"Lodge Ropes Day" part 2

so where was I...

right. Today I was riding Fi in an enduro bitless from Lodge Ropes. Less so than last time, she did still want to lean in to it a little and again I used turns to help her with that. But my main theme today was to work on straightness.

I had been tidying up some of my old magazines and had found a US one I had bought, with an exercise on counter canter. They started off with some straightening work and used an interesting exercise to do so, asking the horse to work off the fence. Basically you ride a half diagonal from A or C, ride a small arc and then another half diagonal. In our school I turned this into riding straight down the first half of the lond side, than strike out at the B/E marker to ride diagonally to A or C, then join the track again.

It is an interesting exercise for rider accuracy as well as straightness.

The magazine exercise is in canter, but I started in walk and then trot. I actually didn't do it in canter this time around.

It is Fi's near hock that we know has DJD, and this affects her right canter. And I know she tends to find it harder work to soften on the right rein. But the exercise really showed up how it affects her on turns. I had to ask for her quarters to move across, or ride as if asking for a slight shoulder fore, to get something I felt was straight on the short diagonal on the right rein. On the left rein the quarters were still going the same way, i.e. to the right.

I guess this is her adaptation to the DJD, to help her move the hind leg under. But I wonder whether I would have felt it so clearly if I had not been bitless... and whether as a rider I'd have used the bit too much to straighten her, where being bitless stopped me trying to do that. (Not so much from a physical limit as mental approach).

Another interesting session.

Well after that it was time to ride Duds while mum rode Rosie. And I was on a roll by then so bunged the bitless on under his bridle as well. Duds has a tendency to try and walk through you, and struggles with backing up. A different lesson from the experience with Fi - it felt as if he really did not want to give me his face via the nose pressure of the bitless. But I again I used lateral flexion to ask for softness. In his case I finished off switching back to the main bridle reins and he was going like a dream :)

Given he gets dragged out of the field every couple of weeks for 30 mins while mum works Rosie, and is 19 himself, he does very well :)

"Lodge Ropes Day"

the weather last week was horrendous again - a mix of snow, wind AND rain :(

(See below for proof - on one of the nicer days before that)




But today was somewhat nicer - almost like spring.

I was worried Fi might be a bit stiff, as she was moving a bit tentatively in the stable. But she was fine.

So after grooming, I tacked her up, borrowing Rosie's Lodge Ropes Enduro bridle to go under Fi's normal bridle, whacking on the no fuss reins from my half-bosal, and clipping on the lightweight 22ft line. (Hence the thread title :) )

I normally do a little ground work on both reins, all three gaits, just to check she is sound before I ask any more from her. Today she was quite settled and looked comfy, so on I hopped, taking up the reins.

As per 2 weeks ago (which I don't seem to have posted ?!), I ended up riding her entirely on the bitless.

The previous occasion I had used the rope hackamore - but then I end up with mecate reins, 12ft line AND the longer line when I am lunging, and it is just too much paraphernalia. That time I had felt that in the bitless she was more even and less one sided, but that it did bring the times she braced rather than softened.

Initially she wanted to lean into the pressure and I had used lateral flexion using Bob Mayhew's "snake trails" exercise to loosen and soften her (and me) up.

Hmmm -maybe I will start by posting about that, and come back to today: from 27th Jan..

Ok I confess. With Fi's DJD and lameness, she has only been doing short work sessions and those have had an aim of getting her working as well as possible to help her joints and so on.

Plus the weather has been horrendous and she can be a bit spooky

So I've been riding her in "normal" kit. A loose ring french link on the bridle, and her western saddle. Which has been fine and she has been doing some really nice work - when weather permits

But that day as I was tacking up, we got talking about rope halters (we have two - Rosie's and Fi's - but Duds has been "borrowing" Fi's to come up in the evening as he was being an idiot). I was thinking that if I took the mecate reins off her natural hackamore, I'd have another halter to use... and that just gave me the push to bung that on under her bridle ..

so off we toddled and my intention was just to ride on the hackamore for part of the session - but I didn't pick the bridle reins up at all ! It was really interesting to note the similarities and the differences between the two...

She started leaning in to the hackamore, and I had to ask for softness in a different way (using more lateral flexion - I did snake trails exercise with her (Bob Mayhew)). But she seemed more even, less braced on one side (or was that me ). We did work in walk, trot, canter. She did tend to go with a much lower head carriage - or at least offer it that way. But she felt really good

I had the bridle on over so I could pick up the reins if control became an issue. She tends to have a butterfly brain if you don't keep her focused and I was concerned she would come off-focus faster with the hackamore. But she actually felt more settled and less crazy !

Definately a "How interesting" session