Ups and Downs
Serious question - should I change my blog name to "Adventures of a Prancing Giraffe?" Except the goal is to not be that any more, so maybe not.
So. Leo and I had a great lesson last week. There was video evidence. Then MY BRIDLE came and that was super exciting and wonderful - I researched bridles for ages when I first realized how incredibly sensitive my pony's cute little face is, and decided that the Dream Bridle was a PS of Sweden High Jump. And then promptly decided that I would never in a million years buy one because they're crazy expensive and I need a lot of Things for my horse and buying a cheaper bridle would clearly allow me to also invest in other important items like tendon boots and saddle pads and bits and all that jazz. As a joke, I sent a link to the bridle to my parents, suggesting they purchase me a 'horse-warming' present. And because they are the most wonderful humans ever, they actually agreed to buy me one - with the agreement that in exchange, I will grocery shop and feed them the next time that they come to visit (usually their visits involve them taking me grocery shopping and out to eat). Total. Deal. So on Friday, it finally came!
The only issue that I am having with it is fitting it - I know it's the correct size, but it's really hard to figure out where all the different pieces are supposed to go. It's such a WEIRD bridle that it blows all of the bridle-fitting standards out the window. I think I have it figured out now - many thanks to Karen of Patently Bay for the tips - but we (me, my trainer, the assistant trainer, all of my barn friends) were somewhat stumped by it, and there was a moment of panic where we thought that maybe the cob size was too small even though in a normal full size bridle Leo is all the way to the top of every hole and it's still a little big.
Anyways, despite the rave reviews, this bridle was tragically not an instant magical fix-all. We had a great ride in it on Friday with very little head flinging. Then Leo accidentally got the weekend off due to life happening. Then Monday was lesson day again, and, well. I'll just let you watch this video snippet.
Pretty much the entire lesson was like this. Prancing giraffe. We didn't have any refusals, so there's that. But we didn't really progress in any other way. Leo's new way of dealing with his issues is to move faster, and so we are now working on circles and using outside leg to slow. We aren't supposed to canter full laps around the arena until we can demonstrate a mastery of canter circles. Or trot circles. Or walk circles. It was really frustrating, but by the very end of the lesson there was at least slightly less panic.
Yesterday was a lunge day. Today was going to be a lunge day, but SOMEONE accidentally stepped on my broken toe while we were getting ready, and standing suddenly seemed like less of a good plan, so I decided to work on trot circles instead. ((side note -- riding with a broken toe is actually not a whole lot less painful than walking with one)). However, Leo was less than thrilled with this plan. The more we circled, the more frantic and high-kneed the trot became, and the higher his head went. After about five minutes, I decided to stop, walk, and reassess. And then walking became an issue.
Way back when I was leasing Izzy, the gloriously crazy OTTB mare, we used to play a game called You Can Only Move if You Stop Jigging. I usually don't play this game with Leo because frequent walk-halt transitions tend to make things worse - he gets more annoyed, more tense, and more claustrophobic the more frequently I ask him to stand still. But today I was so fed up with the high headed giraffe action that I decided to work on my walk-halt transitions. And something incredible happened. After the first two or three attempts, LEO DROPPED HIS HEAD. The game changed. We would walk with his head dropped down until he started to pick it back up, then halt. He would drop it back almost immediately, and then would be allowed to walk. At some point, he started to happily chomp on his bit. We made multiple walk laps around the arena in both directions.
He was happy and seemed game, so the game changed again - I attempted to ask him to trot. AND HIS HEAD STAYED DOWN!!!! We trotted until his head would come up, then I would ask him to walk, he'd drop his head again, and we would continue to trot. There are no videos of this miracle breakthrough because everyone was starting to feed, but the assistant trainer was walking through taking a horse out and stopped to comment that Leo was looking 'freakishly good' - which seriously was pretty much exactly what my train of thought was. It was AMAZING.
Kindest soul ever Sarah grabbed this picture for me. So there is proof. Progress. I'm so proud of my baby horse.
