TC's Struggles with Bits

TC has always had kind of a weird thing with bits. Undersaddle he is entirely quiet in the mouth, I've never had him chew on the bit excessively or stick his tongue out. He's never been super frothy, like Rico would always have some foam around his lips, but he's also always carried the bit quietly. 

He's definitely got a sensitive mouth though - I've had him dislike bits. But his dislike of bits was more about the bits being too much bit for him, resulting in him retracting away from them. 

He's been very hard to connect to the bridle and often times you'll push him to the contact and he just misses it or ducks behind it, or sits slightly on top of it. It's like trying to thread a needle so you can sew your nieces' halloween costumes when the older one (five years old) is there thinking that she's being kind but it's coming across as really condescending as she tells you that it's actually really hard to thread a needle and that she thinks you're doing a really good job.

TC loves visiting Rico, Rico mostly
wants to bite TC

Anyway, I found a bit years ago that he seemed to like - a NS Turtle Top. He's gone pretty well in it, of all the bits I've had him in, he seemed happy to connect to this one the most. 

But, and this isn't unique to this bit, he still positively gnashes on it when he's in the cross ties. From the moment I put the bridle on until I start leading him out of the cross ties, the horse is just going to town on it. And every time he has a dental, we notice that he has a bit of a callus on I think the right side of his mouth. A few years ago, my vet asked to see his bridle on him and recommended that I raise the bit in his mouth, so I did. Didn't help. 

It's tough because like... he's fine to ride. He's always been a very impatient horse in the cross ties too, like when he was young, he seemed to get more relaxed the faster I tacked him up because he was so eager to get going. At least that's how I interpreted it. 

I took the pony up the hill yesterday

When I started his rehab schedule this fall, I did it in the rope halter, mostly because it was quick to throw on him. Then, when I switched to long lining, I put his bridle on and was reminded about the weirdness in the cross ties with the bit. So I stuck that on the back burner and swapped him to my longeing cavesson. 

But I did want to make a plan to figure out the bit stuff, so on Tuesday this week, I decided to take a remote lesson from Kate so that I could learn the bit flexions she had been talking about. I'm deep in amateurdom these days, rather than doing my own research and deciding how to handle this, I decided to just have Kate help me and tell me what to do instead! I love this chapter of my life with horses. 

Visiting the fallen tree from below

We discovered some super interesting things about TC vs his bit.

We started with just me holding my hands on the bit and waited for him to relax for a second. TC likes to make his tongue super hard/tense and yank the bit backward toward his teeth, then he chomps down on it. So even getting him to settle for a moment was tough for him. 

Next was to flatten the bit in his mouth and again wait for acceptance. Either in that he chews lightly, keeping his tongue soft and just mobilizing his lower jaw (not the top of his face), or by being still. But not frozen, just still. This we both struggled with. He really pulls the bit backwards, so I was trying really hard to keep the bit flat and not let him pull it so much, and in doing so, I was bracing against the bit, which is not what I want HIM to do either. 

He did actually yawn once when we were doing this step so that was great! And after that, we noticed that he seemed to have longer periods of time where he'd settle and have his mouth quiet while holding the bit.

And after we passed it

The final step, for now at least, was to do basic poll flexions to the right and then to the left. This was when TC said oh no thank you. To the right, he offered me folding at the base of his neck rather than flexing the poll, he also threw his head a lot, yanked me side to side, and nearly clocked me on the face. Eventually though, we got some small moments of relaxation/releasing, so we took that. 

To the left he was a little less wanting to fold his neck, but was still quite reluctant and offered me an odd head tilt instead of a flexion. He also bit me, which was annoying, but I was reminded to not feed my arms to him. We did get an okay moment on that side so we called it a day. My homework is to continue doing this with him until it gets easier/better! And then we'll revisit and see if we can progress further. 

He was a very good boy up there

I'm super grateful to have had this lesson, I think it's good timing to address this while I'm not needing to ride him/longe him in the bit. I'm super curious how much this will help him. Again, he's not bad in the contact, but he is weird. Is he weird because he lacks this education? Or because he's just weird? Or because he has some odd neck stuff going on? All three options? Either way I think spending 15-30 minutes working on these flexions with the bit every day before we go out to long line will be time well spent. 

So we'll see how that goes in the future! I'm hopeful that he will improve, even if it's just so that he annoys me a little less in the cross ties when I put his bridle on (the chomps are so aggressive, it's like nails on a chalkboard).

Feeling Better Than He Looks

This week, so far at least, TC has been pretty good as I continue to obsess over every aspect of his life. He doesn't mind, but let's take a moment to realize how creepy that seems.

I'm sending back the two Neue Schule bits just because they didn't make such a big difference that they're worth keeping. I know I was about to buy the turtle top, but I think I'd rather wait for the bit fitting clinic that Anne talked about having. I put him back in the KK with the bit guards and loved how he felt yesterday, so that's what we're going to stick with for a while even though I hate bit guards.

