gave us problems.

We rode at the lovely farm that was formerly home to Conner. The footing is magical, and the farm is a little slice of paradise. It was of course blasting 90 degrees, but we handled it ok.

Love this barn!

JK had us work a lot on keeping him uphill, and jumping in the canter. Hampton is funny, I work so hard and it always looks like we are going NOWHERE. Need to get him firing more.

We did some piaffe, passage (although his passage was not really there that day. Probably tired), some half passes, and then we started to focus on the canter pirouettes.

Little canter half pass. Needs to be more uphill, even though this is the downbeat.

As horses do, they make liars out of you.

After I explained the issue I had, Hampton of course pirouettes just fine. Both directions.

Finally, he pulled his little stunt!

JK nailed it, and said that he locks up and I don't know what to do. You can see it in the video where his entire neck locks up. I just sit there like "ohhhhh shit." and then he swaps leads. I need to bend him, and let him take a stride forward. Making the piro a bit too big is better than swapping leads. Caught the little bastard on the act on video!

She had us do an exercise where you make the first steps of the piro tight, then allow a step forward, then tight, then allow forward. This seemed to help and once I get better at it, it should help make our piros more tidy. They are excellent for where we are in our training. But remember at Grand Prix they have to be on the centerline and I mean ON THE CENTERLINE. Not drifting.

With those corrections, we had several more nice pirouettes and called it a day. Hampton worked his little ass off and I was so proud of him. This work is not easy. He tries so hard. He is so odd because you would not think he would be so good at some of this upper level work but canter pirouettes are one of his strong points! He can really sit and bring his hind legs under.

More good tips from JK:

* Make what you do well, REALLY GOOD. Instead of always working on your super weak points, make your strong points super strong! There is only so much I can do to improve Hampton's trot and uphill "frame." Obviously it will always be a work in progress, but he isn't ever going to be Valegro.

* Ride the movements for a gold medal.

* Forward and back is your friend

We hauled back home ... hot and exhausted.

But we had one more adventure the next day!

Majestic Show results

Whew! So busy! I have a lot to catch up on.

Last weekend, we hauled to Ohio for Majestic Hotter Than Blue Blazes show. I was aiming to get my last freestyle score for regionals, and to add more experience at PSG.

There is something about this venue though that is cursed. EVERY TIME I go, something weird happens. You may remember last year I crashed the trailer into a concrete block, and also went off course during my regional championship class.

*foreshadowing music*

During Regionals, all of these stalls were full.
Now it looks like a ghost town.

When I went to go school on Friday, I leaned over and noticed my bridle looked odd.

Oh, it seemed my curb chain was GONE. No where to be found.

I schooled anyway without it (Hampton was fine), and then went on a quick shopping trip to get a new one. Dover was close, but Equus Now was closer. Maybe a 20 min drive.

I am so happy I went there because the store is AMAZING. My face:

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I wanted to stay and shop around, but knew I should get back. Got the curb chain I needed, plus treats, a fly bonnet, and a pair of emoji socks BECAUSE I AM A CHILD.

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Since I'm tight on cash, I decided to just camp in the trailer and not get a hotel. Thinking I was so smart, I set up my camping hammock in the back of the trailer. I left the back doors open for air and a nice breeze.

I was comfy, it had cooled down and I was enjoying the sounds of the horses quietly munching.

Well, then it rained. And then it STORMED LIKE A M-Fer!!! Water started running down my hammock, soaking my butt and back. After about 2 hours of this, it finally stopped but now I was soaked and pissed. So I moved into the back seat of the truck at about 1:30 am where I think I got a couple hours of sleep.

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The next morning I rode the PSG at about 8:15. Hampton warmed up pretty well, and we ended up laying down one of out best PSG tests yet.

EXCEPT.

I went off course. I turned right instead of left at the walk.

DAMMIT KAREN.

