17th May - What a perverse horse

Well I don't think Xaile will ever be predictable.  I asked both Bento and Marcia whether to use a double or snaffle.  Bento said double and Marcia snaffle.  My gut instict was snaffle, but as he'd had a day off I went with the double.  Wrong choice according to Xaile.

I took ages to get him to settle, and even then he was far from great.  He just wouldn't concentrate, head tilting, fussing, spooking etc.  He'd do a couple of lovely strides then lean on my right hand.  I've learnt that if he feels like he's asking to stretch and you allow him to his next move is to throw his head in the air.  And I also think he now should be stretching when I think it's time, not just because he wants to, so I'm trying very hard to get out of the habit of allowing him to stretch whenever he wants.

Anyway we weren't having fun at all.  And I was struggling to keep my temper with him.  I was wondering if I'd ever get him to settle again if I went back down to the yard to get his snaffle, when I thought that I might as well jus knot his curb rein and ride off the snaffle.  Success.  Happy realxed light boy.  I simply don't understand him.

15th May - Snaffle

I've been having an email correspondence with Bento on a couple of points.  One of which is snaffles versus double bridles.  I sent him this email:

1. Snaffle vs Double Bridle

Xaile appears to really dislike snaffles.  As soon as I put the bridle on he starts fiddling with the bit, he tilts his head from side to side and lowers and raises his head.  It’s almost like he is trying to get a grip on the bit.  He is very difficult to ride in a snaffle.  It’s like he can’t think about anything else other than the bit.  He’s constantly chewing on it and changing the angle of his head.  He also becomes very spooky and nervous.

When I went to try him at Pedro Farto’s yard he was in a double bridle.  And whilst his head carriage was far from consistent or stable it wasn’t awful.  I tend to ride him in a double now because he seems so much more relaxed and happy in one.

However, in England the culture is very much against using anything other than snaffles.  Also if I want to compete at the lower levels of dressage he obviously has to go in a snaffle.

So I was wondering what your opinion is?  Should I persist with trying to get him happy with a snaffle (I’ve tried many different ones and have failed to find one he likes)?  Or should I stick with the double bridle and wait to compete till he is ready to compete at elementary?  If I try to get him used to the snaffle are there any things I could do to make him happier?

This was his reply:

About your questions, I only can give my opinion and I do not feel at all as an expert. I am just what I am with my single experience...

1. Snaffle vs double:

I could never really know what is better as bit for the horses I have to train. Often I find the solution as an accident (the horse's bridle needs reppair and I have to try another). Often the most confortable situation for the horse is not what we tend to think it will be...

If he feels better with the double, just keep it!!

As he gets  better by the traning process, you should become able to get the same easyness with anything (simple snaffle or double).

Ususaly I tend to keep only the snaffle until having the flying changes, half-passes and the beggining of piaff / passage.

When I ride with double, even advanced horses, at least once in the week I use only the snaffle to confirm submission. Details will be "naked" with just the snaffle, those issues, the double will help me to fix the following days.

My rather waffly reply:

Thank you so much for your reply.  Your answers are very interesting.  On the subject of bridles, I am glad that you feel that as he gets better he'll accept a snaffle.  (Incidentally I think he's getting better surprisingly quickly.  A dressage riding friend of mine (who has tried and failed to help me and Xaile in the past) came by to see him on Saturday.  She thinks that you are a magician!)  You have sort of confirmed something that I have thought for a while, but not wanted to admit.  The double is masking things, especially his lack of submission.  I think I shall do as you say, and continue with the double for a while. Maybe Marcia will be able to advise me when it would be wise to try the snaffle again?  Mind you, maybe trying it once a week anyway would be a good plan as it might show me how we are progressing!

In return:

I would really go once in the week with just snaffle!

So today I decided to ride him in a snaffle.  I thought long and hard about the actual snaffle I'd use.  In the end I went for the hanging cheek Myler.  I chose it because I feel he really dislikes the nutcracker action of a normal snaffle and it seems the most similar to the mouth piece of a weymouth (though it doesn't have a port).  I also went against years of snobbish aversion to flash nosebands.  I'd always thought that if he was truly submitting it shouldn't take a noseband to keep his mouth shut.  I still think this, but I'm very conscious that he feels safer and braver in the double so I want to replicate the feeling as much as possible and I felt that the flash might feel a bit like a curb chain.