Our ride on Tuesday was mostly this, with me staring at the
pivo begging it to notice that I'm on a horse

I snagged a Custom Icon Flight to try yesterday. The price was right, it was in good condition, owned by someone I knew, and it was the right tree and seat size combination.

The good news is that holy crap, TC loved it and I loved how it made me ride. I could stick with him no matter what, get my front line on super aggressively, and man, the influence I had was insane. His changes felt fabulous, he was more into the bridle than he's been in a while, and he just seemed happy in it.

Buuuuut it made my back hurt.

The saddle absolutely forces you into this singular position, which would be great! If the seat wasn't pitching you into a hollow backed position. Maybe if you're a round backed rider, it'd be a great saddle, but every time I let go of my core to relax, my back ached like no other. Walking around the ranch was awful, it used to be my comfort zone, if my back was hurting, I could just wander around at the walk and it'd always feel better. There's no way I could trail ride in this saddle, by the end of our ride, I was just itching to get off of him and even an hour after my ride, my back was still sore.

Obviously a no-go. I emailed Custom back and told them that I ruled out the Icon Flight and then told them that what I'd really like is for them to replace the flaps on my saddle. They ACTUALLY AGREED TO DO THAT for the first time. So now I'm thinking through that, more on that later.

Learning to ride with more of a flexion pattern while also being
less fit than I think I've ever been is rough you guys

But, we'll focus on the positive, TC was really good the last couple of days. I signed us up for our next two shows, same tests, the 3-1 and the 3-3 each day. I can't shake the feeling that he's just not ready to be doing Third level... like I know we went out and got a 70% already. It's such a silly thing, we're schooling all the movements well at home and we're even venturing into the pirouettes and half steps that will form the base of his FEI work.

On Monday, we focused a lot on the half passes to the left, he just lacks flow in that direction, but we're now at the point where the steepness isn't as big a deal as how "easy" it feels. So that's okay, it just takes time.

I think we might have overdone it on Monday because on Tuesday, all four ankles were a tiny bit stocked up so I freaked out. We did more walking on hard ground (since I've been fiddling with the Pixem each day for the most part, I realized I don't walk him on hard ground as often because I mostly ride in the arena, so Tuesday I took the day off from the Pixem and did a more normal ride) and took it easy work-wise, mostly working on throughness, straightness, and some basics like trot canter and canter trot transitions.

Because Tuesday I had the saddle, I picked him up and schooled some changes which were fabulous. He's still getting a bit hollow in them but they're definitely better than they were in my lesson. Whether that was the saddle holding me into him (vs mine where I feel like I pop out of alignment super easily) or just that they're improving, who knows.

That hind leg reach is what I'm here for

I'm really pleased where he's at in terms of my influence and how he feels undersaddle. I think adding the LMF Gold made a major difference in how energetic he's feeling, I feel like I have my horse back! A horse I can put my leg on and get a response. And he feels happier too, happy that he can respond well to my aids and not get harassed by me to be more on.
So despite not looking totally great, I am happy with how he's feeling. We'll see how the muscle supplement (arrives this week) and the vet (gotta schedule that) go so that hopefully the outside matches what he feels like soon!

Bit Changes

I'm definitely using this summer to revamp TC's program, clearly. I've added a new trainer to the mix, bought a robot camera to help me take more lessons (and give me anxiety, it's been a bit tough to work with lol), gotten him chiropracted, gotten his saddle fit, and now, let's talk about bitting.

KK ultra, I'm still struggling *so much* with the pixem, it's
infuriating, but when it works I love it!

So I started thinking TC wanted a new bit when he had a little weirdness on his lips on the left side right where his loose ring was, suggesting that he might be being pinched. So I grabbed the only eggbutt I could find at the ranch, a french link. He hated it. He kept turning it over in his mouth to put the flat part on his tongue and was really busy in his mouth in general. Honestly though, the turning was way more out of the ordinary than the business, as he's not the world's most quiet horse in the bridle.

I took him out of that and just put him back in his loose ring KK with bit guards, but I hate bit guards, so I thought about ordering an eggbutt KK and calling it good. Then I scoured Dressage Extensions and decided to try two Neue Schule bits, the only two eggbutts they had: the tranz-angle and the turtle top. 

Oh TC, your connection is so unbelievably tricky

I rode in the turtle top bit for my lesson on Friday and both Anne and I thought he seemed to like it. She said that she sees it as more of a professional's bit. She has seen horses transform fairly aggressively with that bit, to the point where they sometimes become unrideable for their amateur owners! I'd honestly kill for that right now.

