(Kinda) Back to Work

After our last show, Jetta has been kinda great. I was pretty frustrated with our rides at the show since I know we are both capable of so much better. My ride after the show we even ran through a test in full (which I never do) to see if there was any bracing happening like it happened at the show... There was none, she was soft and compliant the whole test.

This is definitely not a new problem. One of the last dressage shows we went to before Jetta got pregnant she was AWFUL - I felt like our whole test was basically a barely controlled bolt, she was running through and ignoring my aids. I walked out of the ring knowing we deserved a 50-something % and a low placing... then we miraculously pulled off a mid-60 score landing us in 2nd place. So obviously her being a freight train doesn't look as bad as it feels, but we're never going to be able to progress in our training if we don't get it under control.

But her neck is starting to muscle nicely!

Overall though, I feel like I finally have my pre-baby horse back, the one who is ready to school second level and everything. She's by no means perfect at home, but we're definitely improving. She's getting steadier in the contact, her trot feels really nice most of the time, and our canter-trot downward transition is kinda there. Two things we're struggling with right now, oddly enough, is our stretchy trot - Jetta is willing to stretch down, but kinda takes off - and our right bend disappeared. Not sure where it went, but I think it's a me thing, that I'm hanging on my outside rein too much, so we've been working on that. Our lengthened canter to working canter transition is still very resistant, so we're still playing with that a lot while trying to not let her get used to a big fast canter all of the time.

I haven't ridden her in the verbindend bit in a long time - I thought it might be our magic bit when I first bought it, but over time it was just a little too much bit for schooling at home. I put it aside to use possibly just at shows and then forgot about it. I pulled it back out again for the first time in forever and tried a ride in it and I'm not sure it was any better than the Myler. I think I need at least one more ride in it to decide if it's going to be a useful bit just to use in a show environment, so fingers crossed!

I'm trying to figure out how to budget some more shows into our schedule, but it's really hard since I'm not working right now and of course it's tough to schedule around 4th year rotations, but I'm hoping there'll be at least a couple shows in the books for us! Of course, I'm really wanting to ride lots right now since it seems we're on the upward swing in our training at the moment, but my rotation at the humane society is almost 2 hours away from home so I've been staying in the dorms which is a huge bummer. I miss my ponies, but I at least get to see them on the weekends!

Also, I went on this hike and it was amazing

The Princess and the Golden Bit

Retail therapy at its finest to deal with vet school? Check.

Pretty mare all decked out

I really wish I was posting more, but I'm still in the adjustment period getting into the swing of thing for the first term back of my second year of vet school! It still seems weird that I can now call myself a second year. But everything's going well despite my less than consistent riding schedule, including acing the first two midterms.

Jetta got a new browband to go on her PS bridle and I'm obsessed. It's the sparkliest thing I've ever seen, it's literally blinding in the sunshine. I love it. It looks near identical to the ones that PS of Sweden sells, minus the snaps, but it's half the price.

So sparkly

I think it looks like Jetta has a tiara with it on. She's my princess so I guess she deserved a crown finally!



The golden bit part... that's not quite as fun. I have never spent so much money on a bit before, it hurts me a little inside. After the last show I decided we really needed something different and this bit had been recommended to me by two different trainers and it has great online reviews so I decided to try it out. Jetta is a sensitive horse who can be heavy at times so it's tough to find a good bit that she a) listens to, b) doesn't throw a fit about being too "strong" and c) doesn't grind her teeth with. Too thin of a bit? We get head tossing and an open mouth. Too thick? We get teeth grinding and/or ignoring the bit (and yes, she very recently got her teeth done and they had no issues). Her two favorite bits are her HS mullen mouth ported loose ring (not dressage legal) and her D-ring waterford (also not dressage legal).

So I bought a Neue Schule verbindend snaffle. That thing better be made of literal 14k gold for the price! I scoured the internet for a year for one less than $100 used, but they were never the right size or type so a shiny new bit it was.

