Nope - Not Spoiled At All

As I've said before, I don't know what standing on the Surefoot pads does for the horses, but they sure love them! Especially Phantom - she almost always has a moment where she goes into a Surefoot-coma.

Last night I put her on pads in front and back, thinking she'd only stand on them for a couple of minutes. Wrong! After 25 minutes I pulled her off - reluctantly on her part.

It was interesting to see make some very deliberate moves when she decided that she was done with a specific pad. She clearly was finished with the left hind first and gave it a kick to get it out of her way before placing her foot back down.

She stood in the exact same spot for the whole 25 minutes, with the shank on the ground, while I leaned against the wall sending texts.

The initial set-up - firm pads in front and hard slants behind.

7:23 pm - Where we started.

7:31 pm - done with the left hind.

7:40 pm - now done with the left front and has adjusted her position on the right front.

7:41 pm - stoner pony face.

7:47 pm - still in the same spot. Had to make her walk it off.

Return to Work

 Since my area was the first to get the polar vortex a couple of weeks ago, it looks like we might be the first to get out of it. Daytime highs are back up around the freezing mark - which means it's time to get back in the saddle!

Cisco's new job description is pack mule as I made him carry in Phantom's blanket. She got to get nekkid for a couple of hours in the sun.

For the first time in ages I hopped on both horses yesterday. I couldn't ride two in the same day for most of last year due to my adductor injury (which hasn't totally disappeared yet). After three weeks of mostly sitting on the couch I'm sure I'll be paying for it tomorrow!

A couple of weeks ago I had snagged a couple of BR soundproof ear bonnets for $12 each in a sample sale. I've been wanting to try one for Cisco for ages but I haven't been able to find one locally for cheap and if I had to order it online it was too expensive for something that would maybe work. At $12 and free shipping - totally worth trying it.

They are full size but seem to be a small fit. On Cisco, who is generally more of a cob size, it's a bit of a squeeze to get his ears in without them getting folded up. I was also worried that the bonnet would pop off during our ride (although I got it over his ears it didn't want to rest atop his head), but happily it seemed to stay put under the bridle. 

Even more happily - I think it made a positive difference!

This was Cisco's first ride in about three weeks. He's been lunged a couple of times in the last few days so he's had a chance to expel some energy, but that hasn't made a difference in the past. This is usually when his spookiness is at its highest level. 

On this night we had only three moments where he thought about spooking, but got no further than planting a foot differently. Even when the end door opened up and horses appeared through it - usually this results in a giraffe neck, but he just quietly looked over at them while on a loose rein.

I definitely think the ear bonnet helped. It's going to be a regular part of our kit!

This was also Cisco's first ride after his bodywork on Monday. I think his trot felt a bit more up in his shoulders and he seemed better bending right (when he wasn't pushing into my right leg). Especially considering that when I tacked him up I was so focused on getting the ear bonnet on securely that I failed to notice that I had grabbed Phantom's bridle to put on him. I had a moment just before getting on that I glanced at his bridle and thought something looked wrong about the browband, but it was in the right position so obviously it's fine. Then it took me half a lap of the arena before I realized that I had the wrong reins on, and how the hell did Phantom's reins get of Cisco's bridle. Facepalm. Idiot moment.

The browband is a U-shape on Phantom but Cisco's wider noggin stretched it straight.

He didn't feel great at the canter, which I wonder if it was because of the wrong bit in his mouth, orif  he was still a bit body sore. He was really sticky to pick up the canter on both leads. This can be a problem when he hasn't been ridden for a bit, but our last ride had some lovely transitions with a pole exercise. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and just did a couple of short canters on each direction and basically called it a night. He was getting tired and I didn't want to lose the benefits from his adjustments that I had been feeling. 

Post-ride SureFoot pads sessions. Cisco isn't a horse to normally drop his head and neck like this so this was a good session!

I wasn't planning on doing much with Phantom. I figured she'd be pretty stiff after all the cold. I was planning to mostly walk and then kind of see how the trot felt.