TC definitely liked it a lot more than the KK in terms of keeping his mouth quiet as we stood around. It annoys me to no end to hear him chomping at the bit nonstop. When he's being ridden, he is mostly quiet, so that's been the only reason why I haven't gone off the deep end before.

But riding-wise, I can't decide if I like the bit or if I think it's roughly the same as the KK. Honestly, even if it's the same, I'd buy it just to keep him from chomping as much when we stand still. But sometimes it feels like he's better and sometimes it feels the same undersaddle.

This energy is how I feel about bitting and saddle shopping

On Monday, I tried the tranz-angled bit. That one he definitely didn't like as much as the KK or the turtle top. so that's unfortunate but it's good to immediately rule that one out.

I put him back in the turtle top on Tuesday and had a great ride on him, connection felt better than I had expected and he was rather quiet in the mouth. My plan is to ride in it today (Wednesday) in our throughness-focused ride in front of the mirrors to see what he looks like in person. Then if he feels good, I'll ride with him in it tomorrow with Tanya and chat about it. If she approves, I'll probably buy it.

No matter what, I need to buy another bit to get him in the eggbutt. I'd love to wait until I could do a bit fitting clinic and then buy one, but I just hate the loose ring so much that I'm willing to just buy the turtle top and we'll do the bit fitting clinic whenever it happens and I can just sell the turtle top if he doesn't pick that one.

Okay, what else can I spend money on with this horse? I clearly have it burning a hole in my pocket... just kidding, this is just what happens when I have too much time to think about my horse and an SO who says "I mean, does he need it? Will it help him? It seems like a good idea" for basically everything I talk to him about. 

Bitting Experimentation

This Saturday, I experimented with a new bit! TC has always had a bit busier of a mouth than I'd like and has struggled to reach for the bridle, so I'm always on the lookout for something new (but cheap) for him. He's currently in a KK Ultra and that works just fine, but he's always a bit backed off of it.

I was intrigued by the bomber happy tongue bit because of the lack of tongue pressure, but they're expensive and I'm pouring all my resources into figuring out remote lessons right now. But, I found a knockoff and figured that if TC loved it, I'd spend the money to try the official one.

Good news! TC went to the bridle. Bad news, TC went to the bridle aggressively. Extra bad news, it pinched his lip on Sunday. This post is about Saturday though.

I realized that while the connection felt great and he was way easier to get up through his back, after years of riding a horse who won't touch the bridle, my ability to hold our collective shit together when he's basically leaning on me was limited. My arms immediately got sore and I found myself way less willing to ride him positively forward, knowing that he'd only get heavier when I did that.

So much better but so impossible to bring into collection

So while the warm up was just fabulous, he never curled, he stayed positively into the bridle, so much more over his back... the moment more collection was involved and he needed more support, I just couldn't give it to him with this bit. And as such, our canter half passes weren't nearly as good, his changes were questionable, and keeping him collected was a full body workout.

Yes, he should be on my seat, but the moment he got that heavy, I had no stability in my position to ride him on my seat. I had to keep yanking my shoulders down and back, resisting the urge to waterski on my stirrups, and generally he became a way more physical ride.

I'm not saying this is a bad thing. I want him that connected! I just can't ride him like this and at the end of the day, I need to be able to ride him. Even if he's better connected, if his changes are shit and I can't get him to half pass, that's not the right bit for us. So we go back to the KK ultra and I go back to brainstorming. Thinking of a myler comfort snaffle next, which gives some tongue relief but is thinner so maybe he'll be happy to go to it, but not as aggressively.

I ran through 3-1 to prove to myself that it's an easy enough test to show in a week and a few days and while the test was easy and clean, I just couldn't keep him together as much as I need to and I couldn't get him as forward as Tanya wants him to be. It was a good test, but it wasn't a great test. The horse can be great.

Even connected okay to the right, which is very difficult

All that being said, I'm keeping the bit, I'm getting bit guards then setting it up on another bridle, and I'll be using it on days where I don't ask for collection. There are tons of days that I ride where all I want to work on is throughness or where it's so hot that I just want to do a stretchy ride or something that isn't pushing for the mid levels all the time. And this bit would be PERFECT for those rides.

And maybe by doing both, I can get to a point where I end up fully swapping him over to an actual bomber happy tongue bit (egg butt style) but it's too expensive to buy if I don't think I'll be using it. I think it's a combination of me not being physically strong enough to get him back on my seat when he inevitably falls off, and him not being strong enough to hold himself together without my assistance at times. We may get there, I mean, hopefully we will.

At the end of the day though, I have to remember that the KK ultra is already a really soft bit. TC doesn't have to go in the world's softest bit. Most people are jumping into double bridles at this stage of their training, if not well before it (meanwhile multiple judges I've spoken to have said that they think Third level horses should be in snaffles). And here I am thinking "can I find a softer bit than a KK ultra?" so I need to relax a bit lol!