Everything else was fluid and no mistakes. I was really happy with Hampton, and wanted to kick myself. We ended up with a 60%+. Had I not had an error, it would have been a 62%+.

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Still, solid scores and overall improvement. Needs more uphill balance. Ya think??

Our freestyle was later in the day, in the blasting heat. So all I did was get on a walk on the bit for about 5 minutes and then went right in. Sort of a risk but ... Hampton was AWESOME! He went right to work and easily our best freestyle!

Our only glitch was the left canter pirouette where he did the worst thing possible - swap leads. So that's an automatic 3 and it dinged us for sure. Still, we managed a 65%! Good enough for regionals and overall improvement! I had changed my trot music, and I think it flows better now and the judge seemed to like it! Have video FINALLY and will post as soon as it's uploaded.

Morning grazing time.

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Sunday we rode early again in the PSG. Again, overall pretty solid except he swapped leads AGAIN on me in the left piro. Now I was annoyed, and schooled him after the test and made him do it over and over again. Not acceptable EVER to swap leads like that. SO again, it's an automatic 3 and that movement is a co-efficient. UGH.

Frustrating because we are so capable, but even with the mistake we still squeaked out another 60%+. Lots of 6.5s and 7s on there. But man you really get dinged in the PSG for any bobble! And because Hampton is downhill and not fancy, we cannot afford mistakes at all.

Sailor and Hampton

I'm still really happy with the scores though, and Hampton was such a great dude all weekend! There was NO diving down at all. He did fall behind my leg at times, so that is still homework but we are feeling more solid each time down the centerline.

Just don't suck.

I apologize for my lack of media! There was no show photographer, and we didn't have Liz with us so I got very few photos. Blarg.

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We were home at a very decent hour, and we had a day of rest before our next adventure!

How I fixed my alignment*

Long LONG-time blog readers may remember I used to look this this in the saddle:

*Please excuse lack of helmet photos. They were around 2006-2007, before I got wise
and started wearing one every single ride. I was dumb. I realize.

And this:

I think this was 2008. Ha - approved helmets not even required yet!

I didn't even start seriously riding dressage until about 2003. I started lessons with JK, with basically a hunter seat, no core and piano hands.

A hunter seat isn't WRONG, it's just different. Definitely not effective for the sport of dressage. I had started with saddleseat as a kid, then switched to hunter/jumpers through college and finally committed to dressage.

Basically, I had/have some bad habits from a plethora of disciplines! Sweet!

I started taking regular lessons with JK, who started to mold me into a better dressage rider very very slowly. My shoulders started to come back, my hands came up and I started to develop a core. A wee bit of one. I also started riding in an actual dressage saddle which helped tremendously.

T-Bone. My position starts to get better. My leg is longer, but I'm still weak in the core and unable to truly get
my horse to connect over the back.

The evolution of my position is interesting to me. There hasn't been one day where I was like "Oh duh!" and started sitting better. It has been YEARS of work, tweaking, studying and mental imagery.

But, there was one clinic in particular that really changed how I sat on a horse. That was Jeff Ashton Moore. I was riding my Morgan, T-Bone. He was young, and both of us were stupid.

He had me lift both knees and thighs off the saddle and hold them there. So that your seat bones "plug in" to the saddle. I dropped my stirrups and did this over and over and over at the walk, trot AND canter. (Would not recommend on a squirrely horse). Which I am sure most people are aware of this exercise. But he had me do it over and over and over.

Then I would do this every time I rode.

Riding Marshall. This was after the J. Ashton Moore clinic. You can see I am learning to tuck my tail bone now, and
not jam my heels down so badly. I am still sticking my chin out, but alignment over all is better.

And slowly, my seat got a little better. A little heavier. A little more effective.

After I sold T-Bone, and got Hampton, I took about a year off from seriously working on my position because when you are riding a 3 year old and breaking one, the proper position does not matter so much. Mostly you just need to stay on and steer.

