That fixes that

On our dressage test sheets, there were several comments about Mazy being 'flat'. She needed to be more round thru the back, etc. It was her first show and there was something the judge didn't know about my pony.

All doped up. 

I was trying to be light handed with her for a reason. A very good reason. Miss Mazy had wolf teeth.

Sleepy time

I certainly didn't want to be tough on her knowing those were in there. The goal anyways, is a responsive horse that you can ride on a loose rein with soft, following contact when necessary. Her wolf teeth are why I kept riding to a minimum. Besides it seemed like we hadn't found the 'golden answer' to which bit she likes and is most comfortable with. 

These are why.

Wolf teeth are typically small. Mazy's were not. Hers are a bit on the large size. The vet was also surprised at the length of the root on the one that came from the left side. She also had her teeth floated and some serious points knocked off. 

She will get some time off, obviously no work involving a bit in her mouth, so she will get lunged, worked at liberty or turnout for the next two weeks. Then we get to start playing with different bits again to find one she likes. This was where I had worked Izzy in a bosal more and she had become really good with it, but I have tried it on Mazy a few times already and she is not as submissive and/or cooperative as Izzy was to it. Each horse is different and what's funny is how opposite Izzy and Mazy are turning out to be. One does well with this- the other one doesn't care for it. One has challenges with that, which was a non-issue for the other one. Some days it is a true test of my patience and other days it all goes smoothly. Such is horse life. 

How we roll

We went to a show yo! And for our efforts-

Yes that's a first and fourth place y'all. Not at all disappointed with the po-nay. She did so good and we knocked out some 7's for gaits, rider position and geometry & accuracy of circles & turns in the collectives. On our second test we scored 7's on our first two movements. 1) A-Enter working trot rising. X- Halt thru medium walk. Salute- proceed working trot rising.  "*Good halt *Develop trot energy"  **We walked a couple strides to pick up the trot. 2) C- Track left, working trot rising.  Again a 6.5 for Rider position and a 7 for Geometry & accuracy of circles & turns in the collectives.Both classes we literally walked up to the ring, I got on and we went in to do our test. Sure we have a few things to work on, but for a first show on a young pony that has only been under saddle a short time (less than 60 days when you add it all up) Zero complaints.If she's this good already? A friend of mine said somebody better snap her up now. She's going to be pricey when I've finished her.  🎉 There was a lot of interest in her at the show. Several people think she's "Super cute" "Sweet" and for the most part- "One to watch". When they found out her paticulars- they were pretty amazed. That's how we roll!

Halle-freakin'-lujah!

At the moment I'm doing the happy dance. How ever short lived this may be or even long term, I finally found a saddle to fit my pony. The number 7 must really be a lucky one.

I had always relied on working a horse in tack and looking for dry spots later on to tell if a saddle fit like it should. Until I recently found something much quicker and easier thru a friend at the barn, no work or waiting required. Baby powder is about as fast, cheap and easy as it gets. They have it at the $1 stores so it don't break the bank and as far as fast and easy goes.... The horse doesn't have to work, let alone break a sweat. Simply sprinkle a generous layer of powder on the horses back and set the saddle on them.

This first saddle is a close contact I have had for several years. Everyone kept saying Mazy looks like she has a wide back so I thought this one would work best. Baby powder clearly shows otherwise. Powder shows where the saddle fits, no powder means no contact.

This second saddle is a dressage saddle I was borrowing. The powder shows it fitting a bit better but still bridging in the middle as lack of powder between front and back. So annoying and frustrating.  

Third saddle is another borrowed dressage saddle, originally purchased to replace the previous one mentioned. They never did sell the previous one obviously, because they liked riding it and just kept going back to it. This one they actually did put out on consignment and long story later, finally got it back. Wouldn't you know, it fits far better than anything else we tried so far. Yes I may try buying it later on if it still fits.... Baby horse issues.

So there you have it. The fast, cheap and easy way to check saddle fit. It doesn't take any special skills or equipment. Western saddles are a bit trickier since they have the fleece underside but using colored chalk or any sort of colored powder should give the same results.  Good luck saddle fitting! 

Boing!

As a way to change things up and find something different for my pony to do, I set up a small cross rail jump. 

As you can see, she figured things out quickly and was sailing over it with ease. 

Sometimes

I love the camera burst shots for things like this. 

Sometimes she came in a little close or took off a little far back, but she always tucked her feet up nice and tight to get over the jump without coming close to touching it. 

The cross rail is maybe 8" off the ground at the center but the first few times over it either direction- Mazy could have cleared it if it were the barrels laying on their sides

After she realized it didn't require 300% effort- she scaled back on the throttle some.

She still cleared the jump, but didn't go so high over it. 

She seems to enjoy it and I have a few jumps in the making so we'll see where it goes.

One, two, three, four, five....

At the time of this writing, that's how many saddles we have gone thru trying to find one to fit. Saddle #1, older saddle, good brand from years ago. Tried and true, stood the test of time, comfortable to ride, does the job in a pinch, but nothing fancy. Got more than one pony started under this saddle and will probably start many more

Dry spots. The bane of existance for horseman everywhere. 

Nope. Doesn't fit. No big deal, we will try another.

Saddle #2 is another western saddle. Respected brand, rode Izzy with it and thought it would work. This one is actually a barrel saddle with shorter skirts, lighter weight and I hoped it would be a 'winner'. Nope.

Looks like it fits, maybe could move back a little but it doesn't, even when it's loose enough to do it while lunging. I snug my saddle when tacking up, snug it one more hole for lunging and check it again before mounting. 

