Rajiyyah has a new bit: a 4.5 inch double-jointed snaffle with a round, copper alloy mouth piece. I picked up the bit because she didn’t seem very happy with the full cheek eggbutt snaffle I was using. She loves this bit. She actually grabs it into her mouth when we’re tacking up. I had to wiggle the full cheek into her mouth. Not with this new bit.
Today I used Rajiyyah’s show bridle instead of the training bridle. Last weekend, Rajiyyah had been trying to evade the side reins by opening her mouth to get away from the pressure. Her show bridle has a flash noseband which wraps around her mouth and prevents her from opening it. What a difference! She rounded out and started to relax. This was the first time I’ve actually seen her start to round out and move well. She raised her back, engaged her hind end, and was moving like a completely different horse.
Until the other horses had to come in. I was working her when it was feeding time. Horses don’t tend to be very happy about that. Considering this was her first time being worked while the horses were coming in, she did pretty well. She kept focused on me (with a lot of encouragement). A few times she quit watching me and would stare off at the horses coming in to the barn. I’d ask her to whoa, and then continue at a trot, and then whoa again. Mixing up her routine so she would have to watch me. Once she trotted around me twice with a relaxed gait and paid good attention, we stopped for the evening.
Overall, good progress with the white wonder mare.
