Healthy horses

We had a lovely visit to Briwnant yesterday.  Red was being used for a hack, so we met him half way down the field being led in.  He accepted treats and cuddles.  He looks really well and fit again.  Dee was also pleased to see us and happy to come in.

I was interested to read Victoria's recent post on Teachings of the Horse.  It made me think about how I approach Dee.  Because of her history as a 'difficult' or 'challenging' horse, I think I can tend to approach her with this in mind.  Having given myself permission not to ride for a while, I feel I have time to just enjoy being with her.  If she decides she doesn't want to come in, does it actually matter?  Well I guess it does from the perspective of having asked, one should follow through.  But does there need to be a time element?  Do I need to feel rushed?

With this in mind I asked Dee to accept her headcollar by holding it open and did not make any attempt to put it round her neck.  At first she turned away a little, but she wanted to stay with me.  After only a few minutes she gave me her head, placing her nose in the headcollar.  We then had a pleasant stroll up the field on a looped leadrope that was practically companion walking.

I was keen to get her rug off and see how she looked.  At around this same time two winters ago, after I had been away for a week and left her in the care of the livery owner, she was looking thin and scrawny.  I knew she would be fine – the care at Briwnant is first class, and I was correct.  She is a good weight and her coat has a lovely shine.  She has a slight sore spot on her chest where her under-rug has rubbed, but her proper winter turnout rug has been repaired now so I shall be able to put that back on her tomorrow.

Another blog I follow is the Carolyn Resnick blog.  Currently she is teaching her Uberstreichen exercises and I have been looking forward to trying them with Dee.  We tried the first one yesterday, and considering it was so busy at Briwnant with a lot of distractions, we made a good start.  I also hope to find time to work with Red with these exercises as well.

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I am going to buy Dee a new saddle.  There are several reasons for this:

• I feel I want a saddle with a little more substance under me
• I worry that the treeless saddle does not give Dee sufficient clearance at the wither.  She has never become sore, but it is a concern.
• The padded numnah necessary under a treeless saddle is quite inconvenient for washing.  They take a long time to dry and only just fit in my washing machine.  It would be nice to go back to a simple numnah that it is easy to change regularly.
• The padded numnah must be accurately placed over the spine so that the padding is each side of the spine.  As I am not very tall I cannot see how well it is placed until I mount, and then if it is wrong and not central so that the padding is over the spine on one side, I have to get off and re saddle her.  This is a real nuisance.
  
• The Torsion saddle I have uses a dressage girth, and I have never succeeded in learning how to tighten it when mounted.  It is just too far down for me and too awkward.

This saddle that I am going to replace has never been my favourite.  The previous Torsion that I had stolen from Wyndham was a beautiful saddle and is sorely missed.  If I still had that one I would probably be sticking with it, but I cannot afford to buy another like it.  Nicky is going to help me measure her up for a saddle and I'll let you know what I buy.  No excuses for not riding then!

Shaken up

I'm feeling a little shaken up this evening.  I rode Dee this morning – this is becoming a regular Monday morning ride.  This morning we had a lesson rather than going out for a hack.  The lesson was great.  I learned a lot and Sarian of Briwnant is a great teacher.  I understood things that I think they had tried to teach me at Pontcanna but never clearly enough – or perhaps I was just being dense.  Dee responded so well to the slightest aid it was a pleasure to experience what might be possible if I knew more about what I was doing.  I had given up on lessons because of the frustrations of trying to progress when different teachers would contradict one another, but I might have a few at Briwnant.

Unfortunately Dee clicked into riding school mode and became a mare I haven't seen for a few years.  When her ears went back, I got scared and let Dee get away with being aggressive.  I sat the bucks as she kicked out at another horse – but only just, and it left me feeling quite shaken.  The other riders kept well away from her after that and I don't blame them, but I feel sad and embarrassed that they had to.  I think I feel shaken from two perspectives – the first is that I felt unsafe, and the second is that Dee hasn't behaved like that for such a long time and I find it upsetting that it happened.  I thought we had moved past that.  Sure she is a dominant mare in the field with the herd, but I have had no trouble with her with other horses on rides for years.  It feels a bit like a failure.