Apparently the Previcox I'd given her the day before had done its magic because she felt pretty good! The fact that she hadn't had a chance to get the sillies out as I usually would do with her probably helped give her some extra forward momentum.

I pretty much confirmed that she is now deaf. Whereas when I had tested her using voice commands under saddle back in October and I felt she heard them, last night she didn't. I don't think I saw a single response to any of my clucking, kissing, hand-clapping, caw-cawing, walk, or whoa sounds. Not a single ear flick. 

Which means I have to find a way to slow her down when she wants to take off at a canter! Pulling on the reins doesn't slow her down - it just makes her get bouncier!

I'm trying to think of some options that I can use under saddle to replace my voice. I'm going to try a neck rope, and maybe see if I can install something like my hand squeezing her crest means stop. I also want to work on some hand signals on the ground. A quick google search didn't bring up too many solid tips on dealing with a deaf horse, so I'll have to be a little bit creative. But I love this kind of challenge! Thankfully, Phantom does too - especially if cookies are involved!

New Place to Shop?

 Over Christmas, I was hoping to find a new winter coat to replace my current barn winter coat that is about 10 years old and starting to fall apart. There were lots of sales, but I have a list of things that I want in a coat and I wasn't able to find anything I was willing to pay for. 

In my search, I came across a website called decathlon.ca. I figured it was the website for the national sporting organization, and that since jumping is a sport in decathlon it made sense that it sold equestrian stuff.

However, I was wrong. Riding is not a sport in decathlon - it's in modern Pentathlon. Also, Decathlon is a sporting goods store.

Decathlon is a French company that is the largest retailer of sporting goods in the world, selling in 57 different countries. In Canada they have physical stores in Ontario and Quebec, in the US there are only a couple of stores in California. They sell stuff for something like 62 different sports, all under their own branding. No name brands. Thus, their prices are really good. 

They sell all kinds of horse things sold under their house brand Fouganza. Most of the horse care/tack items seem to be introductory level quality, so I don't know that I would buy much of it. But some of their clothing seems to be very reasonably priced and worth looking at. 

This leather halter looks cute and it's only $55!

I bit the bullet and ordered a pair of winter riding breeches. I've been looking for some to add to my rotation other than the Kerrit's full seats that I regularly wear, but I haven't found anything I've been willing to pay for. 

Decathlon had a few options at really good prices starting at $30 CDN. I ended up ordering this pair that has a silicone full seat and costs only $60. They even have a cell phone pocket, though I'm not optimistic that it will fit my cased Galaxy 10+.

I was going to order a different pair, that have a weatherproof finish to them that gives them a leather look but they didn't have my size. Having all sizes in-stock seems like it might be an issue as many of the items I looked at were only available in very small or very large sizes.

If the winter breeches work out, I might try these breeches for summer.

I did a search before ordering to see if I could find reviews and they were generally all positive saying that the quality is much better than the price reflects. 

There are a lot of things I wouldn't order from there - the sizing charts are horrible with little information of use and the descriptions on many items leave much to be desired. Returns are free if you return to a store but if you have to ship it back you would have to pay for shipping. 

I don't know that I would buy a $35 helmet, but I could see the appeal to parents of kids who are just starting and don't know if it will stick. It's not ASTM approved - it has an EN rating  (European) so it appears to still be legal to use in Canadian competitions.

For basic clothing staples however, it is worth a look.

I'll post a review when I receive the breeches. Fingers crossed that they are decent!

Bit Fitting Webinar

 A couple of days ago, my national equestrian federation, Equestrian Canada, hosted a free webinar called Bit Fitting the Dressage Horse. It was presented by a Lantra certified Bit Fitter.

This is a topic that I've long been interested in so I quickly signed up for it. The fact that it was free and I could count it towards the development requirement of my instructor's certification certainly helped with the decision!

