Tack Ho'-oooooly Crap I Bought a Saddle

Correct.  Yes you read that right.  somebody let me out of the house with my checkbook (but not my visa.. where did that go???....) and apparently the end result is a new (cringe) saddle.

I love, love, love, love love my Prestige Optimax, but I do not (sadly) love it on Prairie.  Her shoulder is so upright that the balance of the saddle is all wonky and all the shims in the world don't make it feel like it should.

If it looks like I'm about to tip forward onto my face.... You're right.

Add to that the fact that the tree is nearly a Wide, and Miss Prairie is really more of a Medium.  I'm not great at mental math but I'm pretty sure adding up those facts makes the Prestige sub-optimal choice for the new mare.

This realization makes me sad for a number of reasons - The first is I spent a really pretty penny buying the damn thing and only got to enjoy it on P1 for a few months before she went off to Summer Camp and decided to show me what her body is supposed to look like (hint, it's not something you'd put a "wide" saddle on).  But, I dutifully kept the Prestige in the garage - clean and covered just waiting for a new mare to put it to use again.

Sadly, buying a new horse to fit the saddle didn't work and The Boy has firmly vetoed a third horse that would justify keeping the Prestige (smart man).   Additionally, while Prairie lacks the, um... demonstrative tendencies that Pia has for even the slightest less than perfect fit - it doesn't seem fair to strap a mediocre fitting saddle to her back just because she won't buck me off as punishment.

(see how I made a new saddle sound like a responsible decision??? that's what I do.  I justify things...)

So, we've been on the hunt.  We've looked a few consignment saddles at the local shops, but nothing has been outstanding.  Finally I had my favorite fitter out and gave her strict instructions to not tell me the cost of ANYTHING until we see what fits Prairie, and then what fits me.

This seemed like a good decision because I tend to gravitate towards the pricier end of my available options under the misguided assumption that the prefect piece of equipment will no doubt solve 90% of my problems... Cognitively I know this isn't true, but my subconscious consumer figures that throwing money around usually doesn't make problems worse... it just wastes money.

Anyway, the fitting process began and I learned an interesting fact about P2.  While she is a traditional Medium width, her back is flatter than most of the panels on mediums, which means most "off the rack" medium trees fit nicely up front, but the rails/panels have too steep an angle for ideal fit.  (this concept took me a while to wrap my head around, but as I watched saddle after saddle land on the mare's back I started to see how the shoulder/wither clearance was great, but the panels of quite a few saddles looked like they were on a knife edge along her spine.... Apparently this mare was going to be trickier to fit than I had initially thought.

I quickly ruled out all the consignment options that Saddle Fitter had with her and began considering ordering new.  Once again I reminded her not to tell me the price tag of anything so that my brain wasn't consider the advantages of saving $$$ or buying-talent when I was trying them out.

We narrowed the field down to three models (by two different brands) and hit the arena.  Prairie seemed to move fairly comparably in all three on the lunge, but we ruled one out as soon as I sat in it.  The final two to consider were both  deep seat/narrow twist/pretty squishy options with medium knee blocks.  I switched between them a few times and finally made my decision.

"THAT ONE!" I proclaimed proudly, feeling as though I had made an objective decision.  Clearly the saddle I felt the most secure and balanced in, and something that P2 was nice and springy and relaxed in as well.

I won't even ask if you think I chose the expensive option or not, because I'm pretty sure that if you've read this blog for any length of time, you know without a shadow of a doubt that my heart/brain/checkbook always follows the $$$.  (dammit).

So here is what we got, a Hastilow (anyone out there heard of this?!) Elevation.

 They're made in England by a "master saddler" and his brother and his dad.  All hand cut, all made to measure (which means my freaky long femur won't look out of place).  Plus two fun extra bonuses:

1) The tree is adjustable so there's a chance (a chance!) that this will also fit Princess Pia.

2) The swatch chain of leather options was DROOOOOOL worthy.  I should have taken a picture.  Part of me almost wishes Prairie wasn't black (did I say that!?) because there were so many beautiful browns to choose from, along with some bad ass piping choices which could have resulted in a slightly rainbow-esque saddle.  Ultimately I ended up with black (yawn) but with GOLD piping.  I almost got red cause that sounded sexy, but gold won't be obnoxious, and it has a better chance of looking good on other horses since the fabulous-adjustability means I'll obviously use this on every horse I'll ever own ever again.  right!?