By the photo below- you can see the back of the saddle coming up, even though Mazy isn't exactly lowering her head and rounding her back more like she should. 

Saddle #3 is a well made dressage saddle. It has a medium wide tree, which fits a lot of horses, but not Mazy. I tried it with an extra pad for more lift through the shoulders and tried it the next day without. This one is a big Nope. 

Saddle #4 is another well made, recognized brand. This close contact has a more narrow tree. I thought it might fit and I was mistaken, again. Nope. 

Dry spots again. 

Saddle #5- True story folks. I thought I had grabbed a certain one from my arsenal and when I was loading it into the truck, I seen I grabbed a different one than I had thought. 

"You know you're a tack hoarder when..." You grab one saddle, thinking it's another and then don't remember where the one you're looking for- went. (No wories. It has been located.)

Same saddle, different padding. I added the wedge pad to lift things off her shoulders. 

With this saddle, it was an interesting ride. Saddle #3 required a shorter girth. Saddle #4 took a longer girth. Saddle #5 I used the longer girth to start with. It was snug enough to get on my pony. Riding her it felt a little to the left, a little to the right, shifting back and forth. When I got off, the girth was pretty loose. I could have taken it up a hole or two on both sides- that's how loose it was!

The most interesting and crazy part of all of this, is that I have tried saddles from various different price ranges. A couple were well over $1,000, a couple were in the $500-$1K range and a coulple are in the under $500 range. So while we can spend a bunch of money or don't have much at all to spend, saddles in any price range aren't so useful or a good deal, if they don't fit your horse. 

I have borrowed saddles (and for the love of God), found a local consignment shop. Thankfully it isn't too near by, close but not close enough if ya know what I mean. I may just take up driving her until she quits growing, changing and then try finding a saddle to fit. Or I will turn my focus to finding a bareback pad. Lol

Wearin' it

Some days I feel like one of those runway models. You know, the kind we see on the cover of a horse magazine wearng the newest, latest trends. It makes my eyes pop out just thinking about it.  

My lady brought out a new bridle and tried it out. At first I wasn't sure what was going on or how I was suposed to do things. I figured it out pretty quickly though because I'm smart like that. Stopping was still the same. She would take her legs off my sides and sit down in the saddle a little. I would stop and she would praise me for it a lot.

Look at how classy this thing makes me look though. All grown up and stuff. 

I asked the guy across the aisle what he thought about it? One of those "No right answer" kind of questions. Scares the shit out of them every time!  *snicker*

I seriously think he's jealous. I mean, look at how he's trying to hide it.  He knows he wants one of his own. 

Lift off!

Since all of our work under saddle so far has been at a trot or jog, I am seriously looking forward to the day we start to lope. Why? you might ask....

Becuse of photos like these showing how balanced and round my pony is in her work-

I mean, who Wouldn't be excited to climb on a carousel pony of their own? 

Vrooooommmm!!!

Our first ride was in the arena. Not exactly close quarters if things went sideways. I would have preferred the round pen, but it is what it is. Since there was no moving going on, (she wasn''t offering and I wasn't asking) we were okay. Both of us were comfortable with taking it all in of what each other was doing and accepting it. She just stood there and I just sat there. 

Our second ride I took her in the round pen. If we were going to move, I wanted to give her somewhere she could go, but also a little more enclosed at the same time. If she was going to blow- there's room for her to just run in circles and wear herself down. The round pen is also a little more secluded and distraction free so we had that in our favor as well. 

At first she took an unsure step or two and stopped. I was able to get her turned about a quarter turn and praised her efforts. She was diggin' on that. At first it was a step or two, then a few more and then I let her move towards the outside of the round pen. That's when she tried to scoot a few steps. I said whoa and that was that, she stopped.

Even though the pics today almost all show her at a lope or canter, all we did was walk. 

How many pics of her at a trot on a lunge line can we do, right?

So far I have a whopping 11 rides on this filly and no complaints. She's really doing well. She is nailing her stops and learning to 'read' my body for what's to come.

I am starting to ask her to rate off my seat and slow herself down in the jog as well as combining my leg pressure to get her to start responding to leg cues. The leg cues aren't quite as strong as I'd like them yet, but with time- it will come.

Another thing we struggle with at the moment is wolf teeth. I need to haul her to the vet and have them removed. That should help in the quest to find the perfect bit for her. At the moment she's working in an eggbutt snaffle. She also prefers a loose ring snaffle with a thinner mouthpiece that is actually a pony snaffle. 

She does not seem to like the French link at all, doesn't care for the offset Dee much for western and I have yet to try the regular D-ring snaffle on her. Other than that I have a few pelhams I can try with both jointed and non-jointed mouthpieces. I also have a bosal to try on her. Izzy went well in it until I could get her wolf teeth pulled and also after they were gone. I'm trying to stay with mild bits and find whatever works best for her. 

One year

It's hard to believe it has been a year since I said goodbye to my pony Izzy. She was such a good pony and is missed a lot.  

Two of the pics fom her ad when my friend found her for me. 

That adorbs face of hers. 

We had moved on to work under saddleOne of the many gorgeous head shots I got of her.

Izzy tearing it up and playing.

She looks like a Cow!

Izzy looking pretty thick and playing in the mud.

Izzy's warmblood pose

Love that face

Probably one of my favorite pics of her ever.

Pics from our last show

We were the only horse showing in a bosal that day

And yet we Rocked this score...