I am a reasonable rider. I have a good seat and most of the things that Breezy does when she is um… “asserting” her opinion I don’t have any trouble staying on. What got me was when she started getting nervous or jittery in the ring a few weeks ago. Read more…
Grief does weird things to your head. It makes you feel fragile, as if any little thing might make you react in a way that might not be appropriate to the situation. That first week after Kasane died, I visited with Breezy a lot. Mostly just stood out in her Read more…
Kasane did very well over the summer with riding and lessons. We had improved so much. And then we had two hurricanes back to back and lots of rain. When I got back on her finally, it was like riding a different horse. She felt stiff behind and did not Read more…
It is easy to feel frustrated because I don’t know what to do when Kasane says “no I don’t want to do this.” I know how I used to ride: I’d insist that she do something. With Isis, if I insisted and she wasn’t clear on what I was asking Read more…
This weekend, Jennifer (friend from the barn) and Polly took Lucy to a four-day dressage show at the Hunt Horse Complex at the NC Fair Grounds. Lucy is a beautiful bay warmblood. She is a lovely mare and has amazing gaits. Match those gaits with a very sane disposition and Read more…
Since Kasane has been undersaddle, we’ve gradually discovered and corrected several problems. We did a saddle fitting and discovered that my Courbette Magic dressage saddle didn’t fit her at all. Got a new saddle which made a huge difference. Over this past winter, I’ve noticed Kasane moving oddly on her Read more…
I never expected to be having great schooling rides bareback. We’re walking and trotting bareback and I’m not losing my seat any more. The differences in how Kasane responds to my aids are subtle but amazing. For a while, we had trouble free lunging. She’d race from one corner to Read more…
Today was the second day of the test ride in the Prestige Venus K monoflap. Yesterday when I rode, it was in the small square ring behind the barn. That ring is on a slight incline and not quite large enough to have a straight line for any distance. Kasane Read more…
For comparison purposes, here is a picture of Kasane in the Courbette Magic Dressage. I took these pictures to show off the new saddle pad, but they turn out to be pretty good at showing the saddle fit. See how long the saddle panels are? You can tell by where Read more…
Here are pictures of the saddle fitting. After the saddle fitter took Kasane’s measurements, we went through most of the saddles in the shop to find one that fit me and had short enough panels for her. Most of the used and new saddles I sat in didn’t fit my Read more…
Day started early. I was at up at 7:45, tried to go back to sleep, dozed until 8:15. At the barn to meet the farrier by 9:30. Groomed Kasane and Prize and then had their feet trimmed. The farrier said that both of them had great feet, so that is Read more…
Ever since Isis’ choking episode in November, I have been thinking about wanting to ride Kasane. I love riding Isis, but she can’t be stressed. (If she is stressed, it is possible that she will exhibit similar symptoms to when she had her EPM episode last summer. These symptoms will Read more…
After the riding lesson on Tuesday, I scheduled an extra lesson to fit the dressage saddles I’d located. I want to make sure whichever saddle I choose fits not only me, but also Isis. A new (or used) saddle is a big investment (“cheap” means under $500).
Arabians are notoriously hard to fit in saddles because they tend to have broad shoulders and round backs. Isis’ hunt saddle (made by Zaldi) is a wide saddle with a 32 cm tree. I found three saddles to try: an Albion Comfort (owned by one of the ladies at the barn), a Collegiate Jessica Dressage (brand new, at an excellent price), and a Courbette Magic Dressage. Of these, the Albion is probably the highest quality saddle. It’s beautifully made and comfortable to sit in on the saddle rack. The saddle has a wide twist, which I’m not crazy about (feels like you’re sitting on a log).
I had a riding lesson today with Isis that went surprisingly well. We rode her first dressage test today (Introductory Test B, a simple walk-trot test). Last time I had ridden something like that was in college (been a looong time). We rode the test three times. The first time was just trying to get through the different movements. She tripped four times during the first run-through. She also pulled against me a lot. Frustrating.
The second time we rode the test, I was more focused and relaxed: we were going to “ride” instead of meander. Her tripping lessened. We still didn’t get the test down, but at least we could maintain the same speed for the trot and (mostly) keep the 20 meter circles round instead of square.
The third time we rode the test she was much better. Whenenver we went from the straight side of the ring into a corner, my instructor pointed out that I should bend Isis into the corners. What a difference that made! Down the last straight side towards the centerline, I pushed her into the corner. As we rounded the corner, she reached underneath herself at the trot as we moved. Amazing to feel her reaching underneath herself. (more…)