shandel24

Struggling

That is what I am doing… mentally struggling with things that I can’t control or feel like I can’t get a handle on.  Struggling with jealousy of my friends out riding, enjoying the beautiful fall weather, while I scour for a unicorn of a saddle.

I know I have plenty of friends/acquaintances who are saying shut up and ride, make him deal, etc. but this is our path to walk and I want to do right by him. So many times it hasn’t been and I want a decade partner out of this journey ; and the way I do that is by listening to him, giving him the answers he needs, and having him trust me as his leader. Am I frustrated, yes – I admit I’m dying to be out there reaching goals and milestones, but I know sorting this out now will be the best for us long term, however long that takes.

I love being with him, and work on his leg circles and TTouch when I see him (which I have noticed he tends to stand more square in the hind after), I just miss the riding part with enjoying the trails (arena and round pen work get old fast unless I’m taking a lesson – but that also requires a saddle that works).

I’ve been lucky and found 2 different Boz saddles to try out. Now I’m trying to perfect my learning curve with set-up, and make sure he feels right, before committing to buying my own (used or new).  Still we have had issues with the cinch pushing forward (someone needs work to lose his gut and trim down/muscle up), but Boz has ideas to fix that. I tried my breast collar on it one day (as seen in the pic) and think I messed myself up fiddling ; he was not nearly as thrilled about riding with that – straps seem to sit right on top of his shoulder, but not impinging enough that he can’t put his head to the ground.  I have a few more adjustments I can make to it, but I’m going to go without it and take it out of the equation for a bit.

I did manage to get his curb strap all figured out on the snaffle, and now he can’t as easily grab the reins, nor do the D-rings become “winged out” to the side.  The rein thing is just his way of expressing himself when we aren’t doing much it seems, as he will only try that when we are at a halt. My full review of the curb strap is HERE.  Next item will be the breast collar, once I know exactly what I need size wise, and finally the crupper.  Eventually he will match in all his gear! (maybe minus the reins, as I still find I like rope over beta in my hands)

Since that string cinch can grab his now starting to fuzz hair, and really just a cheapo thing I had around in the right length, I borrowed the same length woolback cinch from a friend to see if it makes any difference.  I’ve found wool to be rather slippery on him in the past so I didn’t have high expectations for it when it comes to it wanting to creep forward. Wednesday eve I got to give it a shot and … well that didn’t go so well!  He was really ready to rodeo immediately and I was literally on for just a few minutes at a walk before I could tell he was NOT having it! I loosened the cinch a notch to see if that was the issue but any time I placed weight in the saddle he’d turn to bite.  No go.  So we just did a bit of lunging work with it on and called it a day.
One may say that he was just being a jerk – but this was very uncharacteristic of him in the Boz to date, so I believe it was a legitimate pain/uncomfortable reaction somewhere.

So, back a few steps we went on Thursday night to the string cinch, no breast collar and to tack up on more level ground inside. I have spent on average an hour+ a week on the phone with Boz, asking questions and getting more insight into the design of the saddle and how it might best work for us (plus he gives lots of training tidbits in our convos).  I do like the feeling of being able to make contact with his sides, as it has been very difficult to do so on other saddles due to his wide barrel. Thursday evening I slowed things down tacking up and pushed Wednesday as much out of my mind as I could. This was a new day, not a continuation of what was – Move forward. He gave a few releases during his TTouch work and more willingly did his leg circles as we groomed.  He had a few new teeth marks on his rump overnight so I guess the boys are starting to play rough in the cooler nights/mornings!  We started out with lunging and he stood yawning for a minute or so right off the bat. Mounted up and set off, not so ready to explode. Mentally I said – Ok that is good!  However as soon as I stood in the saddle to check gullet clearance we were back to what was – definitely objecting to the pressure the tree was placing on his withers.  We continued to walk to see if warming up and getting the saddle to flex more would help. Slight improvements, but a few crow hops and head slings… We called it a day and I will give him a break from the saddle for a bit.  I do have a Leon Liversage Wide coming to try and hoping to find that unicorn Balance Felix 8XC saddle yet!

Just about ready to mount up

This weekend will be just chill time with him and starting to work on the trailer again 🙂  Doug & I took everything out that I needed to last weekend so I can finish the last 2 areas I want to insulate and lay down the ‘wood’ foam floor. Sometime in the near future Amanda & I will get together and clean the outside & inside of the horse area before the winter freezing temps arrive!  I’ve got lots of ideas now to work on over the winter and I get to help Amanda with her new BP ‘conversion’ too 🙂

I’ll leave you with the contented looks of dinner mash face!

2 comments

  1. I think you are right to take your time here. My Phebes was an “extreme” challenge. Just an extremely sensitive and reactive horse (still is), and she tests, constantly. It is who she is. For her, a discomfort is not a minor annoyance, it is grounds for total rebellion. But I brought her through much of that, had some competition on her, and then discovered she has metabolic issues and that was the end of that. But I still feel victories in that I was able to take an unbroke deemed crazy by most horse, and finally get a sane riding partner, and I did it on my own. Today she is essentially that unbroke horse again, having set idle for almost four years. But she may be my next project, as I've stepped away from endurance and need an outlet with my horses. She won't compete again, but no reason she cannot be a pleasurable ride on the trails. What I like about you is you are not a quitter. And time may be the thing that this horse needs most. Hugs!

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  2. Thanks Jacke – no doubt in my mind it will be worth it in the end! But, I can't hind the feelings that go along with starting over – AGAIN…and still working towards the same basic goal (finding a working saddle) for more than a year.

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