 It might have been a bad choice to ride in a snaffle after yesterday's slightly difficult day but as I'd resolved the problem yesterday I thought it would be ok.  Sidney was due to have his shoes off at lunch time so I brought both of them in together to give Xaile half an hour or so in a stable to deflate.  He hated this and got very wound up.  He got even more furious when I turned Sid back out.  So I decided to lunge him before riding, I thought this would give him a chance to get used to the new bridle too.  He walked purposefully but calmly to the school which was most encouraging.  He lunged quietly and rather lazily, but did seem a bit stiff through his neck and jaw on his right side.  

As he was so sensible I got on quite quickly.  He was back to his normal quiet self to mount.  He walked off quietly but with his ears pricked, this is normally a bad sign as it tends to mean he's thinking about things other than schooling.  But today it didn't seem to be in a bad way, they were soft and he looked happy rather than manic. 

We started off with some flexions on a very loose rein.  He relaxed quickly and worked very nicely.  In fact he was very similar to how he is in his double.  I don't know if it means that the schooling is working, or that the flash was a genius idea, but he was great.

I worked on yesterday's problem that he interpreted a flexion as an aid for trot and this improved.   I did lots of transitions between and within paces and changes of rein to keep him listening and soft.

I discovered that if he became tight and hollow it was generally because I was fiddling with my hands rather than thinking about my position.  So I concentrated very hard on keeping my hands still and my position.  The more I concentrated on me the better he went.

The non-mirror end of the school still seemed to be a problem in his mind.  Initially I could only get him to approach it in shoulder in and struggled to stop him hollowing and rushing away from it.  So to start with I avoided it and worked in his comfort zone to get him soft and listening.  Then I worked towards it in a series of circles. Then coming away from it I halted in the top corner and walked away, halting frequently and doing lots of 10 m circles.  After repeating this a few times I found I could trot straight up to the end, admittedly it was a tense trot but it was straight; and walk away without having to halt or circle.

I only did a small amount of canter work but the first transition was surprisingly good- he didn't leap at all.  He was a bit stiff on the right rein and seemed more inclined to bend his neck from the whithers and the poll rather than smoothly.

Generally I was thrilled with him and didn't want to get off.  Good boy.  Oh, and he looks really handsome in the flash... I meant to take a photo but it started raining again and I forgot.

I need to ask either Marcia or Bento (or both) whether I should carry on with the snaffle or go back to the double tomorrow.

A difficult but ultimately satisfying day.

Xaile was asleep with Sidney when I went to get him in this morning.  He wasn't quite his usual enthusiastic self when I brought him in either.  In fact he stopped dead half way and I had to coax him to move at all.  He dragged his toes all the way to the school.  So I don't know why I was surprised by our bad session.

I think that he was totally stuffed with hay and as a result gas... He really didn't want to work.  He farted enormously and frequently.  I should have called it s day sooner than I did.  He was not happy to bend and was so tight in his jaw.

However I did do 35 mins with him and it did have good moments.  We did lots of forwards work and he did soften nicely when forwards, but I lost it on transitions.  He certainly finds it hard to balance when forwards, so I think possibly I need to alternate it with collected work where he feels safe and balanced.

I decided that he probably needs to spend time in to deflate before working... I also thought as we'd ended on a bad note another little session this afternoon after time to deflate in a stable would be a good plan.

When I got back to him he was furious. Sid had been calling for him and he was enraged at being kept in.  I probably should have thought better and turned him straight out. But I was determined to see if he'd be better for time off the grass.  He was much livelier to lead to the school and started spinning round me as soon as we got there. All wild eyed, with his ears pricked which is a bad sign when it comes to schooling.