I'm still tentative at calling it a magic bit (which it should be for the price) but Jetta goes pretty well in it. She listens very well, but at the same time she takes a really nice contact. Obviously it hasn't fixed all of our connection issues, but I think it was a good purchase. After a little bit of fussing at the walk, she settles down and takes the perfect amount of contact, much better than she usually does, and she doesn't just bulldoze through it in transitions. So I guess we're keeping the golden bit!

And the last bit of retail therapy... the big bi-annual tack sale was last weekend and I haven't been in over a year so I decided to go. Jetta got a new turnout sheet, a fleece dressage girth to replace the one that just walked away, a new boot bag for my tall boots, another waterford bit to put on her "trail" bridle so I don't have to keep swapping it off her cross country bridle and a couple other odds and ends for friends. It was a pretty good haul!

Shopping is always the answer, right?

Review: Happy Mouth Snaffle

I meant to do this a while ago, but never got around to it and just found this draft sitting in my folder!

I think I got this bit around November so I've been using it a while.

I mentioned when I got Misty, but I was not impressed with her previous training. At all. I know she was a ranch horse and as a result is a pretty chill, well-mannered horse, but after I bought her and rode her for the first time (not how I'd recommend buying a horse lol) she was alternatively sensitive to the bit and dull to it at times. As in I'd cue for a downward transition with my seat and get nothing, use a little bit of rein, getting a gaping mouth, use a little more seat/hand and get a slam on the brakes. Fun times.

I use Mylers on pretty much every horse I've ever had. I've found that they're thin enough to fit comfortably in mouths, too uncomfortable to lean on but kind enough to encourage a soft contact. So this is what I had Misty in. But even using a noseband to discourage opening her mouth and trying to teach her to listen to my body weight and seat aids for transitions she was still quite unhappy with the bit.

I think mostly because she was so used to a curb bit. You get the action of the shanks applying pressure via the curb strap first, plus there's no contact to speak of. Anywho, in teaching her dressage I wanted the softest bit possible to encourage her to accept contact. Enter a happy mouth.

Modeling the bit

I went with a D-ring version since I was also wanting the added control for jumping and showing hunters. The first few rides weren't encouraging. She was trying to figure out the bit, chewing on it a lot, trying to lean on it or tossing her head in the air alternately.

Now that it's been a few months though, I have to say I'm really happy with the bit. It hasn't gotten any chew marks. I don't like how the plastic yellows as it ages, but that's pretty unavoidable. Misty has settled down and seems to really appreciate the bit for working with contact. I still use the Myler for riding western but the Happy Mouth is for all our English work. She's definitely much happier taking contact and steady in the bridle. We still obviously have quite a ways to go, but I went and bought a second Happy Mouth that's a loose ring to show dressage in and keep the D-ring for jumping.

New bit on left, old bit on right

Manageable

Well I survived round 2 of riding the monster pony yesterday. She was much more manageable. I got to the barn before feeding time and decided to ride while the arena was still empty instead of cleaning stalls first. A long warm up on the lunge, before throwing a leg over the fire breathing dragon.

She was a lot better. I switched out her bit, from the Myler loose ring to a Herm Sprenger Mullen mouth. I really like this bit. Before Jetta, I never tinkered with bits. Everyone got ridden in the same bit and they all went perfectly well. Then there's Jetta. I've tried all sorts of things on her. I still ride her in the Myler most times, but she goes really well in this HS bit.

I've had a couple dressage trainers tell me that the Myler is "too severe and thin" for her, but honestly it's one of the bits she goes best in on the flat. And if a bit is too severe for her, then she's even worse and dives on the bit, flings her head and gapes her mouth. So it's definitely not too severe. Thick bits make her less responsive to my aids and she grinds her teeth. But even though this HS bit is definitely thicker, she has a very quiet mouth, no grinding or gaping. She is also still responsive without being too sensitive. The mullen aspect means she can't lean on the bit, but she more than happily takes up contact with it. I just wish it were legal to show in! (While it's described as being "shaped for the horse's mouth", USDF considers it to be ported since it has a deviation of more than 30mm, therefore not legal).

