amps + damps

Incremental changes have been key with Charlie - in getting to know each other, in helping him adjust to his new lifestyle, and in tweaking his dietary needs. It's all still very much a work in progress, tho.

two forms of signal amplification shown above: treats! (for positive reinforcement) and tall boots! (the better to strap my spurs onto!)

The cool thing about him being a delicate, hot house sensitive flower (albeit, an extremely quiet and shrinking-violet-esque type flower), is that small adjustments can have big effects. 

my saddle may not be to everyone's tastes, but damn do i love it. and this Arc de Triomphe girth, handed down from Wick, suits it perfectly! also: half pad in pic above shown with front shims.

Lately I've made a couple small changes that have totally altered our riding landscape. Of course, with a horse as green and changeable as Charlie, it's entirely possible this improvement would have happened anyway.... Or it may not last.... Maybe, maybe not. Who knows.

but.... charlie apparently didn't share my sentiments. this cheapy fleece Ovation girth is much preferred for its dampening effect and distribution of pressure. le sigh. also: half pad above shown without front shims.

I've been playing with my saddle's fit, including changing gullet plates and experimenting with shim and half pad configurations. Nothing is quite perfect yet, but Charlie's back has been changing shape as he adds and drops muscle, so we're just kinda playing it by ear. For now, the best fit seems to be: medium gullet plate + pro lite half pad with thin front shims.
 

we spend a lot of time chillin by the trailer. he likes cleaning up all the loose hay bits!

While I think that's helped, a much more noticeable improvement stems from swapping his fancy gorgeous anatomic leather ADT girth for a simple fleece lined Ovation girth. This makes me..... sad haha. But it makes Charlie super happy. For whatever reason, both Isabel and Charlie seem to prefer the soft flexibility and freedom of these girths, despite my wishes to dress them in more 'stylish' leather.

The delicate princess gets what he wants tho. And since we've switched to this girth, my giant oaf of a dinosaur hasn't gotten mired down in a tar pit once. And - like magic - we are suddenly back to striking off simply, almost-drama-free, into both leads.

trusty little nubs! thy name is amplification!

The last little adjustment is one I already wrote about - adding spurs to the mix. This has also necessitated moving back to riding in my tall boots instead of the river boots. Since adding the spurs, I've ditched carrying a dressage whip or crop - and haven't missed it once.

you can't tell me that's not the cutest face. also we finally introduced cantering on the lunge!! both leads too, good pony

Charlie is fantastic with these nubs. Combined with his increased comfort in the new girth, we've seen vast improvements in his 'resisting being driven forward.' Not to say that it's totally gone - bc, remember, that's a fairly entrenched behavior in the big guy - but we have since had entire rides where it either hasn't cropped up at all, or only appears as a momentarily raised head and pinned ears.

canter poles and cross rails and cones, oh my! we practiced over this the day after free jumping to reinforce the idea. charlie was taking no prisoners and attacked it, good boy!

The spurs are great for me too, bc they force me to be more aware of my lower legs. More responsible for ensuring that every aid is purposeful, and has a beginning and end.

As I've said since day 1, my favorite part about riding Charlie is that for such a green horse, he really is so sensitive and so ready for me to deliver the best possible aids and cues to him. It's true with any horse but it's especially true with Charlie: The better I can be, the better he goes.

little mound of doom. we like to ride and hand walk up and down that random bump in the grass often. it's good practice on challenging terrain for the big guy!

So it's been really refreshing to have found some tweaks that improve the 'dinosaur stuck in tar pit' behaviors so we can get back to feeling like I have a sensitive, forward horse who responds to the slightest changes in my seat, weight distribution, or leg position. There's hope for us yet!

Have you ever made some slight change with your horse that entirely changed the way he went? Whether through equipment or supplements or physical maintenance? Anything that kind of made you wish you had tried it ages ago??