It wasn't quite what I was hoping for, in that she wouldn't give any suggestions for bits for specific scenarios. She said it was because she would need to see the specifics of the horse's mouth anatomy and how they went in their current bit before she could make any suggestions. 

Thus, the information was some basic info. However, there were a few takeaways.

• The horse only needs to salivate enough to lubricate the bit
• There is no scientific proof that different metals (ie. sweet iron) increase salivation. It is a marketing claim.
•  Copper alloys (Sensogan, Aurigan, Salox Gold) were developed specifically for bitting. They are a medium-density metal, which has some softness to it (if chewed on the horse will make marks on it which can be buffed out, unlike stainless steel, which is a hard metal).
• Leather bits need to be pre-soaked before every ride and oiled often.
• Inspect your bit regularly!
• The tongue fills the entire oral cavity of the horse. A bit is accommodated only through compression of the tongue.
• In an ideal situation, the tongue sits on the floor of the oral cavity and splays out over the bars, which keeps the bit from sitting on the sensitive bars.
• On a Class 1 bit (any bit where the reins attach to the same ring as the mouthpiece) the mouthpiece rotates backward in the oral cavity upon rein contact.
• The bit is properly tensioned (the right height in the horse's mouth) when the borehole (the hole that the ring goes through) is 90 degrees to the cheekpiece with no rein contact. Bits have been designed to rotate to the proper position in the horse's mouth with rein contact at this resting tension. (Note that in trying to find images for this, I had a really hard time finding many that followed this rule, and most didn't look like they could follow the rule.)

Enjoy my poor drawing skills from my note taking.

• On a Class 2 bit (any bit where reins are attached to a ring lower than the mouthpiece) the bit rotates forward in the mouth upon rein contact.
• The curb chain should be adjusted so that the shank will rotate no more than 45 degrees to the lip line so as to prevent excess poll pressure.
• Loose ring snaffles should be .25" wider than the horse's mouth measurement. Fixed ring snaffles should be the same width as this measurement.
• The most common problems she sees are bit tension and bit size.

The most interesting thing that I didn't know was about the bit tension. Princess Phantom likes the bit lower in her mouth than I think is right (but hey, it's not in my mouth!) and I've been wondering where Cisco's new baucher should be sitting. So that night after the webinar I went out to the barn and tacked Phantom up for our ride and looked closely at her bit. It's a baucher - it looks like the rule won't apply to that bit! The boreholes are at the same angle as the cheekpiece because of the shank that comes out of the top of the bit. D'oh! I'm going to send an email to the bit fitter and see if I'm right, and if there is another way to check the tension with this type of bit.

It was good information and worth watching, but it would have been more interesting to learn about specific bits and their action and why they might work in different circumstances. Bitting is not a one size fits all though, so I understand why she didn't want to get into that type of information. Sadly, I don't know of anyone who comes through this area to do a bit fitting clinic. I would love to try a few different ones out without having to buy them!

Equestrian Canada has already made the webinar free to view on their Youtube page. It's worth checking out!

From Blah to Bling

When I got my new Wow saddle back in March, I realized that I could finally buy pretty saddle pads again. I was sick of the black saddle pads that I had been using for the last few years, as they were all specialty pads and I couldn't afford more than necessary.

So what did I do? I went and bought the Lemieux pad that I've been coveting for a few years. In purple - well, blackcurrant, to be specific.

Sadly, the shape of the pad is not a good match for my saddle.

What did I buy next?

A black pad.

When you have a saddle with ridiculously small flaps, standard sized saddle pads don't fit very well. I decided to look into pony saddle pads. I could use the regular length along the spine as my seat is a 17", but need the flap to be short and not very forward.

Not your standard looking jump saddle.

I found a local place that was closing out and had these simple pony pads on clearance for about $12 each, so I ordered one in black and one in white. The only other colour that was available was yellow - no, thank you.

However, I didn't want to use a plain, black saddle pad. If I don't have colour, I want some bling.

Still can't decide if these are amazing or hideous.

On Friday I got my craft on. And here is the result.