Anyways, our ride was a lot quieter with only one spin/leap when someone walked past the arena gate. We even managed a nice canter. It was short and sweet though because almost as soon as I switched directions another boarder started leading her amped up horse to the arena to lunge. Just what I needed, another horse to convince Jetta that spooking is necessary! So after a quick trot to the right, where she was soft and polite. I stopped and dismounted just in time for the other horse to enter the arena and blast off on the lunge. Whew, crisis averted.

Me? Be bad? Never

Today was just going to be a lunge Jetta and ride Misty day. But when I got to the barn after work, at 28 degrees... I'm embarrassed to say that I wimped out. It was FREEZING. I know, I know. It's way colder basically everywhere else. Well, 1) I'm a wimp and 2) it's been 50+ degrees the past few weeks so I haven't gotten acclimated to the temperatures yet. I resigned myself to picking frozen poop nuggets out of the stalls. Jetta was pretty amped in her stall so I decided I would lunge her anyways even though my nose and fingers were about ready to freeze off.

Again, psycho pony. It was feeding time and everything was terrifying. She pranced and galloped and bucked and whirled around. Finally calmed down, cooled her off and put her away. Tomorrow it's supposed to snow and campus is freaking out with their winter weather warnings and "dangerously low temperatures". Personally, I'm not sure how big of a "storm" this'll be, but if it snows I'll be happy! I finally have my truck back (four wheel drive!!) so I can get out to the barn.

Plugging Along

The weekend has mostly been quiet. Jetta has been living the life and is just getting pampered. Her rope burns appear to be healing well on her hind legs but they've got some crusty scabs that are kind of ouchy so I've been slathering on ointment to try and keep them soft. Her hematoma doesn't seem to be getting any bigger, but neither does it appear to be getting smaller. Today she got a bath since I decided she was looking kind of icky. She had some dried sweat and some dead hair going on so I gave her a really good scrub and tested out some new shampoo. She was not pleased about the bath, though I'm convinced that it had to feel good with it being so hot out!

More recent photo from 2 days ago

I'm itching to ride her again! There's so much stuff I want to work with her on and do. We were finally at a really good place again. But if it decides not to heal, the couple shows we were planning this month will have to be scratched...

Misty is also doing well. We've just been playing around with western stuff and prepping for the trail competition this weekend. I put out 3 poles all bunched together to act as a log and got her to sidepass over them. It took a while, but we finally made it all the way over in both directions! Next step is to use the jump blocks as something slightly larger and then finally we'll use the barrels to sidepass over.

I've also been trying to organize stuff. I brought some tack home to clean and sell, as well as all of my more recently used bits to run through the dishwasher. I think I have a problem... Not pictured are 5 more bits. Does it not count as hoarding because I've decided to sell two of them?

Shiny shiny bitssss. I didn't even have to photoshop the sparkle on :)

Then I bought a little 4-drawer plastic dealie to put stuff in and wrangle all my wraps and random stuff that is floating around the tack room. Even though there's only one other boarder plus the trainer, I still feel bad occasionally for how much I dominate the space...

Other than that, nothing exciting has been happening! I'm hoping to go sorting again on Wednesday or Thursday. Maybe squeeze in a trail ride or jumping session or both with Misty. And Jetta will just continue to live the good life.

Oh! And before I forget, Hilary is running a contest on her blog for PonyTail Products shampoo. Details:

"PonyTail Products is sponsoring a fun giveaway for the opportunity to win a full size 24oz bottle of their Bubble & Bucks Shampoo and a full size 8oz bottle of their Show Pony Shine.

Details are as follows: All Entries Due by August 5th at Midnight

Winner must share a brief but honest review of the products if they have their own blog

• Share details on the scent, effectiveness, quality, etc"

 I love fancy shampoo but never buy it so this would be a nice treat!

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.