mystery bridle

Friends of the blog, internet sleuths, and connoisseurs of fine tack --- I need your help! We had our first real ride in Doozy's new consignment bridle last night (which, recall, also has a new bit on it), and I'm feeling pretty optimistic!

not gonna lie, it's growing on me!

The bit is has a french link mouth piece instead of a lozenge, and obvi the bridle has a flash strap. This combination felt really promising -- Doozy was responsive even when she would have rather been a bit explosive. And I felt like I could push the contact forward more often vs just sorta hanging on for dear life. Progress!

 

adjustable anatomic "V" crown design is very roomy

So. Here's where I need your help --- if this bridle is going to become a normal part of Doozy's outfit, I should probably, uh, know what it is. Like, who makes it, ya know? 

snap on browbands are so convenient, esp for monocrown bridles

It was unlabeled at the consignment shop and I didn't think to ask. A barn mate has an almost identical match, except the logo on the browband snap is slightly different... But maybe it's still the same? I'll ask her when she's back in town, but am feeling impatient lol. Any ideas???

the whole thing is very nicely stitched and padded

I was most attracted by the adjustable crownpiece design -- which, again, I recognized from my friend's bridle. While I love the look of Charlie's hand-me-down bridle that Doozy has been wearing, it's always been a bit of a squeeze around the poll and ears. And in the early days it was a bit tricky getting it settled into place and getting all her hair pulled through and laying flat without the mare protesting about all the ear touching. 

pairs well with the new county saddle!

Getting this bridle on, on the other hand, is a breeze. Sure, there are more buckles for the flash and all... But, eh, #worthit!

forgot to get a picture of the bit, but it's a basic Korsteel 5.5" french link

Our ride itself was fairly straight forward. I wanted to get up to the jump ring for no reason other than to be fenced in (lol) in case Doozy needed to let loose a little bit. It's a bit tricky bc she definitely recognizes the jump ring as the place where... obvi we jump. And definitely gets a bit amped and anticipatory... 

that feeling when you keep layering nice tack on your horse to cover up all the training holes LOL

But. Eh. Just bc there are jompies doesn't mean we get to play with them, Doozy! I did, however, set up a whole bunch of ground poles that could be trotted or cantered. One exercise was a long straight line of 6 poles each spaced 9' apart... Which honestly felt a bit aspirational, but, eh, why not. The second exercise was a gently bending curve with 3 poles spaced 18' apart. 

aerial view of the crown design

Doozy warmed up nicely, actually, and seemed to have a nice contact in the new bridle situation. The trotting and cantering was a bit tricky bc the way the ring was set up, there were a couple weird bottlenecks where there was only really one path between a cluster of jumps and the rail. So I mostly just kinda stuck to a walk while the other horses were doing more speed work.

ready for adventures!

It was all good, tho. We walked through all the pole exercises a few times in each direction, and then managed to trot the curved line too!! Repetition proved to be key bc Doozy definitely wanted to rush and break to canter, but seemed to actually think it through the second time. 

gentle bend of 3 poles spaced 18' apart, can be trotted or cantered in both directions

Tho, naturally, Doozy gets what Doozy wants, and she did ultimately break to canter (which, it is actually intended to be a canter exercise anyway), and executed the distances very nicely! I'm sorry not to have any of it on video!

long line of bounce poles, can be trotted or cantered, spaced 9' (tho this was post ride, you can see the pole closest to dooz got rolled by the end)

Ditto the long straight line! I thought this exercise would be somewhat aspirational bc we can't really do anything in a long straight line without kinda bolting at present.... And again, it is technically a canter exercise, but I wanted to try to start with trot just to help protect Doozy from crashing through the whole thing if she got excited. 

Go figure, tho, she actually was able to canter the thing quite nicely off both leads, with me feeling like I could soften the contact and just sit there holding her straight, letting the poles and exercise do the guiding for me. Perfect!

jumps from a couple weeks ago when we were preparing for thornridge

Obviously it would be more ideal to have regular jump lessons, but we do what we can. And exercises like this, paired with adjustments in the bridle, will hopefully help Doozy figure out the finer points of this whole jumping thing. 

I'm plopping in some photos from our last jump school about two weeks ago, right before Thornridge, as kinda a counterpoint. Doozy was very keen in this ride, and honestly the clips don't really look bad, per se. Actually, you might even think she looks pretty good at times!

keen dooz is keen. unsure emma is unsure about letting off the e-brake

But the pace felt way too fast, covering way too much ground. Like the above shot -- when we jumped into a 60' diagonal line and she made it down in three strides dear god. Again, it's in the video, and it doesn't necessarily look bad, and there was *not* another stride to be had in that moment. 

But it isn't quite ideal lol. Especially given that Doozy still doesn't really know what to do at the awkward distances. I'd rather not be always going at maximum speed and maximum stride length, right? Bc if you get to a weird distance and you're already on your maximum stride... You kiiiinda run out of options. 

figuring it out, slowly but surely

Doozy's a smart cookie, tho, and even from this jump school to her show jumping round at Thornridge, it felt like she was figuring out and learning how to use her eye and rate herself better to the fences.  

quick clips from that ride, for posterity

Even so, I see a lot of ground pole and gymnastic exercises in our future! Maybe it's time to break out the Grid Pro Quo book again???

she's pretty cute, not gonna lie <3

But ya know, that's the fun part, right? As far as I'm concerned, this is the good stuff. Figuring out fun little exercises to help keep things moving along. And, obvi, dressing the pony up in pretty tack lol....