Buttie in harness

Butties harness has arrived. Good solid leather with patent and red bits, complete with reins. £45 quid! I can only think that it's bankrupt stock, even the Asians couldn't make and ship it for that price, surely? It wants a lot of extra holes punched in it to get it big enough for him, but there is plenty of leather to do it, it just hasn't got the holes in the right place. But it is fantastic, and I will be trying it on him on Thursday and getting some pictures. It's currently spread out all over the floor all around me while I try to work out which of the myriad bits and pieces goes where.

I managed to get Radar out this morning between violent wind and rain. How I am not sure, but we didn't get a single spot of wet on us. He was super. No martingale, and looped reins, carrying himself like he never has before. Even back to home the one-TWO-threefour beat that he used to do to hurry, throwing his right shoulder forward and stamping that foot down hard, has disappeared and we got one-two-three-four in a nice regular, if fast, beat.

I have bought him a jointed pelham to try to get rid of the sores on his gums. They sit under the top of the bar on the  inside of his gum, below the top edge. Very odd, as if the inner edge of his jawbone is higher than the outer edge, and the flesh there presses down against it and splits itself against the bone.

I think the jointed pelham is a bodge of a bit, personally, because the poll pressure is so diluted by the joint and the independent movement of each side. But hey, what have I got to lose? (My brakes and steering? :-) My logic is that the bit, which I have bought on the large side, will bend at the joint and take the loading off the inside edge of his jaw and transfer it all to the outer edge. Of course this may simply mean that the outer edge will split instead, but we'll see. It may also mean that steering is less precise than with a fixed bit, and I will have to use two reins and steer with the snaffle otherwise the bottom of the arm, where  the curb rein is attached, will just bend in the direction of the rein. It also means that to slow him, I will have to be sure to use both curb reins equally or we will not get the poll pressure or curb working properly.

This is another thing that will have to wait for a trial on Thursday, meanwhile I have tests to learn for Ace for tomorrow.

C