Ugh. Bits.
Leo spent the week after Maryland HT lame from pulling his shoe. The shoe went back on 2 days after the competition, but he was sore the next day. The hoof got trimmed pretty short because of how torn up it was. By Friday, Leo was dead lame. I consulted the vet and ended up leaving the shoe on. The ground has been so hard, Leo was kept on stall rest for 3 days. I kept packing his feet with Rebound until he was sound again.
He was rideable by Monday. Which ultimately meant, we could have a xc lesson with Sally on Tuesday. This was super important to me because I wanted to work through our issues with Sally before Middleburg on the 28th. Our issues being, (1) Leo unwilling to jump into the water, (2) ineffective turning, culminating with (3) lack of trust, communication and partnership between us.
Good-Bye 3-Ring Elevator
From the very first jump, Leo was an unhappy camper. I could barely steer and get Leo moving in a straight line. Sally immediately moved my reins from the second ring of the elevator back to the snaffle ring, and our issues were resolved. She said the bit isn't working anymore. It served us for a couple months but Leo won't tolerate the elevator action anymore. Why the dramatic behavior change now? I dunno, but Leo is a strong communicator. When he hates something, he lets you know. I never blogged about the time I tried a Michlem bridle on him but that was a disaster!!
I've been feeling Leo's resistance to the bit slowly build over the summer. It does give me a half-halt and helps me keep his head up, but Sally said she'd rather have him drag me around a xc course than have him back off from his jumps and be unable to steer and go straight. She is fairly certain that the bit caused the refusals at Maryland HT since that was so uncharacteristic of him. Sally pointed out that I probably wasn't getting good jumps early on and that often leads to refusals later. (In hindsight, we were getting a lot of chip-ins and it was harder to ride him forward after I engaged the bit.)
We schooled the water jump and Leo jumped the fence into the water just fine. Sally's biggest observation was that I need to ride more forward into the water. She said not to be timid about it. The plan should be to setup with a half halt several strides out and then ride forward the entire way to the jump. With banks into the water, Leo needs to have complete freedom of his head and neck. She thinks the elevator might have prevented him from lower his head and neck enough to make the jump down into the water at Maryland.
So where to go next with bitting? Some things to try:
He was rideable by Monday. Which ultimately meant, we could have a xc lesson with Sally on Tuesday. This was super important to me because I wanted to work through our issues with Sally before Middleburg on the 28th. Our issues being, (1) Leo unwilling to jump into the water, (2) ineffective turning, culminating with (3) lack of trust, communication and partnership between us.
Good-Bye 3-Ring Elevator
From the very first jump, Leo was an unhappy camper. I could barely steer and get Leo moving in a straight line. Sally immediately moved my reins from the second ring of the elevator back to the snaffle ring, and our issues were resolved. She said the bit isn't working anymore. It served us for a couple months but Leo won't tolerate the elevator action anymore. Why the dramatic behavior change now? I dunno, but Leo is a strong communicator. When he hates something, he lets you know. I never blogged about the time I tried a Michlem bridle on him but that was a disaster!!
I've been feeling Leo's resistance to the bit slowly build over the summer. It does give me a half-halt and helps me keep his head up, but Sally said she'd rather have him drag me around a xc course than have him back off from his jumps and be unable to steer and go straight. She is fairly certain that the bit caused the refusals at Maryland HT since that was so uncharacteristic of him. Sally pointed out that I probably wasn't getting good jumps early on and that often leads to refusals later. (In hindsight, we were getting a lot of chip-ins and it was harder to ride him forward after I engaged the bit.)
We schooled the water jump and Leo jumped the fence into the water just fine. Sally's biggest observation was that I need to ride more forward into the water. She said not to be timid about it. The plan should be to setup with a half halt several strides out and then ride forward the entire way to the jump. With banks into the water, Leo needs to have complete freedom of his head and neck. She thinks the elevator might have prevented him from lower his head and neck enough to make the jump down into the water at Maryland.
So where to go next with bitting? Some things to try:
- Corkscrew - Sally has been wanting me to try this all year.
