Adventures in Saddle Fitting

If you don't have chalk, washable markers will do!

Establishing landmarks

This, in and of itself, was enlightening.  The widest part of Pony's shoulders are way up there!

First attempt at establishing the "saddle support area"

I did this on both sides.  I think I need more practice.  I'm also getting ideas for halloween.....

Before lunging...

She looks pretty sophistocated without a saddle pad!

After lunging

The offset girth makes a huge difference.  The saddle used to ride up to that first vertical line!!

With the gel pad, before riding...

Oh, the fun!  I hated to cover up the parker art, though...

With the gel pad, after riding...

Her back wasn't as free with the gel pad the way it is with memory foam.  I'm going to have to keep playing with that I have to find the perfect combination of elements.  She seemed perfectly content, though.  Her back did get lovely and loose when we trotted on the trail, so perhaps it is more of a "free in the canter" issue than an issue with the pad.

In other fun, here is our new show bridle that must be properly broken in before storing for special occasions!

Who doesn't love the bling!!

I figured the touch of bling wouldn't be overpowering on top of her loud coloring the way many of the other blinged out bridles would.  She obviously loves it!!

Don't Find Fault. Find a Remedy.

When things start going wrong, the first place I look is to myself.
Did I set the horse up for success?
Did I apply the aids correctly?
Am I asking for something within my horse’s ability?
Did I get in my horse’s way?
Did I fail to apply an aid or cue?

I keep coming back to the jumping session that seemed to come apart at the seams.  You know, the one recently where she barged through all of my half-halts and plowed over the jumps at full steam.
What led me to feel like I had to haul her to a stop in the middle of a grid line?
She ignored my aids.
Why did she ignore my aids?
She gets excited about jumping.
Why is she so excited that she ignores my aids?
My aids aren’t strong enough or she is disrespecting them.
(This is where I should probably start a flow chart)
Why do I need stronger aids?  -or-  Why is she disrespecting them?
I don’t need stronger aids.  She should respond to my minimal aids.  Therefore, I need to train more on an immediate response to any request.  –AND- She is disrespecting the aids because the time before when she ran through my aids, there were no consequences, and she was allowed to charge right on through the grid as she pleased.  Therefore, when she barges through my aids, there need to be clear consequences.

If I had only answered the first question and stopped there, it sounds as if I am merely finding fault.  Sometimes it takes many questions to find a reasonable remedy.  Don’t let that deter you.  Don’t settle for finding fault.  Constantly and unendingly seek the remedy!!

Who Is This Horse?

…and where is the pony I usually ride??

The Fancy Pony had a day off after her explosive performance over the grid and skinny barrel.  Since we were scheduled to school cross-country the following day, I figured I needed to jump one more time just to get a feel for what sort of horse I would be riding:
 - the amenable, but eager, pony that is ready for my instructions…
or
 - the fire-breathing dragon that is going to charge into and over the jumps regardless of anything I ask…

In her defense, she always gets us over them and never pulls the rails.  But who wants to be dragged over fences?

Coach mentioned about a month ago, “She needs a running martingale.”
Rebelliously, I thought to myself, “No, what she needs is more training.”
You may have picked up that I’m not a fan of additional aids…
During Thursday’s fiasco, she mentioned again (even more casually), “A running martingale would help when she decides to do that.”
“THAT” being ‘barge through my aids’.

So, I pulled out the breastcollar and attached the running martingale (adjusted to the longest setting, which puts the rings solidly in her throatlatch).  I acted like nothing had changed, took her out to the arena, and mounted up.  Away we went to warm up!
I had to reestablish the go button, but that didn’t take very long.  By the time we made our first canter transition, I knew this was not my normal pony.  She was powerful, but reserved.  She was eager to please, but she wasn’t abrupt.  We cantered down the long side in balance!  It felt like I was riding a rocking horse!  But, this wasn’t any rocking horse!  This rocking horse never took me to the front of the rock…  She rocked back, then swung up to center, then smoothly rocked back again…
Where did this collection come from?

After the hard work in our last ride, we had finished with this canter.  I never dreamed we would start exactly where we left!!