In my post purchase internet hunting I didn't find much (but mostly favorable reviews thank god) along with a picture of one of their saddles with the gold piping.  I like it.  Not too in your face, but a little somethin' somethin' to set it apart. thoughts? I suppose if I hate it I can always take a sharpie to the piping and make it match...

 So it's on order.  Set your egg times for 10-12 weeks and I'm sure it'll be here before we know it.  After writing the deposit check (wah), we settled down to adjusting the shim situation on the Prestige to make it work for the next few months.  The fit is decent, and I feel more balanced, but it sort of feels like I'm trying to ride my horse with a pillow-top mattress between my seat and her back.  Not exactly a super close contact...

MT Day 4: Prairie's Turn...

This time down at the Oregon Horse Center I sort of knew what to expect from Princess P... I didn't know how much she would have improved, but at least I knew that she was going to enjoy the obstacles and I was going to enjoy working with her on them.

Prairie was a bit more of a mystery.  Partially because if there ever were an Arena Baby, she is it, and the only time I've hauled her someplace new was to change barns.  So there was the mystery of how she does in a portable stall surrounded by 100 other screaming horses.  How she'd do without any turnout for a few days and the million dollar question of what would she think of all the weird random crap I was going to ask her to walk over.

My first few posts answered most of those questions but, much like Pia, Saturday Prairie got to go for a gallop in the field as well as spend some serious time with the obstacles that evening.

So here goes:

Same thing as P, nice morning, cool, calm, and lazy - Prairie seems pretty ok with the "atmosphere" of the grounds. I can tell that no turnout makes her a bit more looky, but really, I don't know too many horses who you can lock in a (new) stall for 3 days, then take out into a big meadow and walk around calmly on... So P2 gets some serious points for that.

I could tell that Prairie was out of her comfort zone in the field, but if I had to label her reaction, it would probably be "concerned" more than "panicked" or "explosive."  her eyeball just looked a bit, well - concerned, as though she really didn't know where her nice, neat arena went.

"wh-where are the fences!? and where is my dragged footing!??"

So. adorable.

Anyway, Much like P1, P2 also got her turn to gallop through the grass.  I was going to do it myself, but then I thought "self - you have a perfectly good Cowboy Man here and there's no need to jostle your confidence or push your boundaries."

P2's concern quickly gave way to *shoving* her mouth full of grass...

So, (without shame) I slid off the mare and handed the reins to Cowboy Man to let 'er rip.  Knowing that when P2 gets unbalanced in the canter she becomes a drama-llama to the extreme (which in turn freaks me out), I figured I'd let CM have that ride since he doesn't seem to care about silly things like panicked horses, or a total lack of control.

As predicted, as soon as P2 accelerated past the quiet, contained working canter we've been playing with her brain sounded the alarm that something (her hind end) was chasing her and omg-we-have-to-go-now. 

Not exactly the most graceful thing to see in slow motion, but interesting nonetheless.  She has a powerhouse of a hind end.. I can't wait to see what she can do with it when it's actually up underneath her...



Cowboy Man's approach was very different from mine.  Mine is to count on the mare hitting our new favorite bit when she drama-llamas, thereby containing the outburst and keeping her under control and on my aids. (this makes sense to me, also, it feels safe).

On the other hand, CM figures that she has to lean to use her body such that when she is alarmed, she doesn't shoot her head straight up and string out like a freight train.  So, instead of shutting her "spook" (if that's the right word) down, he slowly "surfs" her into big looping turns and allows her to bring her own nose down for balance and slow herself.  This means he keeps the lightest of contact (shudder) which leaves P2 without her safe, secure "box." 

Yet another example of how I enjoy CM's process but know I would never (ever ever) have the instinct to do that myself.  After a few more runs the panic left P2's face/neck, but I could still  tell she really isn't thrilled about being totally responsible for her own body.  I'm working on addressing this (in our own way) by exploring some long lining and free jumping at home (since I don't trust myself to not interfere with her galloping out in a field...)

It was nice to see that P2 was willing to return to grazing almost immediately after each run.  Cowboy Man has tuned me into that little signal - since most horses won't eat (even when surrounded by tasty grass) if they are totally nervous, anxious, scared or otherwise concerned about what's going on.  A good example of this is that early on, P1 would be reluctant to graze on trail rides, choosing instead to be obsessed with what the other horses in our group were doing, or what was lurking in the woods, or (god forbid) doing her neck twisty thing in protest of everything.   At this point it's rare if Pia isn't willing to accept a long rein and graze in between trot sets/gallops/whatever.

