solutions: tack edition

It's been an evolving process getting Doozy situated with tack these last few months. Exactly zero of my (cough cough, many) saddles fit the mare when she first arrived, but barn mate Royal's saddle was good enough to get us going.

doozy and her ponies <3 <3 and rosette hiding in the corner lol

That worked out well enough for the first month or two, tho as Doozy gained weight and finally started settling into 'routine' under saddle work, it was time for her to get her very own 'beater' saddle. Thus I picked up an old but useful Beval from local consignment.

This saddle suited us quite well for another few months... But not quite as long as I'd hoped. Realistically, I've been so spoiled by Charlie's fancy French monoflap that fits me so well and gives me so much stability and support... Basically the moment Doozy gained enough weight and muscle such that Charlie's saddle could be more or less padded up enough to (sorta) work, I switched to using that full time.

poor scalped mare! luckily the bruising resolved quickly with no further underlying damage

All along, tho, the end game was always to get Doozy her own nice saddle. Key prerequisites were mainly around:

1) giving Doozy time to learn the job, esp re: determining the likelihood that she'd be a long term fit as my riding horse; and,

2) improving Doozy's overall condition (weight / muscling) such that any major investment in a saddle wouldn't be lost due to a growth spurt.  

county solution monoflap, pre-fitting

It probably won't surprise regular readers that, at least on Prereq#1, Doozy continues to prove again and again that, well, she's a pretty cool horse. I'm really enjoying the time I spend with her, and am excited about the future with her. 

On the second point, it's harder to be confident that things won't change significantly with the horse physically, right? Like maybe in an ideal world I would have waited to saddle shop until later in the summer when the horse would have had a chance to grow more on the grass...

post-fitting

But, honestly, the fitter didn't seem too worried on that point while assessing this lovely County Solution Monoflap (17.5" seat, narrow tree, wool flocked skid-row panels). She declared the saddle a fit, and estimated that it seemed likely to suit the horse for a long time to come.

the fitter bestowed her blessing, so i finalized the purchase!

From my perspective, it's an incredibly comfortable saddle - I feel super stable it, was secure competing in all 3 phases at Fair Hill over the weekend, and haven't seen any glaring red flags in the pictures / videos from our trial period. Check, check, and check. 

icee approves!

Settling the saddle question (at least, for now, and at least until we eventually ((maybe)) start thinking more seriously about dressage saddles....) is a huge relief, which naturally opens the door to the next question: how is our bridling / bitting working out for us?

Doozy inherited Charlie's erstwhile bitted jump bridle, fitted with a loose ring Sprenger KK, and we've kinda just left it at that. Except... Honestly guys, I dunno. She's such a sensitive horse. She's so easy to move around from a light touch. So responsive to general pressure -- like when tied or being led in hand, for example. But she has a hard mouth. 

speaking of potential solutions... we are experimenting with the hackamore!

At least in my experience, this isn't super uncommon in horses with extensive track careers. And it kinda depends on how they were trained, right? But a lot of OTTBs are more than happy to lean into the bit, gap their mouths or fuss with their tongues in response to bit pressure. Pull against a pull, etc. 

It's entirely reasonable to believe a better rider could retrain how Doozy interacts with the bit. Or that experimenting with different styles of mouth or cheek pieces might yield better results. In my (very limited / amateur) experience, however, sometimes it's useful to change the conversation entirely by shifting the rider's aids to a new profile.

I've only ridden Doozy in the hackamore once, so far, but already feel really optimistic that this bridle could be a difference-maker in helping her to understand how to slow down her trot and adjust how she's carrying herself (ie shifting from a 'pulling' balance to a 'pushing' balance) without getting into the inverted-upside-down-tug-of-war situation. Ideally, she can learn and get comfortable in a new carriage, then be able to reproduce the feeling in a more traditional snaffle bridle. Theoretically lol.

gosh she's cute tho <3 <3

Hackamores are definitely NOT for every horse -- esp horses that tend to curl or get claustrophobic or seem likely to pull backward from that type of pressure. There are other bitless options that might better suit those horses. Hackamores also don't offer much control re: steering lol... So ya know. Make good choices when bridling your horse haha. 

I'm excited about this little experiment, tho! Doozy is such a good girl, such a trier. She really feels like a horse who wants to do the right thing, color inside the lines. If she understands what I want, she does her best to do it. So ya know, I'm gonna do what I can to help be as clear as possible in showing her where I want her to be. 

This specific bitless option has worked so well for Charlie over the years, I'm already inclined to think it will work for Doozy too. We shall see! 

Do you have anything like a standard "starter bridle" that you like to use with all horses? Or a certain progression in experimenting with different options? Or maybe it just depends on the horse entirely?