It's made me think that I need to get a different saddle.  Now that Dee is getting fitter and I am riding several times a week regularly, I need a saddle that has a bit more substance to it.  I guess as Dee gets fitter her strong personality comes through more, and I need to know I am in control.  I need to know that if Dee spooks or plays up that I have the best chance possible to sit it and be in charge.  My treeless saddle is too close to riding in a bareback pad.

The rhythm beads have arrived and the new hoof boots.  It was too wet and wild today to try the hoof boots, but I wore the rhythm beads around my neck while I groomed Dee so that she could get used to the sound they make.

I've posted a picture of the Briwnant duck pond today.  Dee seems to be fascinated by the ducks, and always asks to stop and watch them for a while when I lead her past the duck pond.  She steps up onto the bank so she can get a good view.  She's such a sweet mare in so many ways.

Hoof boots

I have taken the plunge today and bought Red a pair of hoof boots. His feet felt very hot on Monday after our long ride on Sunday, and although he did not seem uncomfortable and was not lame, I was a little concerned. It is so wet at the moment that his feet are softer than usual. His hooves are almost round and quite large, so after a long night of research on the web I chose Boa boots. I liked the look of the Old Mac boots, but they do not make them big enough for Red. The other option was an Easyboot, but they are reported as a little more tricky to put on. I’m hoping they’ll arrive tomorrow or the next day on express delivery.

The arena was unusually clear today, with all the jumps stacked away. I took advantage of this – dodging showers as well – to take Red in there for some join up and halting groundwork. I find him intimidating on the ground because he pushes me around, so I need to work with him to build up respect and a relationship. I worked with him at liberty walking around together and halting periodically. Whenever he stepped ahead of me when we halted I made him back up. Gradually he improved, stopping by me instead of pushing ahead of me. He wandered off only twice. When he did, I drove him on round the arena until he stopped and looked at me, and then I turned to allow him to join up again. It was a good session and a good start. I wish I had access to a round pen. Although it is a fairly small arena, it is still a little too large for some groundwork and not really any good at all when it has several jumps dotted around it – so I was lucky today.

There was no way I could give Dee her feed – as I went up there on my own today – without Red being aware that I had done so. So Dee had to wait for her feed until I had worked with Red. She was not impressed with this and was very moody with me even after I had fed her, and also kept sticking her head out of the stall to pull a face at Red. When Sally took him out to the field for me, Dee settled down and decided to appreciate my full attention, a groom and a chat as we wandered down to her field. I also checked her over thoroughly yesterday and today after our long ride on Sunday – especially as it was the first time she had hacked out for four weeks. Her back was fine - no sign of any return of the swelling or pain that she had experienced 18 months ago that led to the vet warning we may have to retire her. Far from harming her back, the treeeless saddle seems to have contributed to curing it.

PS The photo shows my friend on Red who came with us on the ride on Sunday. Also good news – the horse that had strangles has returned three negative swabs and will be back in his stall tomorrow.

Sunday hack

Today Red became our horse fully again, so to celebrate we went out on a long ride. We rode the first part of the Wenallt trail, through the Ganol, into Fforest Fawr, and then back through the Ganol and the Wenallt – nearly 3 hours riding. We have a friend staying with us so she rode Red for the first half of the ride and ’ö-Dzin rode him for the second half. Red was a little stubborn with our friend – seeing if he could get away with turning for home a few times – but eventually settled down. I think his feet may be a little softer than usual as well, because of all the wet weather, so we shall definitely be buying some boots to help him out during this rainy time. Thank you Victoria for the suggestion of Old Mac boots. I had heard that they were good and will probably try this type.