The grid was still set up, so we headed through it both directions.  I kept the entire grid at cross-rails to keep things feeling quiet and low-key.  I had determined that if we could do a quiet grid line, we would try the ‘skinny barrel’ again.  You may recall how we were set up for imminent success by flanking the barrel with standards and guide poles.  Having established at that time that going over it would not be a problem; I chose to drop the guide poles to the ground.  Baby steps to keeping the Honest Fancy Pony honest…

We hopped through the grid a couple more times, then I set myself up.  I rode the grid down the long side, relaxed around the short end of the arena, then took the short approach to our skinny.  She was quiet.  She was straight.  She was a little ball of power just waiting for permission to dole out as much or as little as I wanted…  she just waited for my request…  And she quietly jumped the skinny question as if it were part of a hunter course!

I know... I need more recent photos...

On that note, we left the arena for some perimeter time!  No more jumps for the day!  Could it have been any more perfect?  I don’t think so.
Despite the crazy winds, Pony and her buddy were well behaved on the ‘trails’.  There was a question about a gate in the pond, but some slow walking and snorting seemed to sort it out, and we carried on.  We decided to take two laps just to establish a quiet routine.  Eventually, we will be conditioning around this perimeter, and I don’t want her thinking, “GO-GO-GO!” as soon as we step onto that path!

I don’t know who this super new Fancy Pony is, or where exactly she came from, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE this new canter, this new responsiveness, this incredible cooperation!!
Fancy Pony, did we just take our relationship to the next level?

Attack Mode!

As I was warming up, I saw Coach setting up a grid…
I was giddy!!

…I’ve mentioned before how much I truly love grids, right?

Pony was giving me relaxed trot and canter work, but our transitions were a little rough…  Just a little.  Minor things, like tipping her head or sticking her nose out…

You see, I changed my riding slightly this past week.  When Fancy Pony gets all wonky and bent out of shape, I used to give with my hands, saying, “OMG!  What’s wrong??  How am I hurting you??”
Well, this week, I started leaving everything in my body right where it is (like side reins, right?) and saying, “Package yourself, Pony.  I’m not going anywhere.”  And wouldn’t you know?  She stopped doing most of the weird craziness in her neck.  Instead, her shoulders popped out left, then right, and then left again…  Once I gathered them into the middle (or just juggled them between my thighs) then the haunches started popping out one side or the other.  So, I tried to juggle those with my calves.

Let’s review:
 - steady hands, back, and core
 - juggle the shoulders between thighs
 - juggle the haunches between calves
 - and establish the gait with the butt!
 

I made sure that the parameters were established before we attempted to take any fences.  We took the grid both directions with ease.  It was a 1-stride – bounce – 1-stride.  Coach had us come again, but I didn’t realize that she had raised the last x-rail to a vertical.  Not that it mattered!
You see, as we approached the grid, Fancy Pony said, “I’ve got this! Let me go!”
…no, wait…
“I want to go!”
…wait…wait…
“I’m going!”
…I *KNEW* you were going to do that!!

Coach thought I said that to her about the rail when, in fact, I was talking to the Fancy Pony.
Then, Coach set up something else…  A lone barrel sat on its side… Then, it grew guide poles from each side…  THEN, it acquired standards!!  I was excited!  This was going to be fun!!

“OK.  Go trot the skinny!”
I established my trot.  I sent her forward to establish the go.  I balanced for the turn, and then asked for a more collected trot on the approach.  She compressed.  Good Pony!!
She locked onto the jump, and pushed into my hand a little while maintaining the collection.
And 2 strides out, she cantered!  Now, the last thing I want to do is ask her to stop in front of a potentially scary or problematic jump… And, she did continue in the same level of compression in the canter!  So, I let her take it at a canter.

“Umm, that wasn’t a trot!” Coach said.
Yeah, I noticed that… On the upside, she didn’t see any major flaws with on-the-fly determinations.  OK, do it again.  This time, I just assumed the canter from the start, and she was BEAUTIFUL! She compressed the entire way to the jump, and when I said ‘go’, she jumped straight over the middle in a quiet, businesslike manner.

obviously not a skinny!

I’m sure guide poles and standards help with that, but I’m not complaining!!

