25 Questions

Mares or Geldings? Why?
My first 3 horses were all mares.  The first two were great - opinionated, but knew when to back down.  The third was a demon-child.  She was super fancy and athletic and super opinionated and picky.  After her, I decided I wanted to stick with geldings for a while because I wanted a horse with a little less "personality".  I love my current guy - opinionated enough, but has no desire to be the boss of anything but his little herd in the field.


Green Broke or Fully Broke?
I usually end up going for the green broke due to money restraints, and the fact that I love the bond that the training process creates.

Would You Own A Hotter Breed?
I currently own an OTTB, so I would say yes, I would.

What Was Your Dream Horse Growing Up?
My dream horse growing up was an upper level eventer.  Didn't matter what breed as long as the potential was there to do a */**/***/****

What Kind of Bits Do You Use And Why?
Ha - just did a blog post on this.  For dressage we use a full cheek Dr. Bristol because the stability of it helps to compensate for my busy hands, and he likes it.  For jumping we are currently in a double jointed 3 ring elevator with the reins on the loose ring portion.  It gives me the little bit of extra whoa that I need since Otter likes to get a little strong and on the forehand while galloping.  After the show is over next weekend, I think I'm going to experiment with a wonderbit to see if it gives us the same control without the extraneous rings.

Helmet or No Helmet?
Helmet.  Always.  When I was younger I used to ride without one occasionally, especially if I was just going to be doing flatwork.  One of the days I was just doing flatwork, while I was tacking up, I had a feeling that I should just wear a helmet that day so I put one on.  During our ride, my mare spooked and flipped over on me, crushing my knee.  Not sure what would have happened if I hadn't been wearing my helmet, but so glad that I was that day.

Favorite Horse Color?
Bays, black and white paint or a nice dark dapple grey

Least Favorite Horse Color?
Light chestnuts

Dressage or Jumping?
Both

How Many Years Have You Been Riding? 

30 +

Spurs/Whip or No Spurs/Whip?
It depends on the situation.  XC and XC schooling we use both.  Jumping at home we use nothing, and dressage we use nothing unless Otter needs a friendly reminder about where his hindquarters are supposed to go, and then I will pick up a whip for a few minutes

Your First Fall?
Too young to remember.  Probably around 4ish.  I had a pony - enough said.

When Was The Last Time You Rode And What Did You Do?
Last time I rode was Thursday night and we did flatwork since nobody else was at the barn (my barn owner who lives on property and I have a light/time system so she knows I am ok)

Most Expensive Piece of Tack You Own?
My jumping saddle.  Collegiate Beta - not the fanciest thing, but fits us both well.

How Old Were You When You Started Riding?
Probably around 1? I was thrown up on the back of a horse as soon as I could sit up.

Not my first ride

Leather or Nylon Halters?
For around the barn, I don't mind nylon; but if a horse is getting turned out in a halter - either leather or nylon with a breakaway strap.  Show and trailering always get leather.

Leather or Synthetic Saddles?
Leather.

What Type of Reins Do You Like?
Rubber reins

English or Western?
English

How Many Horses Do You Currently Own/Lease?
One

Do You Board Your Horse? Full Board? Self Care? etc.?
Board - Full care

Have You Ever Put Down A Horse You Loved?

Yup -2 so far.  Demon child and the pony

How Many Saddle Pads Do You Have?
Let's not count those - I might have a problem.

Slant-Load or Straight-Load Trailer?
My horse seems to be most comfortable in slant loads - The one time he was in a straight load since I had him, he seemed really confused by it.  I think he would enjoy a straight load though, since he likes to stand as parallel to the trailer walls as he can.

Why Do You Ride?
I ride because it's something I've done my whole life.  I love the bond I have with my horse and I enjoy the feeling of brushing him down, cleaning tack and a  good ride.

Quiet hands

Earlier this year we started playing around with different bits for Otter to go in for dressage to see if we could get him to stop (or at least reduce the amount) grinding his teeth.  It’s something that he has more or less always done.   He does seem to have some triggers for it – stress, making him work hard/learning new things; at our first show I got reamed out by the dressage judge for it.  I’d pretty much given up on it as something that is just him.  My new trainer wasn’t quite as willing to give up on it (since she particularly hates the noise), and so the bit trials began.

Before I moved down here, we always used a copper double jointed loose ring.  He was soft-ish in it, and was foamy at the lips. But, like I said, my trainer wanted to see if we could find a bit that might make him happy enough to stop grinding his teeth.

So we tried an Albacon boucher.  The bit itself was a little big, but it was the only one we had at the barn and I didn’t want to shell out big bucks just to find out that he hated it.  I tried it because I had good luck with my mare in that bit, plus any little bit of incentive to help him lift his forehand is a good thing.  He was quieter about his grinding in it for a few days, then went back to his normal self.  I kept riding him in it for a while longer to see if he would settle down again, but the bit being too big kept bothering us – it would be really uneven in his mouth at the end of a ride. 

More or less what our current bit looks like

So one day, I decided that I was done with the boucher (might have done this while my trainer was out of town) and put him a bit that we used to jump in – a full cheek Dr. Bristol.    Immediate difference.  So we have been riding in the full cheek for a few months now and he has been going great and other than a few outliers (like schooling the day before Holly Hill when he was a tense, angry man), he is getting quieter and quieter about his grinding. 

Switching gears for a few moments, I have always had “busy” hands – flexing, bending, basically always asking for more.  It’s something we have really been working on, and it is getting better slowly.  I’ve been learning that if I keep my hands steadier, and use my seat and legs to ask for bend and balance, I might not get an immediate softening, but when he does soften, he is more likely to stay there and then I end up using my hands a whole lot less. 

Back to my lesson the other day, we were working on a new skill for Otter – shoulder-ins, and while he had been quiet for most of the ride, he started grinding occasionally and quietly towards the end when he was getting tired.  My trainer made a comment about the noise, and I replied that he has been a lot quieter lately.

To which she replied “That’s because your hands have gotten a lot quieter.”

And that’s when the lightbulb went off in my head.  He was quieter in the full cheek, and to some extent the boucher, than the loose ring because they are more stable bits and so reduce some of the “noise” that I make with my hands.

Duh.

Hello again!

I know, I know - I am the worst blogger ever.  I apologize (again).  Not going to promise that it won't happen again because, well, life happens.

So, since I last checked in: we (finally) moved into our new house, this school semester kicked my butt (Business Law and Accounting), got Otter back in shape and took him to an event, more or less unpacked all the boxes from moving, got into a wreck, got a new car and changed jobs.

My poor old car.  I was really lucky that I wasn't directly hit by the semi that caused it.

Otter is doing fantastic - all sweating issues gone.  He came back into work great - the break seemed to do him a lot of good.  We had a pretty major blowup on Friday while schooling at Holly Hill HT, but that seems to have been due to a couple of factors, and he came out on Saturday a completely different horse and we ended up scoring a 25.  Unfortunately no pictures from that due to the 5 inches of rain that got dumped on us that weekend.  He also ended up with a major case of rain rot from that (and the 3 weeks of rain that followed) and we have just about gotten that cleared up.

It's a amazing how a little bit of photo magic makes you almost think the sun was out when this picture was taken - trust me it wasn't.

Anyways, I'm going to do my best to stick around this time.  Hopefully life cooperates!