It doesn't really photograph well, but the circles are done in a mint green glitter. It's a heat transfer vinyl, and I'm hoping that it adhered properly - saddle pads are tricky with the quilting. Time will tell!

I still have to do the white one, but I have plans for it. I love this Equestrian Stockholm saddle pad, but I really don't love the price.

So I'm thinking of something with a similar design. The question is what trim to use. I've found a few different faux leather PU trims, but I'm not sure about how washable they will be. I also found some vintage lace that might look really pretty. We'll see what I decide!

Wow H-Girth

Cisco's new girth arrived from England this week. It's a Wow H-Girth.

It's definitely different looking than a traditional girth.

It's supposed to be good for wide sprung horses who have a forward girth groove. Which is totally Cisco.

I've only had a chance to lunge Cisco while wearing it so far. I was expecting a bit of a rodeo, but he didn't seem to give it any concern.

Before lunging.

These girths are ridiculously expensive - they start at about $450 CDN. I bought this one off of Ebay for about $270. It's in very good condition with little signs of wear.

After lunging.

I'm hoping this girth configuration will stop the saddle from being pulled forward during a ride. It doesn't look like I can get the foregirth option (which moves the point billet even more forward) in an extra short version to match my flaps, and the regular sized one will stick out a couple of inches below the flap. So I'm really hoping this girth will solve the problem.

I'll have to add a D-ring to it for my breastplate, and figure out how to attach the Equisense. And eventually I might want to get a longer back strap to even up the buckles. But the first impression after a lunging session was good - I don't think it moved forward. Now to hope that the saddle stays put while riding!

Initial Review - Kentaur Torino Breastplate

Since I bought a black jump saddle for Cisco, I naturally needed a black breastplate to go with it. They're not common in North America - jump tack tends to be dark brown out here - but are pretty easy to find overseas. So I knew that is where I would be shopping from.

I also knew that I wanted a 5 point breastplate. I've had issues with lateral saddle slip on my propane tank of a horse and in theory, a 5 point helps to stabilize your saddle a bit. (Saddle slip has not been an issue with the Wow saddle though, much to my surprise and glee.)

I'm kind of picky though. I didn't want brass fittings (Dy'on), or coloured elastic straps (Flexible Fit), and it needed to come in cob size (Passier). And I really wanted a specific style.

My options were narrowed down the BR Heywood and the Kentaur Torino. The price on them both was about the same after shipping, but the Kentaur was slightly easier to find in-stock. The Kentaur also came with a running martingale attachment, which the BR did not. So when I received a message from Kentaur Australia saying that all breastplates were 15% off, I bit the bullet and ordered it (while holding Phantom for the farrier).

Interesting packaging, but it arrived with no issues!

I ordered it on a Wednesday and it arrived the next Tuesday. Pretty quick!

Initial thoughts:

The leather seems to be a good, sturdy, workman leather. Not overly soft and supple, but the kind of leather that only gets better with regular use. My kind of leather.

I could do without the logos though.

The yoke part that goes against the chest is nicely padded with soft padding.

The elastic part that goes to the girth on the sides has a non-stretch strap stitched inside the loop - I would imagine to reduce the wear on the elastic.

I do like me a fancy stitched bridle, so I should like the white stitching on the breastplate. I can't decide if I do or not - maybe if I had a bridle to match it I would be more enthusiastic about it. But that's minor.

The one annoying thing that I didn't think about is that the girth loop doesn't have a clip, and it's stitched shut, so adding a clip isn't going to be super easy. Anybody got any ideas on how to add one that doesn't look too clunky?

Now - the important part - how does it work on the horse?

I bought cob sized for Cisco. He's not tall, but he's very wide in front.

It took a few adjustments to get the fit that I wanted, but I think it fits him pretty good. It's on the biggest setting on the sides and on the straps that attach to the D-rings at the pommel.

I really like the shape of the yoke at the front. Because he is so wide, I wonder if a full size for that part would be a slightly better fit - I don't know if it would be better for it to be wider and have where it splits a bit more behind the point of his shoulder.

