coming together: bits 'n pieces

Happy Friday y'all! Today's post is kind of a mishmash of two stories - one told in pictures (mostly) and another told in words. Bear with me lol.

The first is about Charlie's continued progress and development on the flat - told in the main narrative text below. The other is about shopping and attire and matchy matchy outfits. For this, we have photos and captions. So like, I guess choose your own adventure with whatever of those two you want to actually read lol.

Operation: Berry Dressage Outfit is nearly complete! obviously upon deciding to go this route, I had to put in a call to Amelia at Dark Jewel Designs. At $15 for a new fully custom bead strand for my browbands, it was a no-brainer! 

So. Charlie's flat work. My plan for this week was to ride him again in that Myler bit (that we experimented with back in March) for one ride then switch back to the snaffle for the rest of our rides leading up to this weekend's Fair Hill HT.

That ride in the Myler was on Wednesday, and it was quite interesting in how it differed from his first time wearing the bit. This go round, there was little to no noticeable difference in his stress or tension levels. He was aware of the bit and uncertain about it - but at no point did I feel like he was actually upset or brewing an explosion.

I told her that my vision was "glittery black with a hint of berry" and sent a couple color-representative pictures of the bonnet irl, and screen shots of the Horseware of Ireland Competition Jacket from retailer sites, as it had not yet arrived. She took care of the rest re: selecting potential beads and putting together various patterns. We had quite a bit of back and forth here - especially bc each pattern was better than the last lol. But once we had a pattern selected, then it was a matter of testing out different size and shape beads for that pattern before landing on what you see above. 

In fact - completely unlike the first ride, I was able to fully close my leg and push Charlie up to the bridle. And I was able to fairly freely move his head and neck around. Not perfectly, not without some issues with crookedness or whatever - but like, small steps y'all. And sure, he was still a little behind my leg. But mostly I was just happy that he was decidedly more rideable this time.

Charlie still put very little weight into the bridle - he wasn't necessarily filling up the contact and actually stayed slightly ducked behind the bridle with his neck broken at the wrong vertebrae. So it was very much a false head set. The value to this, at least imo, was in showing him that, "Hey bro, your neck can actually bend. And like, you can put your head down. Crazy, I know, right?"

And the browband is perfect. I'm thrilled with it - plus it perfectly fits the browband Amelia sized for Charlie way back last October. Yassss! So naturally I had to try it on for a "dress rehearsal" complete with the bonnet in Charlie's dressage tack. The overall impression is.... well. There's a LOT going on with this look haha. The long bonnet almost gives the appearance of "horse armor" haha, as Austen said.

Bc let's be real - Charlie's literally never been asked to adjust his head and neck carriage like that before. But he's going to have to learn how to realign each and every single one of his body parts as he learns to shift his balance and carry his whole body differently.

It was also interesting to see that there wasn't as much of a difference in the quality of Charlie's work in the Myler this time around. Last time he wore it, we felt like we had some breakthroughs in his canter transitions and some other small details. This time? No real difference shown, and I think that actually speaks more to the consistent quality of Charlie's regular work. He's just plain old getting better, so the bit didn't create much difference there.

Honestly tho? I think I dig it. I'm not fully 100% committed to the bonnet yet, but the browband fits my vision perfectly. I guess we'll just have to see what it looks like when we're actually dressed for the competition too, complete with matching jacket lol.

The only real weak spot made apparent by how Charlie went in the bit is that downward transitions are still really difficult for him. He simply *could not* transition from trot to walk or walk to halt without popping his head up and bracing against my hands. Even bracing against the dreaded bit haha - the most contact he took the whole ride.

Methinks this is simply a strength issue (compounded by force of habit). But it had maybe always been masked by the fact that Charlie often braces against the bit for everything else too lol. So by putting him in a bit that he was very resistant to taking true contact with, I was able to identify this moment where he really can't help himself yet. So we'll work on it.

We might just end up looking like a sugary slice o' raspberry pie haha. And ya know what? I might be ok with that lol.

Anyway tho, let's get on to the good stuff - bc I promise it's not actually all about putting my horse in a non-legal bit and oohing and ahh-ing over the false head set it created, haha.

The good stuff was what happened next ride, after switching back to our tried-n-true Sprenger KK snaffle. Guys. Charlie learned two big things in this next ride:

1 - He honest to god learned how to go on the bit. And like, more than just fleeting moments of balance - actual strides at a time. (tho of course, still with bobbles bc he ain't that strong yet).

2 - He figured out that's where I want him to be, and that it's a soft, safe, and maybe even comfortable place.

It only took 7 months lol.... but my event-horse-in-training is actually putting the pieces together for real contact in the bridle. So exciting!!!!

And I definitely really like this color on Charlie - maybe more than the french blue of my other show coat (tho I'm not fully ready to part ways with that one either haha). So we'll see. The look is materializing one way or another! What do you think, are you a fan of the long bonnet? or the glittery brow band? Or is this whole color scheme not to your taste? 

And he's actually not at all heavy in the contact either. Like, he'll take more weight in the reins in the KK than he did with the Myler, but that seems pretty natural and actually preferable.

He experimented a little bit with going too low, or with tilting his head. So obviously we have a lot of work in refining and helping him get better and more secure in the connection. But there were some very real moments of bending him with the inside leg and "catching" (sorta) with the outside rein.

The bend is actually maybe kinda the most critical piece right now bc it's like when he connects to the bridle he sorta suddenly gets somewhat rigidly straight and loses power steering a little bit - but it just feels like green stuff, like strength stuff.

Tho also to top off our sugary-shiny look, here's a quick update on Charlie's body condition via two headless horse shots lol. Homeboy is SLICK and GLOSSY and SHINY. And his mane, tail, and coat are all in downright fabulous shape - as evidenced by that majestic-as-fuck tail flick on the left lol (and here we thought we left the land of majestic tails behind with Izzy!). I'm 100% crediting the cocosoya oil with Charlie's shine. And the spring grass gets credit for starting to fill in some of those ribs and add a little more roundness to the hind end. It's a slow process but it's happening!

Honestly I really wish I had video so I could see exactly what it looks like, and see what I'm doing while I ride it. Bc we can basically guarantee that it probably doesn't look as good as it feels, and I'm likely doing some weird contortions with my position. Bc isn't that always the way??....

Still tho, even just getting that feeling from his is a start (even if I'm already pretty skeptical at being able to replicate it consistently - let alone in the show ring yet!). It's really exciting to me, especially since Isabel was the first horse I truly rode dressage on, and learning to develop that contact and connection has always felt very elusive. It's happening tho!

Ahh dressage, such a cruel mistress tho, right? Like isn't that how it always works? Somehow the stars align such that we get a brief fleeting sensation of "This Must Be It!" - just enough to get us hooked in to wanting more lol. Always more. And better.