- Slow-twist Dr. Bristol - Sally's not sure this will be enough bit, but it would avoid the nutcracker effect from the snaffle
Part of the challenge is trying to figure out what the horse responds best to. Tongue pressure (most bits), nose pressure (hackamores), lip pressure (gags) or poll pressure (leverage / elevator bits). Here are some other bits that come up in the "strong horse" conversation:
- Full-Cheek Cherry Roller Snaffle - rollers prevent a horse from grabbing and leaning on the bit; supposed to be a good show jumping bit because it's not particularly strong
- Waterford - Design also helps prevent the horse from grabbing the bit. I tried this with Leo and it wasn't strong enough.
- Rubber Loop-Ring Gag Bit - Gags use lip pressure, with little or no tongue or poll pressure, to raise the horse's head
- Rubber Pelham - Bit used with a curb chain, can be used with 2 reins or one. Pelhams exert pressure on the poll. Since the elevator also exerts pressure on the poll, this may not be a great next choice for Leo.
In the interim, I might go back to the copper-roller I was using last fall. I also need to consider having one bridle & bit for stadium and another for xc. Yuck. If only I knew a kid I could hire to groom for me at shows!
Random Bitting Resources
- Bits and Their Action - Good overview of cheek and mouthpieces
- Gag Bits - Good acticle about gag bits
- Leverage Bits - another good article
- Video: How to choose the right bit for a horse that leans on or grabs the bit - Discusses the full-cheek cherry-roller snaffle, waterford
- About the American Gag - 3-ring elevator bit
The Mental Game
This lesson was a total relief. Leo was his old self and that makes me confident. Over the last week, I was really starting to psyche myself out. It's crazy how one bad showing can mess with your head. Here's a look at my inner dialogue from the past week...
- Maybe Leo isn't the right horse for me? I'm not ashamed to admit I'd love to have an experienced upper-level horse to ride and compete, but I don't have the money for that horse or a training-ready-to-go-prelim horse. Our progress is slow and Leo throws a lot of curve balls, but he can and will ultimately help me achieve my goal of prelim. That makes him the right horse for me right now.
- Maybe I will ruin Leo? Leo keeps proving over and over that I can't ruin him. He rebounds back from all of my mistakes and holds nothing against me. He will even help me out at times - particularly when I miss a distance on xc.
- Maybe I do create all of Leo's tension? Sally pointed out that Leo is nervous and tense the majority of the time, whether he is under saddle or not (hence his stall weaving). A rider can't forbid a horse from relaxing. (Time to burn that dressage test and all those comments.)
- Maybe I'll never be the winner? This is true too, but so what? That doesn't make us a failure. Winning ribbons was not the goal when I bought Leo. Sally also always reminds me that I picked Leo because he was a cross country horse. I willingly accepted that he was difficult on the flat. My reality should not be a surprise to me. The ribbons - er, lack of ribbons - can't be the gauge I use to judge my success with this particular horse.
- Maybe I'll never move beyond training? Only if I don't want to. I'm sitting on a horse that can go prelim. If I don't move up to Preliminary that will be my choice.
- How am I ever going to fix all my position flaws on this horse? Anything is possible with time but I can't expect these changes overnight. I can't get discouraged with myself because I have some bad habits that Leo doesn't care about.
- Maybe all these annoying lameness things are a sign that I shouldn't be riding? Since when have I ever believed in signs? Bad luck is part of horses. It's annoying but you deal with it and move on.
- Is riding this hard for everyone else? Highly likely. Riding isn't much different than everything else in life. You fix one thing, and then another problem arises. Then on top of that, I picked eventing with 3 disciplines to "master." You do your best to train your horse properly, and then realize there's a gap in his education which you never noticed before. So you take a couple steps backwards and then start moving forward again. This is nothing more than the experience of living.
We still have a couple of competitions left to the season. Middleburg is on Sept 28. Then if I can find a ride, I'll go to Maryland again in mid-October. Jen and I are then going to Waredaca at the end of October and tentatively the Virginia Horse Trials in November. Whew!
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