I have the side strap to the girth kind of angled up. I just didn't like the fit when it was straighter.

I still have to find a way to attach a clip to the bottom girth strap - right now I've got a clip being held on by binder twine. I'm waiting for a different style of girth to arrive for Cisco, so I'm not going to worry about it until that girth arrives.

Initial impression - I'm pretty happy with it. It looks good - the first two people who saw me ride with it commented that they loved the style. I'm good with the quality of leather. I think that the cob size is on the slightly smaller side, but very slightly.

Cisco had no complaints on the first couple of rides with it on. Fingers crossed that he doesn't decide that he can't move his shoulders over a jump while wearing it in the future!

Black Breastplates & Small Saddlepads

I had my first nothing-at-all-to-do-all-day day in a while on Sunday. There was a clinic at the barn so I wasn't teaching or riding, and since I've had a bunch of late nights at the barn the last couple of weeks I decided that I was taking Sunday completely off. I planned to sleep in late, and catch up on some housework. By which I mean surf the internet all day while watching Hanna on Amazon, have an afternoon nap, and remember at the last minute to throw a load of laundry in.

I'm shopping for a new breastplate in black to go with the new saddle for Cisco, and looking for options on pony/cob sized saddle pads.

I know what I want for the breastplate - something that looks like this:

This is the BR Heywood breastplate.

I really like the thicker, curved part that goes at the front of the chest.

The BR Heywood is currently the forerunner. The problem is that I can't seem to find it online at too many places. Divoza has it on sale at the moment, but they only stock it in a full size, and I'm pretty sure I'll need cob.  (Can't find a measurement chart either.) So far the only other place I've found that has it stocked is in New Zealand. There is a local tack store that carries BR products so I might shoot them a message and see if it can be ordered.

I've found a couple other versions that are similar - Dy'on has one (but sadly with brass fittings), Kentaur makes one, Flexible Fit has one with the same type of front but navy elastic straps to the saddle.

Pony saddle pads are a whole 'nother issue.

They're either really expensive (like, going to cost $130+ per saddle pad) or I hate the colours. I don't want bright pink or baby pink, or baby blue, or cute ribbons on the trim, or hearts and ponies embroidered on the corner.

I covet this one by Equestrian Stockholm in Moroccan Blue. Thankfully, they're sold out.

And then everything else is black or white. Or so it seems.

I found a place that's clearing things out and they have a pony-sized pad in white, black or yellow. I'm thinking of grabbing the white and black ones and getting Pony Grandma to fancy them up. They'll only cost about $16 each so it might be worth trying it.

I also covet this one by Equestrian Stockholm. It might be relatively simple to fancy up a saddle pad into something similar.

At the end of April I'll be going to Mane Event in Red Deer, where there is a large trade show. I'll try to wait until then to look for a breastplate, but I'm pretty sure that the chances of finding a black one are slim. I'll keep on using my brown breastplate until then - the horror of mismatched tack!

Got the Saddle, But......

My flaps for my Wow saddle arrived and they are perfect! Yay!

Ignore the messy tack cart.

The saddle sits too low behind and I need different panels! Boo!

Yes Cisco, that saddle does make your stomach look big.

Of course, saddle shopping just couldn't be simple.

The flaps arrived on Friday last week, so I picked them up from the post office on my way home from work and dashed home to put the whole thing together. Which is much easier to do when you use the right size of bolts. Ten minutes of cursing because I couldn't get the bolts to catch was solved when I went to the Wow website and discovered that I was probably using the wrong ones, and when I grabbed the slightly longer bolts (that I thought went through the multi-layers at the front) the panels and flaps went on super quick.

Wow flaps can be adjusted in two different positions. Mine can be set to the standard position, or rotated back, which equals about an inch difference. I was actually quite worried about the size of the flap and thought it looked very straight, so for the first ride I set it to the standard position. Nope - my knee still sat a solid inch behind the knee blocks. For the next ride I rotated them back, and my knee sits in the perfect spot right behind the block.