Then, the game changed again…
Go through the line, and if it’s nice, go to the skinny.

SO.  We head through the line, and she charges the last half of the grid (full of excitement, she has transformed into a fire-breathing dragon)!  So, we came through again, and she waited better for me, so we took the skinny.  She was ready to eat up more jumps!

We had firmly established “ATTACK MODE!”
I don’t know how many times we approached the grid and aborted because she tried to take over.  At one point, (after she had acquiesced to my guidance) we approached in THE. MOST. BEAUTIFUL. CANTER. EVER.
In the last stride, she ignored my half-halt.  She towed me over the first fence and I refused to be taken along for the ride – no matter how handy she was – no matter how easily she could still clear the grid!!  No way!

Against ALL of my prior brainwashing, I hauled her sassy butt to a halt at the second fence in the grid.  That processed started out as, “If you don’t stop, I will kill you.”  But it ended up as, “If you don’t stop, WE ARE BOTH GOING TO DIE!!!”
All of this in a single stride…
And she stopped.
And I took a deep breath.
And we thought about what just happened.
Right there in front of the second fence.
Then we approached it again.

The canter never changed!
She accepted my half-halts all the way through!
She had the easiest and most comfortable trip through the grid that she had had all night!

So, we had to do it one more time, just to make sure it wasn’t an accident! (and to fix that slight right drift)
We quit on perfect tempo, light contact, relaxation, and balance.

What an adventure!!

Just for Fun

I've had the opportunity to do more riding with my dad... 
You see, he came to support me while we competed at the Battle of the Breeds at Equifest, Kansas this year.
...and I concoted an idea...

He thought many of these classes looked like a blast - especially the trail class!  We both know his horse would be game for all of it!  So, I pitched the idea...

Allow me to introduce to you candidates for Team Arabian for Nebraska Horse Expo's Battle of the Breeds 2014!

He even wore a helmet!  So proud of my dad!!

When we get the horses together, there will be more pictures!  I promise!

Offset Girth

I had found a saddle that fit!  I was in love!  The Fancy Pony was in love!
…Six months later, she isn’t in love anymore…  It started to slide forward.  She developed so much more topline in that six months that the saddle was no longer fitting quite right.

I scoured the internet for saddle fitting article and suggestions that have been made for solving the conundrum.  I talked to other Arabian riders.  I picked up a book (I’ll be sure to review it at some point!).  I had a saddle fitter out.  I knew I was dealing with a short back and a forward girth groove.  I knew I was struggling with a developing topline.  I DID NOT know that the angulation of a horse’s shoulders change as they develop and/or lose fitness and strength!!

The saddle fitter adjusted my front billet to work as a point billet.  That helped quite a bit, but her forward girth groove was still causing me some distress as the girth rode almost into her elbows.  I had an offset girth on the way, but there were some delays in the delivery phase of my purchase.  Finally, it arrived and I had the chance to use it!


funny looking, isn't it?



The leather on the outside is very stiff.  It resists being warped out of shape. The padded leather on the inside is soft and smooth.  The elastic ends barely stretch when I cinch it up.  This suggests to me that I’ll have a more consistent level of tightness here.

At the beginning of my ride, the saddle was behind her shoulder. At the end of my ride, the saddle was still behind her shoulder!!  There were no rub marks indicating forward sliding!
I’m a believer.  I love the girth!  Fancy Pony loves the girth!  She had more room for her elbows, but the girth was still firmly and comfortable situated in her girth groove.  I expect this will be a long term solution, especially for the Arabians that I ride!

Fit to be Tied!

Well - fit, anyway...

loving this shot!

I was trying to ride the Fancy Pony sweaty as part of saddle fit evaluation, and it took me three hours to get here:

left side

right side



Pony, I wish you could have kept your neck straight!

 Observations welcome!!


The perks of riding an Arabian, right?
She was tired, but she was game to keep going if I only asked...  I know this trait is not unique to the Arabian breed, but it *is* incredibly prevelant in the breed!

PS - Did you see those Dalmar boots we are sporting? I borrowed them, but I really, really like them!  I want a set all my own for the Fancy Pony!  What a great boot!!