November 12, 2006: Bridle Woes, or Flash of Brilliance

Susan started in on me the minute Jürgen left for Europe on October 26... She and Birthe were convinced the reason I was having difficulty keeping Facet in the canter was that I was allowing my leg to come forward into a chair position, and that stemmed from the fact that a lack of flexibility in my hip flexors wasn’t allowing me to follow the horse’s motion. Like a mosquito buzzing in my ear, no matter which horse I rode (and due to a minor tweak that has had me off Facet for 2 weeks, it was mostly Quila) she was continually after me to put my leg back.

“But if doesn’t go back any further...”
“Sure it does. Put it back.”
“I can’t.”
“You can.”

Finally in frustration, I lengthened my stirrups. At first, I found I was struggling not to lose them, and when I posted, I would sometimes bump the pommel, but then I hit upon warming up with my stirrups dropped, and focussing on actively stretching my legs backward and down the entire time. That did the trick! I haven’t lost a stirrup since, and suddenly, my leg is staying down and long where they were nagging at me to keep it. And (face reddening here), they were right.

I won’t get to try the results out on Facet until this week, but on Quila, the change has been remarkable. In trot, I can control her so much better, most notably in the bend. Moving my outside leg back from the hip forms an ever so much more effective barrier, so that in corners and voltés, she has to take the bend I’ve asked for (and my seatbones are automagically weighted correctly). No more losing the haunches! And if I keep my inside leg down and long,too, it is effective so that she can’t fall to the inside, and I can demand perfect roundness every time.

The change at canter is even more amazing. We can do very small voltés in both directions now (imagine--us, doing something even resembling a working pirouette!) because I can make a barrier with that long inside leg that she needs to turn around (WOW!), and I can also make her sit and carry herself. While (or perhaps because) the improvement in our canter work has been the most dramatic, it also has caused the most difficulty. After a few rounds of the good canter, Quila decided it was far too much work and started grasping for new evasions--I had effectively shut the door on the tried and true ones.

THUS, WE COME TO THE TITLE OF TODAY’S POST...

In a single day, Quila, after 17 years, learned how to put her tongue over the bit! On Day One, she did it once or twice to try it on for size. Hmmmmm! A little painful, but it discombobulates Mom and I get to stop cantering. There could be something here. I will have to think about this.

On Day Two, she tried it a few more times, and found that if she did, she could also move her back up and down and get a few swear words out of me. By Day Three, she spent most of the ride with her tongue over the bit and added a new twist: flying her tongue in the breeze like a flag, and even experimenting with it to see if she could wipe the sweat from her eyes!

I now understand the German logic behind always using a flash (loosely) with our young horses. We generally avoid flashes with Quila because she has a particular difficulty that I won’t go into, but I had no choice... out came the crank noseband and flash, since my current noseband could not be adjusted tighter.

I ordered one of the crescent dropped nosebands (above), but the first one that arrived was a size up from what I’d ordered... still waiting for the correct one. I think it will be better since it should keep her mouth shut without running into the problems the regular flash will eventually cause. Had to do something, though, because the tongue was a problem.

I know, by the way, that she was not acting out of pain. Two days in the flash, and she’s my usual merry content horse, happy in her work, without a pinned ear, swished tail or any other behavior to suggest otherwise. And she’s doing quite well at carrying herself behind, thank you. Her pattern has always been, however, that whenever I’ve upset our way of doing things, she’s felt the need to try to convince me that the old way was best. She’s never been a fan of change.