So. Leo and I had a great lesson last week. There was video evidence. Then MY BRIDLE came and that was super exciting and wonderful - I researched bridles for ages when I first realized how incredibly sensitive my pony's cute little face is, and decided that the Dream Bridle was a PS of Sweden High Jump. And then promptly decided that I would never in a million years buy one because they're crazy expensive and I need a lot of Things for my horse and buying a cheaper bridle would clearly allow me to also invest in other important items like tendon boots and saddle pads and bits and all that jazz. As a joke, I sent a link to the bridle to my parents, suggesting they purchase me a 'horse-warming' present. And because they are the most wonderful humans ever, they actually agreed to buy me one - with the agreement that in exchange, I will grocery shop and feed them the next time that they come to visit (usually their visits involve them taking me grocery shopping and out to eat). Total. Deal. So on Friday, it finally came!
 |
| Has there ever been a cuter face? |
 |
| the nose plate sits a little higher now |
Pretty much the entire lesson was like this. Prancing giraffe. We didn't have any refusals, so there's that. But we didn't really progress in any other way. Leo's new way of dealing with his issues is to move faster, and so we are now working on circles and using outside leg to slow. We aren't supposed to canter full laps around the arena until we can demonstrate a mastery of canter circles. Or trot circles. Or walk circles. It was really frustrating, but by the very end of the lesson there was at least slightly less panic.
Yesterday was a lunge day. Today was going to be a lunge day, but SOMEONE accidentally stepped on my broken toe while we were getting ready, and standing suddenly seemed like less of a good plan, so I decided to work on trot circles instead. ((side note -- riding with a broken toe is actually not a whole lot less painful than walking with one)). However, Leo was less than thrilled with this plan. The more we circled, the more frantic and high-kneed the trot became, and the higher his head went. After about five minutes, I decided to stop, walk, and reassess. And then walking became an issue.
Way back when I was leasing Izzy, the gloriously crazy OTTB mare, we used to play a game called You Can Only Move if You Stop Jigging. I usually don't play this game with Leo because frequent walk-halt transitions tend to make things worse - he gets more annoyed, more tense, and more claustrophobic the more frequently I ask him to stand still. But today I was so fed up with the high headed giraffe action that I decided to work on my walk-halt transitions. And something incredible happened. After the first two or three attempts, LEO DROPPED HIS HEAD. The game changed. We would walk with his head dropped down until he started to pick it back up, then halt. He would drop it back almost immediately, and then would be allowed to walk. At some point, he started to happily chomp on his bit. We made multiple walk laps around the arena in both directions.
He was happy and seemed game, so the game changed again - I attempted to ask him to trot. AND HIS HEAD STAYED DOWN!!!! We trotted until his head would come up, then I would ask him to walk, he'd drop his head again, and we would continue to trot. There are no videos of this miracle breakthrough because everyone was starting to feed, but the assistant trainer was walking through taking a horse out and stopped to comment that Leo was looking 'freakishly good' - which seriously was pretty much exactly what my train of thought was. It was AMAZING.
 |
| ALWAYS WEAR A HELMET. DON'T BE ME IN THIS PICTURE. |
Yay for head down!! I have tons of video like yours, and I swear I am going to make Stinker a giraffe for Halloween one year. And while our PS of Sweden wasn't a magic fix all I do think that he really likes the elastic pieces, so hopefully yours will work out.
ReplyDeleteI can't decide if I love the giraffe videos or hate them! I want him to be a giraffe for the Haunted Hunter Pace that my barn goes to every year, we have like 5 other jumping saddlebreds at the barn so we could have a whole herd of giraffes!
DeleteI am sending the bridle back tomorrow as it came with some cosmetic damage to the nose plate and I've finally just heard back about a replacement, but hopefully that doesn't take too long and he gets his fancy headgear back soon!
The best rides are always the ones where there is no photo or video, boo! Glad he seems to be lokong the new bridle though -- I want one so bad!
ReplyDelete*liking
DeleteI know right??
DeleteI have to send it back tomorrow, it arrived with some cosmetic damage and I've finally heard back from them about exchanging it, going to be a super sad few days (hopefully it only takes days, not weeks or months) until the replacement arrives!