Bitless Adventure

Yes, Jetta has not gone anywhere. I've just been busy so most of my posts for this 30 Day Challenge has been preset to post everyday, not too exciting I know.

Anyways, Jetta has been pretty awesome this past week and a half. After getting really frustrated with our work under saddle and basically just giving up, we've had a ton of fun! I decided that our problem is 1) Jetta is not comfortable with my leg so she's anticipating that I'm going to ask her to canter so she trots 100 miles an hour and 2) I've gotten too picky with my hands so Jetta has just started to ignore me and run through my aids. Lovely, right? Now that I've re-evaluated what's happening I want to build her confidence with my leg aids by really working on leg yeilds and shoulders/haunches-in and taking a small break from doing a lot of cantering. But in the meantime, we weren't getting anywhere cause I was getting a tad bit frustrated, so I decided we needed a break. How was I going to give Jetta a break without allowing her to go stir crazy just sitting in her stall?

Well, the answer is this.

This is called a jumping hackamore, but basically it's just a sidepull. I love it!! I hadn't really thought about doing bitless with Jetta, because let's face it, she can be just a tad bit crazy. But she's so happy in it! I'm so happy with it!

Jetta was so good the first time. I didn't know what to expect, but at that point I didn't really care. It was pretty funny because ML kinda looked at me funny and then said, "Are you sure you want to try that?" Meh, what the heck. So I did, and it was a great decision. I've been riding her in it for about 5 or 6 rides and we've even jumped and gone on trail rides with it. Jetta is almost perfect in it - she comes on the (theoretical) bit, doesn't rush, I don't have to worry about picking at her mouth. We do lose a bit of lateral manueverability and stopping power, but as long as we are in the arena at home, I have to say it's pretty sweet. And it makes it even better that I bought it used just because I thought it might be cool to use on Jazz who loves bitless, for a grand total of $5.

Here's Jetta looking unimpressed in her hackamore.