Seeing P2 quickly return to grazing between her gallops was a good indication that as scare as her fast moving legs are, her brain comes back to earth quickly and consistently. (good mare)

Having finished our gallop rides and slow-mo filming, P2 got a nice break and pile of hay while we played with Pia.  Their newly formed obsession made me think that P2 would be pacing, calling and pawing constantly with Pia gone, but when I came back to her stall I found this:

not exactly a ball of nerves...

This mare is so cool.  I mean, she's dorky sometimes, but the more we worked with her over the weekend, the more I'm thinking that Prairie isn't so much "ditsy" as I've previously accused her of, she just hasn't had a lot asked of her in terms of brain power.

This became even more apparent as I swapped mares and took P2 back to the obstacles for an extended school.

For one thing, she remembered all of our discussions about not crowding me and rating my movement.  Arms down mean "walk with me, come forward."  Arms up - "stop, or maybe slow down if they only go up for a second."

For another, without Pia in the ring with her, Prairie was sniffing everything and very forward to each obstacle.  Anything she didn't understand she just shoved her big nose all over until she was comfortable walking in/on/over it.   The only thing that took a few tries was the water, which by this point of the weekend is a putrid, stinking puddle of manure and nastiness.  Not exactly a welcoming clear mountain stream... (to be fair I wouldn't put my feet in it..)

The only other challenge was asking P2 to really control her body and it's momentum.  For example, when stepping up on a bank (which she was perfectly willing to do). It took a lot of deliberate work to get her to realize she could pause herself halfway up, or halfway down (up was easier than down).

All the way up was cake.  she's pretty sure she's *supposed* to be on a pedestal..

Then we figured out how to pause going up (and get cookies)

The (very challenging) pause on the way down.  (it's a lot of mare to brake)

I spent a long time on this trick because I wanted to get to the point of not needing any nose/poll pressure for P2 to start and stop.  The stop with nose pressure was easy, but the big-picture goal is to have her focusing on my body language and stopping herself not leaning/bracing/relying on me to do that for her (however lightly).

After that, the rest of the "baby" course was cake.  She marched up to ditches, sniffed them, and walked through, she marched over bridges, sticks, tarps, you name it.  I was pretty impressed.  Here's a quick clip of some of the baby obstacles strung together.  I'm impressed at how relaxed she is and how engaged she is with what's around her....
(ps - we aren't going to win any showmanship classes, but considering what an aloof moose she can be, this if pretty damn good).
(pps - I was also pretty sure that at some point I was going to walk backwards off one of these bridges...)



After that we headed to the "big kid" ring and tackled bigger banks, the car wash, the water and the other bridges.  It took about 30 minutes before P2 noticed the totally-terrible-completely-horrifying-beyond-freaky DONKEY that had been added to the course.

Admittedly, it's a creepy looking wooden cutout.  But I'm pretty sure that it's not the malicious villain that Prairie made it out to be.  What really cracked me up is that we were walking over the wobbly suspension bridge when she caught sight of it, FREAKED, then proceeded to water ski me around the arena eventually busting loose and escaping to a "safe" distance hiding behind the car wash.

When I collected the mare, we approached the totally-terrible-completely-horrifying-beyond-freaky DONKEY and she made peace with it.  (I know she made peace with it because after sniffing and licking she started eating it.  You don't eat things that scare you, you just don't.)

Creepy, but not exactly out for world domination...

Assuming we were now ok with the totally-terrible-completely-horrifying-beyond-freaky DONKEY I retried the wobbly suspension bridge with a similar reaction, though this time, instead of breaking loose the mare "escaped" via the high bridge (with no railings) and craggy rocks on either side.  I managed to hang on and ski (skijor?) along behind her with visions of snapping legs flooding my brain...

So, we sniffed the totally-terrible-completely-horrifying-beyond-freaky DONKEY again. Licked it, then started chewing its nose, so once again I spun the mare and went for the bridge.  Here's a video of our third attempt where the mare bravely faced her fears.
(seriously though, how she's scared of the donkey but thinks a crazy wiggling bridge is ok, is beyond me...)



There are two videos of this same attempt (the first escape and the second skijor...) which I might have to post later.  P2's early horror at the donkey is really quite spectacular...

