I was looking forward all yesterday evening to riding again this morning. It's so nice to have my enthusiasm for it back.
I rode Ace first and he was really quiet and very sweet. I rode in spurs for the first time and I felt that he actually preferred the more subtle, finer aid than using my leg. Are these top warmbloods genetically programmed for spur wearing too :-) ? I continue to work out how to get the best from him. I have discovered that he cannot learn if he is at all unsettled. He has to be peaceful and quiet, and then he learns quickly, but he is completely unable to learn under any kind of stress. It has taken him quite a few sessions to learn to work in wind, for example, but he now can. Today we did get a change of pace in trot and some good attempts at shoulder in in walk, and some lovely soft-mouthed canter work. I stopped at about 25 minutes, that was enough.
I have bought him this bit, and he seemed to set on it for 5 minutes, then suddenly to decide that he liked it, when he rounded up in front and sought the contact gently.
http://www.robinsonsequestrian.co.uk/equine-product-details.asp?ID=4533
In view of his current habit of whipping round out on a hack I will be hacking in the long cheek French Link for a while yet so that I can turn him around again easily, but I shall school in this one.
Then I schooled - Radar! And I can cheerfully report that he has not changed his mind one iota about whether schooling is fun or not. It's not! He doesn't want to do it, he wants to go and throw himself around the countryside! He may as well be able to speak English, he makes it that clear :-)
I can put him in trot, and the first few strides will be nice. Then suddenly, like falling off a chair, he will disappear from under my bum and shoot out forwards. If you catch him soon enough to stop the shoot forwards, then you see this great big black bum appearing on one side of your thigh or the other !! His ability to throw his back end out sideways is quite astonishing for a big horse. I tried letting him run, putting him on a big circle, putting him on a small circle, changing directions, stopping and starting again and I lost it every single time!!!
Eventually, I sat to the trot so that I could sense the very first moment that he was going to try and get out from underneath me, and did a slow trot/almost jog, keeping him soft in my hand and round under my seat. That worked, and I soon had a nice circuit and circle on each rein, and could call it quits.
Only when I went back to walk, the walk was a march, full of tension. So we had to re-establish the walk before I felt we could stop. With the walk I did it by halting and asking him to walk off. Each time the first stride was a beauty, from behind into my hand. The second stride began to lose it, and the next was worse. So when the good walk faded I halted again and asked for walk again when the halt was solid. To my surprise he cottoned on to that really quickly and we soon had a calm, engaged, forward but not rushing/stomping/marching walk.
So we stopped. I think he enjoyed doing a job for me, he'd just prefer it to be a different one!
C
That's the bit!! Exactly the one I bought when I needed another oval mouth eggbutt for my Boys. Glad to know Ace likes it.
ReplyDeleteRadar is really a character! I truly do think he just enjoys giving you a hard time so you have to "earn" the work from him when he's in the arena. *lol*
It's not expensive either, is it Jean? £20 over here compared with more than twice as much for othr lozenge bits. I like the fact that it is the JP, John Patterson, version, too and has a bend in it as well as the link.
ReplyDeleteThe Sprenger bits are over a $100 US. Years ago after the Sprenger lozenge bit came out, a US company made a stainless steel model that was perhaps even less than the JP bits. I managed to buy three before Sprenger sued the manufacturer and the bits were off the market. I still use them and my horses love them. I guess the curved mouthpiece on the JP bit is a different enough design that there is no problem.
ReplyDeleteI think too, the eggbutt makes a big difference to a horse that's a little unsteady or unsure in his mouth. The bit is more quiet and there is no pinching. I'm so happy you found one for Ace. I think they are great bits.
There are lots of lozenge bits now over here Jean, so I think Sprenger probably had a bit of difficulty holding onto their patent. Someone probably found one made in 1800 or something! The JP seems the best of the cheaper ones though, and the only one in an eggbutt that I could find.
ReplyDeleteC.