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. I’d get on her and it felt like I was riding a taught rubber band. Wound, like she could take off or explode...
Continue reading...Dressage
Riding through grief
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 field with her or groomed her. Just to be near my girl but not putting myself into a situation where I might not...
Continue reading...Kasane was stiff in her hocks
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 want to move freely like she had before the storms came through. She also had a swelling between her knee and fetlock, shown...
Continue reading...Dealing with resistance when riding
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 (or more likely I wasn’t sure of how to ask her to do what I wanted), it would end up escalating. Where escalating...
Continue reading...Jennifer’s ride on Lucy at Classic Dressage show
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 you have one lovely girl. Related Images:
Continue reading...Saddles and shoes
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 back legs. For example, her stride when trotting looked uneven like the paces were not the same between one side and the other....
Continue reading...Week 2.5 of riding bareback
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 the next and not pay attention to me. We’ve had several weeks of primarily lunge line work using larger spaces. We’re still working...
Continue reading...Riding in the Prestige Venus K
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 did very well in the small ring yesterday, but I didn’t have a chance to ride in the larger ring because of a...
Continue reading...Comparison of saddle length
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 the saddle comes over her back — it comes over her lumbar. When you look at the front of the saddle, see how...
Continue reading...Saddle fitting pictures
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 seat bones. The Prestige Venus K monoflap fit my seat and was so very comfortable. (It is the pretty saddle with the fancy...
Continue reading...Dressage saddle fitting for Kasane
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 always good news. No thrush (foot disease), no strange cracks, no blemishes. Just good strong feet. We had a full house today with...
Continue reading...Kasane with the bit and saddle on
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 persist in some form until her nerves are fully healed. The vet said that it can take one to five years for nerves...
Continue reading...Saddle fitting
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...
Continue reading...Riding lesson
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...
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