After we mastered the donkey we played with the car wash, log pile and other ditches.  For being such a big, long mare I'm impressed with how well she handles her toes.  The big logs piles in particular.  I would have guessed she would whack and stumble her way through those...



All in all, I'm impressed with P2.  I feel like with some consistent ground work, and a deliberate effort to not only trot around the sandbox, she is going to be a confident, forward girl - and those ditsy spooks will continue to diminish...

What a love.

MT Day 4: Pia's Progress

As I started dumping photos and videos and whatnot onto my computer I realized I have so much stuff from Saturday at the Clinic that I really need to break it down.  Seems to make the most sense to focus on each mare one at a time, so I think that's what I'll do.

By either numerical or alphabetical order Pia/P1 wins the race so let's start with her:

The mares were equally calm and happy when we threw them hay in the am, which gave us time to wander off in search of more breakfast sandwiches before starting their workday.

After some long hand walks and grazing, we tacked everyone up and headed back to the Meadow for some breezing and to try to use the camera's cool slow motion feature for looking at everyone's gaits.

Pia was great.  She's gained so much confidence over the last year.  She's alert and eager but no longer petrified of things (at least when you're on the ground).  Reassuming his role as camera man, The Boy was on the ground, leaving Cappy to be ponied around with us.  P has been ponied but never been the pony-er, so it was interesting to see her shift from wanting to kick the crap out of him to slowly softening and accepting Cappy on her flank while she was being ridden.

We warmed the beasts up with some light walk/trot work in the morning fog before having Cowboy Man gallop them out one by one.

Gorgeous.

When it was P's turn, we managed a bit of an experiment and had her go both in her Aussie saddle (recently returned from the fitter having been narrowed) and my old Klimke Dressage saddle (which fits her "ok" but is a much less obtrusive saddle on her back).

P's run in the Aussie Saddle:



And P in the Klimke:


My relatively untrained eye doesn't see a huge difference in her movement but she "looks" more eager in the dressage saddle and Cowboy Man swears she felt softer in her back with the Klimke as well...

(as a side note, how cool are these clips!? basically the camera takes 5 seconds of footage at 400 frames per second, then plays it back at a normal frame rate giving you the 1:06 long video... can't wait to play with this more)

After P, we played with Aspen (my vet's big fun Dutch boy) and then P2 got her turn.  I'll save P2's absurd response to moving "fast" for her own post, but I'll just say that I'm pretty sure she scares herself with her own legs.

When everyone was done, we headed back to the indoor.  I put P2 back in her stall so I could focus on Pia and watched her work (for the second time) in the warm up arena amongst the chaos.  She was more forward Saturday than Friday, but her eyeball was still wild and she was not exactly thrilled to be there.

It's hard to tell in the photos (and some of the video even) but CM rides with a very light contact.  He doesn't want to shut P down, instead he wants her to use herself and rely on herself.  To a certain extent I think if I hopped on and asked her to go in a frame she'd either say "screw this" and get me off, or the work would be a distraction and would help her settle.  That's good from a "I need to warm up for my class" perspective, but not actually helpful in the "P needs to be comfortable and confident" perspective. (I know that sounds a little "woo-woo").

P realizing this isn't so horrid after all

It took approximately 10 minutes to get the mare moderately calm and happy to the point that her ears were up and not pinned 100% of the time, but every time something "exploded" around her (A lunge whip cracking/lady falling off/ loose cow/etc) she'd lose it just a touch and we'd have to deescalate her again.

The really good news there is that she actually deescalated.  That wasn't an option before - if you lost her she was gooooooonnnnnnne for good.  So, kudos mare.  You're growing up.

Parting of pacifying Pia included stopping for carrots every time she successfully got around the ring without a tantrum.  The Boy served as carrot dispenser...

Once P agreed to walk calmly around the arena, we headed into the obstacles to see how she would fare under saddle (again).  This time she was able to tackle a few more challenges without Cowboy Man having to get off and lead her through.  We took advantage of other horses in the ring to be leaders for her and P was quite pleased with that.