Even though I am sloppy here, my overall alignment is STILL better than it was.
(fall 2009, Hampton's first trot under saddle)

And through training Hampton through the levels, I have learned that you EARN this position. And I am not perfect BY FAR, but far improved from where I started or even just 10 years ago.

JJ Tate had the great words of "Anchor yourself down in that saddle." That really struck a chord with me. Not only to anchor, but connect to the horse with your butt, core and to the bridle.

A couple years later (2012), My seat is more solid, but my shoulders are
unplugged.

Recently I've started to take pilates classes, because my shoulders come "unlocked" in the saddle constantly. I am becoming more aware of when I need to plug them back in, so I use my core more honestly. And not my lower back. I also need to leg my legs drop down, instead of pulling my knees up and/or gripping with my knee.

First/Second level. I start to realize this kind of work isn't going to happen unless I
learn to use my body better. I am slouchy, weak in the core.
And my horse reflects that.

Oh hey I start to get a little strong.
My horse reflects that also.

And be straighter in my torso #collapsesleftallthetime

It's a never ending pursuit of perfection. And body awareness.

If you make just a little improvement each day, then after 30 days look what you have accomplished! That goes for horse and rider. Just inch by inch.

Lessons, lessons, lessons. I carry my hands better, my core is starting to stabilize.
(Apparently I lose my head, too. har dee har)

Keep working, keep building those blocks.

And that is the story of how I learned to put my bum in the saddle.

What a difference from the first photo to this one!
Inch by inch!
(2018)

*And by fix I mean improve. It's not perfect. I'm no Charlotte! :)

Check those feet!

NOT HAMPTON thankfully, but a member of our barn family. The mare will be fine, thankfully. Her owner found it when she noticed mild ankle swelling, and then went to pick feet and noticed something funny.

HORSES: Giving their owners cardiac events for centuries.

Honor bound

I wanted to give an update on the scholarship I had created in honor of my father.

You guys.

Beyond anything I could have imagined.

Bloggers are incredible.

The horse community is incredible.

Thanks to you guys and other horse lovers, this scholarship will now be funded for at least TEN YEARS. In a few years, it should also be bringing in more funds for itself so there are opportunities to either increase the scholarship amount, or maybe award more than one per year.

Honestly I was just hoping people would chip in $5 here and there, and I could fund the scholarship for about 5 years. The generosity is humbling and I do not have adequate words to express my gratitude.

You all know who you are.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will pay it forward.

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The first scholarship will be awarded in 2019. IDS is still nailing out details and such on their end.

The winner will get a check, and a Peppermint Patty. Because my dad LOVED those things. I am hoping I can present the award at next year's banquet.

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In other news, I did finally peer pressure my mom into getting a KITTEN. More to come on that piece of adorableness!!!!

... and the verdict?

Breakfast is LATE. I want to talk to your manager!!!

I gave Hampton a couple more days off after his injection and new shoes.

And then got on and did mostly tack walking and decided, ok I am going to trot a couple straight lines here just to see how he feels. No expectations.

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He was sound.

And sound the next day.

And sound the next.

Honestly, this result is the BEST CASE SCENARIO. Yay!

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Still going to take it a little easy this week and work our way back up to more intense work. No extensions or pounding on those front feet or crazy lateral work.

Her certainly feels much more comfortable and seems to like his bar shoes so ... we kick on!

I am also putting him on Aspirin powder which is supposed to not only help with a little joint pain, but also increase blood flow. Isoxoprine is another option, too, if I want to get a script.



He has always been on some sort of joint supplement since he was young (because I knew this would be coming), but I've decided to go with SmartStride for a month since it has EVERYTHING in it. lol. So we'll see how he likes that.

Other options include Cosequin, etc. etc. down to plain old MSM.





If I ever get caught up financially, I may do another round of Polyglycan on him as well.

But it looks like we are all systems go. I'm so glad my pony is feeling better and that he told me that he was in pain! Makes me wonder just how long he had this going on!