Saddle Trials, Week One

The process of choosing, fitting, and finally purchasing a new saddle is proving to be a great learning experience.

Fitting a saddle to the horse:
Place the saddle on the horse's clean back, two fingers width back from the shoulder, without a pad and without girthing the saddle.
*If the saddle is high in front, it is narrow
*If the saddle is low in front, it is wide
*If the saddle is level, it could be the right fit

Generally speaking, it is better to be slightly wide than slightly narrow. A narrow saddle can potentially hurt (or injure) the horse, while a slightly wide saddle can be used with extra padding (such as a sheepskin pad) to fit properly, and also allows for future widening due to growth or gaining muscle. Placing your hand under the saddle's pommel then "wiggling" the saddle (either from the ground or even more telling while mounted) allows you to feel any pressure points on the withers or spiny processes of the horse's back. The channel along the horse's back should be wide enough to allow a small fist between the rear gullet; this displaces the right amount of weight over the horse's back, rather than against the spine. Widening the gullet will cause the saddle to sit slightly lower on the horse's back, therefore the horse fills out your legs so you may want to lengthen your stirrup leathers a hole, and the same girth will fit a hole or two shorter.

The Wintec 500 Dressage saddle with Cair panels and interchangeable gullet, the saddle I currently own (size 18", wide tree):
Pros: As far as fit goes I like this saddle just fine, I recently exchanged the medium for the wide gullet to allow for Delphi's growth and muscle gain, and the Cair panels do a good job of distributing the weight over Delphi's back.
Cons: It's plastic! After three years of use the billets are cracking and need to be replaced.
Bottom line: while the saddle is functional and fits fine I prefer a quality, leather saddle.

The saddles I will be evaluating this week include
the Stubben Maestoso, size 17.5", wide tree:
Pros: Stubben's craftsmanship, quality vegetable tanned comfortable leather, smaller knee blocks for freedom of movement, traditional wool flocked panels, optional larger knee blocks and optional Biomex spine relieving seat.
Cons: Biomex seat is new and unproven, even the larger knee blocks aren't as large and therefore as secure as some other saddle models.
Bottom line: while the 32cm tree fit her withers properly, the too-narrow channel put pressure points along Delphi's spine therefor not fitting her.

The Bates Innova with Cair panels, interchangeable gullet, and extended blocks, size 2, wide tree:
Pros: largest available knee blocks seem to provide extra security and maintain correct rider position, interchangable gullet allows you to change tree size as your horse changes shape or if you ride multiple horses, Cair panel can also have traditional wool flocking added if desired, wide channel to distribute weight evenly over horse's back.
Cons: giant knee blocks look funny and seem like "cheating" on your seat since they hold you into the so-called "correct Dressage position," suede on knee blocks will eventually become smooth over time and will have to be managed when it gets wet, sizing is 0, 1, and 2, with 1 being 17" to 17.5" and 2 being 18" to 18.5" so 1 is a hair small and 2 is a hair too big for my body (a 5' 8" 125 lb pear shaped female).
Bottom line: even with the wide gullet it sat too high on her withers and put pressure where it doesn't belong, yet with the pommel still being a tad low.

Stay tuned to see what Delphi has to say concerning the trial saddles. Already she's happy that I've correctly fitted her ever-widening and muscle-gaining body with a wide tree from the medium that came with her current saddle; her withers and shoulders felt better immediately and she is less tense after only two rides with the wider gullet.

Blue Fox Farm Christmas Show

Wizard, down centerline/ Nefyn/ Karen schooling Wizard previously


Dean, Karen, and Judge Karen


Allerhand & Poder/ Delphi/ Wizard

Nefyn

Allerhand/ Pas de deux pair Delphi and Alli

The show on Sunday December 14 was great fun! Delphi was first to go, starting with first level test four then settling into second level test one. Wizard was up next and did a great job in spite of the spooky, windy conditions. Alli and Delphi tried on the basic quadrille for size and discovered it fit rather nicely. Poder is feeling better already and was trotting 'round his paddock and playing with General this morning. Congratulations to all who rode and thank you to our impromptu judge, Karen Brown! Thank you Teri Bludworth and Blue Fox Farm for hosting the show.

Ritter Dressage Link

Click to go to Artistic Dressage, Dr. Thomas Ritter's website dedicated to classical dressage.