It surprises me (and confuses me a bit) that P is so forward, willing and calm about all the obstacles when you are on the ground... but the same obstacle is a no-go when you are mounted.... It's an interesting place for her to be.  Trusting with you at her shoulder, but still nervous under saddle.  Sadly for P, Saturday was the end of accepting that disconnect.  Cowboy Man decided that he had enough trust and enough history with P to really push her a bit more from her back.  We're also pretty confident that (especially in the Klimke) P's pain level is low-to-nonexistent so we can be pretty sure that her balks are 98% attitude only.  Part of getting that trust level back up is being really careful that we never force her into anything that causes pain.  If we ask her to do painful things... why would she trust us?

She wouldn't. And didn't.  But we're moving past that, and since we have a nice long history of asking for things that don't hurt anymore, it's time that P gets over the anxiety that something might hurt.

So, onward the mare went.  there were a few bucks, but for the most part she was appropriate in her objections.  Cowboy Man did hop off a few times to lead the mare through things, but he would immediately re-mount and proceed to repeat the process under saddle.

Here you can see that P is still not forward to some of these things, but she's also holding it together and not totally freaking out.  Would I want to run her cross country? probably not, but she's trying!


A few more shots of P doing P's thing:

P says "no." (again)

Following the leader got us in the water and in the ditches. 

P didn't need a buddy for the baby bridge

Or the weird log piles...

Or the scary high bridge...

Or the wobbly suspension bridge! (why would a horse walk on this!?)

This big scary water/waterfall...

 One last video of getting through that pesky car wash... this girl has a lot of try in her:

MT: Day 3 - Meadow Ride & Scary Water

Friday was our first full day down at the clinic which was filled with all sorts of adventures.

Both mares made complete and total messes of their stalls, and I found them in the morning both standing with their noses in the back corner so their nostrils could wuffle into each others' through the gap in our portable stalls.

mares.

Anyway, after throwing some flakes of hay and securing a dirty, delicious breakfast sandwich we took the mares for a walk and hand grazing, before tacking everyone up for a ride.

So. Much. Love.

 Yup, everyone.  Which may I remind you is 4 horses... which means we'd need four people (me.. Cowboy man, vet, and..... THE BOY).  ta-da!

All tacked up we headed out to the big pasture to go for a nice walk around the hay fields.  Pia was extremely polite and calm - Cappy (The Boy's Mount) was confused (...so was The Boy), P2 was raring to go, and Aspen was politely tagging along.  It was a gorgeous ride, and I was able to enjoy it all the more so with P2 striding out in front and The Boy managing to stay on board his pony ride.

Once again, no photographic evidence of our lovely ride since The Boy was... well, riding.  But when we got back, I DID dismount first and managed to grab a quick video as Cappy began attacking a mud puddle (he later attempted to roll in it with The Boy still in the saddle, I missed that little fiasco on film).



After our ride the beasts got lunch (so did we) and a bit of a break (so did we).  We got back to the barn in time for the last session of the day to get under way, Pia and Aspen got tacked up to go for a gallop.  P2 continued her nap.

P breezed out nicely and seems to really be moving much more comfortably.  When we got back to the barn, she went straight to the warm up arena to see how much her little P (not pea) brain could handle.

She was a spaz case, but honestly, I have to say that given all the commotion (and cows) I'm impressed that she kept all four of her feet on the ground.  Clearly not thrilled with life, but significantly more tolerant than she would have been a year ago.  and by "tolerant" I mean she didn't kill anyone. :)
Here's a snippet from her first "Arena Ride" in MONTHS.



After P calmly walked around the arena a few times, we walked into the Obstacle Arena and let her explore under saddle a bit.  She was tense, and less willing under saddle, but at a balk, Cowboy Man would hop off, walk her through the offensive obstacle then get back on and complete it under saddle.  P was a star.  There's no way she could have handled any of this under saddle last time we were here, so it was pretty spectacular to see that tangible improvement in her attitude and mental state.

I went back and grabbed Prairie so she could join in on the fun and we all began working the obstacles.

P2 was good with everything except for the water, and the car wash.  P1 was no help with the car wash

P1 says "no."

We got them both through it (P2 was surprisingly a bit easier to convince the plastic wasn't scary) and then we went to work on water.

Prairie was not that interested, but also not that defiant. This is what her "balk" looked like:



She was polite and brave and eventually we had everyone stomping through the mud puddles happily.

With Coyboy Man playing with P2, I got to get some quality P1 time in, which was much appreciated.

All in all, a very productive day.  P2 was great going for a ride outside, The Boy legged up on a horse, and both mares were confident and trusting with the obstacles in the evening.

All good things!