The first ride before I rotated them back.

So the flaps are perfect. I don't know that I've ever ridden in flaps this short - I don't usually have this much stirrup leather below the flap!

The saddle looks rather ridiculous though perched on top of Cisco. My fancy new Lemieux pad doesn't really fit it very well either. I'll be shopping for pony sized saddle pads in the future.

Maybe an excuse to get this holographic saddle pad from Punk Ponies? (Can't decide if it's hideous or if I need it.)

But you've probably noticed the problem. The saddle sits far too low behind.

I added some air to the rear Flair panels between rides 1 and 2, but it needs more than that. I'm pretty sure that I will need panels with rear gussets in them to bump the back up. I'm not going to find those used within the next short period, so I'll end up ordering new one$$. It might also need a different headplate in front.

It's not really all that surprising, as when I used the gauge last fall there were times when the correct setting seemed to need the deeper gusset setting. 

Update - I just heard back from the fitter, and I can put way more air in the panels than what I have in there. So I'm going to try that today first before completely panicking and eating my weight in chocolate.

The good news is that I feel super secure in the saddle and Cisco's canter is the best it's been.

An 8.0 for regularity at the canter ain't too shabby!

Time for some trial and error to get it figured out. I'm not ready to give up on it yet. There are still lots of things to try, and believe me - nothing is going to fit this horse very easily!

Saddle Update - Almost There!

One of the parcels that I picked up on Monday had the headplate and Flair kit for the Wow saddle I am building for Cisco.

Last night I put the headplate onto the seat.

It's a 5U headplate. This is how wide it is in place.

I also have the wide panel configuration. (dxwg = extra wide gullet) This might give you a better idea of the width.

That's a 2L pop bottle that doesn't touch the sides almost until the cantle.

I ordered the Flair kit so that I can make the adjustments myself. It's a bit daunting, but I'm generally pretty good with this type of stuff. If I get myself into trouble I can try a somewhat local fitter who I think used to be a Wow dealer, and is certified to fit Flair panels, or hit up the Schleese fitter when they come out to this area.

Lots of tubes and little pieces. Thankfully it comes with an instruction manual!

I'm just awaiting the flaps, for which I received notice today that they are shipping from the UK. At least a month earlier than I expected them! I didn't think I would have this saddle going until the end of April, but with all luck I might have it ready in a couple of weeks. Of course, that means I have to pay more money towards it earlier than I expected!

I also have received the Lemieux saddle cover and saddle pad that I ordered a few weeks ago. I ordered them from Horse Health in the UK, who appears to be the main distributor for Lemieux products. It arrived super fast - I ordered them on a Wednesday, and they were received on either the Monday or Tuesday the following week. Yes, shipping wasn't cheap - I think it came to about $40, but considering that it would cost at least half that to ship within Canada I don't think that's too bad. (It actually would probably cost close to $40 to ship these within Canada. Shipping is very expensive here.)

 It has a nylon outer and a fleece inner layer and drawstrings to tighten it up.

The girth pockets can accommodate both long and short girths - the bottom is not closed so a long girth would slip through and hang down.

The bottom of the flap part has a reinforced opening that you can slide your long billets through so that they don't have to be tucked up underneath.

It's currently covering my flapless saddle, but I'm pretty sure that I am going to be more than happy with it.

And lastly - the Lemieux saddle pad.

It's definitely purple! Blackcurrant, to be precise.

I really like it, and not just because of the colour. But it helps. It's got a suede finish on the top side. The billet/leg patch is more of a cordura material. The girth strap is split on the inside so that if you have long billets you can put them through a specific slot if you so desire.

I bought the small/medium size and I'm just hoping that the front of the pad isn't going to be too forward for my small jump flap.

2/3's of a saddle and the saddle pad.

Here's hoping that it all works out and I can start flying over itty bitty jumps with Cisco this spring!