It may be a little anthropomorphic of me, but I felt Red was glad to be back with us. When I was adjusting his bridle he was really affectionate, nuzzling into me, resting his head. I stroked his lovely soft muzzle and he almost closed his eyes with contentment – it was a special, gentle moment. His bridle needed a lot of adjusting – it looked as though it had been used with the chin strap done up over the top of the cross-under pieces. This is a big mistake because it means that the cross-under straps cannot release and loosen after you have applied pressure on the reins. Cross-under bridles do need to be adjusted correctly and do not function if put on or used incorrectly – perhaps this is why some people do not get on well with them.

If I had had any doubts about my treeless saddles after reading recent negative comments about them on other blogs, they were allayed today. After a ride of this length that included some steep hills and awkward horse access points to the trails, Dee and Red would have had very sweaty backs and noticeable saddle pressure marks from their treed saddles. When we took the saddles off them both today, the only sweat marks were under their bellies from the girths, and there were absolutely no pressure marks on their backs – in fact you wouldn't have been able to tell that they had had saddles on their backs. I believe these treeless saddles distribute the weight of the rider so effectively, that as long as a sufficiently well padded numnah is used to avoid direct contact of the saddle with the line of the spine, they actually apply less pressure to a horse’s back. With a treed saddle, the weight is inevitably focused on the outline of the tree, and in particular the prongs that go down onto the shoulder.

It has been a magical day. Amazingly it didn’t rain at all while we were riding, although it rained in the morning and is raining again now. We are so glad we have decided to keep Red. Dee was friendly with him and they seemed glad to be riding out together again. All feels well with the world – happy horses and happy riders. I am experiencing that delightful, mellow, warm glow of being a little tired after exercise, but relaxing into the pleasure of a successful and enjoyable day.

Bitless, treeless, barefoot

At last I have been able to ride Dee this week. We had a session in the arena and she was very well behaved and responsive. I am looking forward to riding regularly again now, and also to having more contact with Red again.

I have been interested in reading White Horse Pilgrim’s comments about bitless bridles and treeless saddles. I enjoy his blog and respect and value his expertise gained from long experience (much longer experience than mine I must say). However we do differ in our opinions about these two issues. I have had good results with both my horses with bitless bridles. Dee was a riding school horse and so probably suffered at the hands of inexperienced and inept riders, hence it is perhaps not surprising that she responded well to being free of the bit. She is a strong personality however and rather spooky, so it is worth comment that she is easier to control without a bit and no longer tries to take control. I think she is just so much more relaxed without a bit, that she listens more to me and doesn't panic so easily.

Red is a different personality – quite docile and very safe, but stubborn and willful at times. He will try it on with inexperienced riders – he once took ’ö-Dzin into a hedge – but we have not found there to be less possibility of taking control with the cross-under style bitless bridle than there was when he was in a bit. The cross-under (Dr Cook style) bridle does need a slightly different approach. Firstly it is necessary to ride with less contact than is usually taught in English style riding, and if the rider needs to assert control with the reins, a pull on alternate reins is more effective than on both at the same time. It is also essential that the bridle is correctly fitted fairly low on the face,

I have a friend who happily rides her excitable part Arab mare in one of these bridles – in fact it was she who first introduced me to the Dr Cook style bridle. I was using an English hackamore before then.

With regard to treeless saddles, I cannot pretend to have any expertise in this area. I love my treeless saddles and my horses are comfortable and well in them. But they are not working a great deal or being ridden long and hard, so I am not a good sample by which to judge the saddles’ performance. When I was researching treeless saddles prior to trying one, I discovered an account that said trees were first introduced into saddles in order to have somewhere to hang stirrups. Stirrups enabled less-than-expert riders to become effective warriors in the saddle so that the Mongolians could increase the size of their armies for mounted combat. This would suggest that the introduction of a tree was for the benefit of the rider, not the horse. I have no idea whether this is true or not. However I have a friend in Finland who runs a riding stables of 30 horses. Their horses are ridden in felt pads – what we might call bareback pads in the UK. They have always been worked in these soft felt saddles with no ill effect – and these are small horses carrying adults of all sizes.