He was then very difficult to get on, I can't remember the last time he didn't stand perfectly for me to get on.  When I eventually got a foot in the stirrup he spun and galloped off down the school.  Luckily I got my balance quickly and held onto his mane till he'd got to the end of the school where he seems happiest and calmest.  I got my stirrup and chattered to him while keeping him walking on a long rein till he returned to this planet.

It then took a very long time to get him to relax enough to work at all.  I also had to remember my position. I was concentrating so hard on getting him calm and relaxed that I forgot how important how I sit is. When I remembered to sit up and he remembered that he's a grown up we eventually got some lovely work with fabulous transitions.

I tried very hard to be as long as possible in the downwards transitions and the result was fantastic. The upwards transitions took a lot more work.  I eventually got them calm and consistent by flexing him a stride before the transition. But being a clever horse he very quickly learnt that I would ask for the transition after the flexion and did it all by himself.  Something to work on tomorrow...

13th May - A lesson with Marcia - FORWARD!!

I was really looking forward to showing Marcia how well Xaile was going.  so obviously I was tense, so he was tense so he didn't go well.  Ah well.

Flexions for softening the neck

• If he doesn't immediately lower his head and soften the go straight to the small circle.
• When on the small circle apply the inside leg aid then immediately remove it allowing the leg to be long and soft.
• As soon as he lowers his neck and relaxes go straight and change the rein.
• When going large circle as soon as he doesn't respond to the flexion to lower the head.

My position

• longer stirrups
• knees and heels need to be much lower still
• need to flex my ankle to allow my heel to drop
• more upper body tension

Downwards transitions

• Collect, then sit tall while lowering my legs as much as possible.  Make myself as long as I can.
• Do as much as possible from my seat.

Walk to Trot

• Make sure he is completely submissive before asking for the transition.
• Check that he is in front of my leg by making small transitions between collected and medium walk first.

Trot to canter

• 20 m circle, get a really forward trot, not worrying if his head comes up a bit as asking him to go forward (don't confuse him by fiddling with his head while asking for forwards).
• When forwards ask him to soften.
• When soft go to sitting trot. STILL FORWARDS
• When soft and forwards in sitting trot then shoulder in.
• Then ask for canter.
• In canter make the circle smaller and bigger.
• In canter create jump by using the outside leg.
• FORWARDS in canter too!
• All of this makes him use his hindlegs properly and so not throw his forehand into transitions.

11th May 2013 - a week post clinic

After a week of hard work on Xaile's consistency and my position I think we're getting somewhere...  I'm finally sitting a bit more upright.  However- my hands are still in my lap, my knees are frequently too high, and my heels, and I need to remember to keep my shoulders back.  Nonetheless- I'm happy.

Xeres do Zambujal - Xaile's brother competing at Grand Prix in Italy.

Xaile's breeder told me to have a look at this article about Xaile's brother:

http://tuttodressage.it/?p=19339

Xaile and I have rather a long way to go...

10th May - A lightbulb moment.

It was cold and windy, he had a rug on over night.  Sidney was very wound up in the field and calling to him a lot when we left.  We rode with Vicki and Genio.

I had a major position breakthrough.  I had no idea how far I have to lean bakc to actually be upright.  It felt like I was leaning so far back that I would touch his bottom with my head.  I sat how I thought was upright and then leant backwards till Vicki told me I'd eventually reached upright!  And the best bit was that when I was upright my bottom automatically tucked itself in- miracle!!  The bad thing is that it made it much more diffuclt to keep my knees and heels down, which is slightly depressing as I felt I was really making progress with these.

Xaiel was ok, but distracted by sharing the school.  He has got to get used to this.  I was very pleased with the trot transitions.  The left rein seems to be catching the right one up.   The canter transitions now need lots of work to catch up as he still really leaps into canter.  The downwards ones were better, mainly because I'd discussed them with my friend Richard last night.  Xaile normally drops into trot with a few huge unbalanced strides.  R reckons this is because I collapse my core as I apply the aid.  This appears to be the case, as when I tried hard to maintain my upper body tension the transitions were so much better.

I tried to keep entirely to the inner track so we find our own balance and straightness.  He was rather wobbly.