All in the Family

The following is a montage of the photos I have of Delphinia's family.

Her sire, Adelssohn:

Her grandsire Mendelssohn (Adelssohn's sire):

Her dam's sire Topas II (her dam Dahlia's sire):

Here is what a quality breeding to Delphinia can produce- Daydream, Delphi's 2004 filly by Onassis:

Delphinia's full brother from 1997, Danny (photo from www.slrpix.com):

Jeff Moore Dressage Clinic

'Twas a beautiful day at Lurena Bell-Stanley's Belle Terre farm for the Jeff Moore dressage clinic November 3, 2008. For detailed clinic notes, click here.
Jeff Moore trains my trainer Karen Brown.

It works and its easy!

Ten meter circles: an epiphany.
To ride a clear ten meter circle with the hindquarters engaged and the horse softly on the bit going toward collection: the horse's outside foreleg abducts around the circle to turn the horse. The key is to bring your inside shoulder toward the horse's outside hip to keep the correct bend and engagement. The inside rein creates just enough bend, but DO NOT "hang" continually on the inside rein, rather give the inside rein periodically while keeping the horse in the outside rein, and keeping the horse's neck between the aids.
Thank you, Karen, for the giant light bulb hanging over my head during our lesson today!

Excerpt From "LOSGELASSENHEIT: Calmness, Relaxation, and Suppleness" by Dr. Thomas Ritter

An interesting excerpt detailing a trend that definitely happened to me with Delphi.

"Yet another category of calmness could be labeled "calm before the storm". This is a phenomenon that you can encounter especially in warmbloods. These horses withhold themselves. They "store" their energies, while appearing outwardly calm and downright lazy. Some of them appear quite unresponsive and work less and less, the harder the rider is working at trying to make them go forward. Then, when the unsuspecting rider least expects it, they can explode into a bucking fit, for no reason at all, other than that they cannot contain their slowly but surely mounting energy any more. New horse owners who just bought their first warmblood after riding exclusively Thoroughbreds, Quarter horses, or Arabians all of their life, are often in for a rude awakening, because they don’t understand their new horse’s psychology. Among baroque horses, this is luckily not a very common problem – probably due to the several additional centuries during which the baroque breeds have been selectively bred for dressage and for an outstanding character compared to most other breeds."

However, Dr. Ritter continues:
"the back of a horse who is losgelassen (implying obedience to the aids) is the safest place in the world for his rider, even in situations where something startles the horse, because the horse will remain on the aids, and the rider can re-establish the former calmness quickly and easily."

Activate the Inside Leg

By activating the inside hind leg, the horse carries more weight on the inside hind leg and the hock becomes engaged and steps further under the horse, causing the horse to "sit" by lowering it's haunches.
Say you're on a twenty meter circle in trot on the right rein (though this exercise works well within any gate); to activate the inside hind: put your inside leg just behind the girth and give a "kick" to swing the haunches away from your leg. Congruently with the leg aids, keep a steady contact on the outside rein while lowering your inside elbow and bringing the right rein up and out to shift the horse's quarters away and bring the head to the inside. When done properly at first on the green horse, you can feel the horse "jump" away from your inside leg. Then straighten the horse and ride forward, and even allow a bit of stretch by giving the inside rein, thereby also checking the horse's self carriage. This is an excellent exercise for unlocking resistance.

Schooling the First Level Horse

Product Review: Mosquito Halt

Product claim: a repellent that protects against flies and mosquitoes for up to two weeks.

Review: A chemically strong fly repellent, this spray does indeed seem to keep mosquitoes at bay. After hurricane Ike the mosquitoes in the Gulf South have become a real issue, as they always are this time of year, only slightly worse. This spray repels them and does stay on as long as you don't rinse, shampoo, or sweat it off.

Pros: The product does indeed repel mosquitoes and flies, and sticks to the horse until it is washed (or sweated) off.

Cons: It is heavy on chemicals and has an unpleasant perfume-like odor that clings to the horse's coat and even your hands after application. At $17 a bottle, it's a bit expensive.

Bottom line: Yes, it does what it says; it's strong stuff. If you can get past the chemical and perfume smell (which bothers me more than it does my horse) then it's a good product. I recommend it.