Ride 3/31/10
Pretty good ride today. Went out in the evening to try to avoid the sun, and stayed in the shadows as much as possible. Captain was his usual sweet self even when I had to get off and readjust the saddle three inches forward (which means all buckles undone, saddle up and forward, then settle back slightly to smooth the hair and buckles redone).
He repeated his tricks when I asked him to trot (or rather, when I started posting), so as an experiment, I let him move out in a nice, swinging trot and sat it the whole time. He was willing to keep trotting as long as I let him, but when I started posting, he pinned his ears and stopped again.
~sigh~
I'm not sure what it is. He's not a mean or deceptive animal, so my posting must be uncomfortable to him in some way. I think I'll try the other saddle on him again and see if it helps any.
So instead of more strenuous work, we concentrated on flexion. He gave me some lovely shoulder-in at the walk to both sides. I got him to turn on the forehand fairly well, although it needs work. And we both bombed on the turn on the haunches, so I guess I need to brush up my technique on that one.
We also did some sidepassing and some halfpassing up the field, and then rode down the road a ways, but he HATED the new rocky road so we turned back to the soft grass.
I was pleased with our progress, though. After, I hosed him down (which he loves - he closes his eyes and stretches out his neck so I can thoroughly soak him) and then after I scraped him off, I let him graze awhile.
One sweet horse + one tired mama who needed some time to herself = a much happier tired mama. :o)
He repeated his tricks when I asked him to trot (or rather, when I started posting), so as an experiment, I let him move out in a nice, swinging trot and sat it the whole time. He was willing to keep trotting as long as I let him, but when I started posting, he pinned his ears and stopped again.
~sigh~
I'm not sure what it is. He's not a mean or deceptive animal, so my posting must be uncomfortable to him in some way. I think I'll try the other saddle on him again and see if it helps any.
So instead of more strenuous work, we concentrated on flexion. He gave me some lovely shoulder-in at the walk to both sides. I got him to turn on the forehand fairly well, although it needs work. And we both bombed on the turn on the haunches, so I guess I need to brush up my technique on that one.
We also did some sidepassing and some halfpassing up the field, and then rode down the road a ways, but he HATED the new rocky road so we turned back to the soft grass.
I was pleased with our progress, though. After, I hosed him down (which he loves - he closes his eyes and stretches out his neck so I can thoroughly soak him) and then after I scraped him off, I let him graze awhile.
One sweet horse + one tired mama who needed some time to herself = a much happier tired mama. :o)
posted by Halcyon @ 9:38 PM
2 Comments:
At 12:51 PM,
Teresa/ride4fun said…
Halcyon,
Hope you don't mind me offering advice. Grey taught me a ton about saddle fit. The lovable old swayback.
Not a lot I can offer without seeing and feeling but I would guess if posting gets him the saddle is either too wide in the withers and drops down and pinches or bumps when you post --might be fixable with a thicker pad, or building up the pad in front --I've sacrificed old pads to create build ups in the past.
The other thing could be the saddle has too much 'rock' You can test for that by seeing if you can tip the saddle forward and back when its just sitting on Captain's back. You might be able to shim a pad or put shims on the saddle to correct this too but its trickier than if the saddle is just a bit too wide at the withers. But you're a skilled crafter so you could probably come up with something if its not easier to just replace a saddle.
At 11:32 AM,
Michaela Grey said…
Thanks very much, Teresa! I tried him in the close-contact again, and he was about the same. He stretched nicely and ambled along with his nose on the ground for awhile. But he still stumbled when we sped up, and he was still very reluctant to trot.
So we concentrated on walk work, bending and flexion.
He's got such a big heart; he tries so hard to do everything I ask and I have to hold him back because he'll do too much every time. ~sigh~
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