On a different subject, I finding it interesting that although White Horse Pilgrim clearly is not convinced about bitless and treeless, he is an advocate of barefoot horses. At my yard I have received no negative feedback about my horses being in treeless saddles and bitless bridles, but quite a lot about Red being barefoot. A number of people do not think I will be able to continue with this indefinitely and keep Red sound. He has been barefoot now for 10 months and has never been lame. His feet are tough and in good shape. One thing that is most noticeable about bare feet (Dee is barefoot also on her hind feet) is that the hooves stay clean – mud and stones do not get stuck in the feet so that they hardly need picking out, whereas Dee often has quite clogged front shod feet with stones wedged in that can be difficult to remove. I'm sure the fact that barefoot hooves naturally stay cleaner must be to the horse’s benefit.

I expect the debate about these different approaches will continue ad infinitum. I would be delighted to hear other people’s comments or experience of the bitless, treeless and barefoot approaches.

Less is more

We had a lovely ride in Coed y Wenallt on Monday evening. The weather has been dry and sunny - most unusual for Wales - and we have been making the most of it. Over the weekend we had to mend the roof of the loggia that got badly damaged in a storm last month. This was our first free - and dry - weekend since then, so we had to prioritise this repair. Consequently riding was not possible over the weekend, just daily visits to care for the horses.

'ö-Dzin is not a very experienced rider, but he makes up for this in courage and a natural ability. However we have been having problems with saddles with Red ever since we bought him last October. He is round like a barrel and saddles just slide round him. I suffered a bad knee injury the week we bought him coming off him after a saddle slip, and 'ö-Dzin has come off twice for the same reason. We've tried all sorts of saddles and eventually found that a treeless saddle seemed to give the best fit. When all our tack was stolen in January, we decided to bite the bullet and replace our saddles with two Torsions. We bought a beautiful leather one and an almost-as-beautiful synthetic one. We had been putting the leather one on Dee and the synthetic one on Red, but 'ö-Dzin had still been feeling that the saddle was slipping a little - not so badly that he thought he would come off, but enough that it was making him nervous of cantering through the curvy track in the wood.

On Monday we decided to try swapping the saddles. Red had the leather Torsion with the Equitex numnah. I put the synthetic saddle on Dee with our other treeless saddle numnah. This numnah came with rather hard foam inserts that I have replaced with the wadding out of an old pillow, to make a lovely thick pad. 'ö-Dzin found he felt much more secure in the leather saddle and quickly relaxed into believing that it was not going to slip. Dee seemed very comfortable in the synthetic saddle, and although it did not feel as well balanced as the leather one, I did not feel insecure. Consequently we had a couple of short but enjoyable canters in the wood.

I have become a great fan of 'going treeless' from my experience with these saddles. Both horses seem more relaxed and rounded in them, and I'm sure they improve my riding position. In fact I am gradually moving towards more and more 'natural horsemanship' style tack. Dee used to resist the bit, putting her head up and becoming quite difficult to manage. Eventually I found a drop noseband (as shown in the photograph) prevented the problem, but I disliked restricting her in this way. I felt that the way she opened her mouth immediately after I undid the noseband and moved her jaw, indicated that she had felt constricted. In the spirit of 'less is more' and believing that Dee was willing but uncomfortable, I tried her in a bitless bridle, an English hackamore. She has behaved quite differently since I have used this - calmer and more responsive to the lightest of contact. We had moved on to Dr Cook's style cross-under bitless bridles, but unfortunately these were lost in the burglary as well, and we have not managed to afford to replace these as yet. I had ridden Red a couple of times in one of these bridles before their theft and think he will do well in one as well when we eventually replace them.

I think it always has to be remembered that we control our horses through their co-operation, not through our domination. I feel that tack should be as minimal and as comfortable as possible to achieve the union of horse and rider.