Shandy's Bitted

[shandy84]

Had a brilliant if tiring day today :)

I got to the yard early and took Shandy to the school (it has no gate so really makes our napping issues interesting :rolleyes: ) I had decided to ride Shandy in a normal noseband and snaffle bit.

She took the bit as well as she has the otehr one we have been using with her so i took that as a good sign, hopped on and rode up to the school, had a few momentary napping issues getting into the school as theentrance is just past her field gate but we got up there eventually.

I had a few issues because of the wind, we had a lot of jogging to begin but the halfhalting and talking to her worked well and made her start to listen. We worked on a few 20 metre circles etc and were making them smaller to improve her bend, when Shandy decided it was boring and so must trot it, to tha I told her no sat back and asked for walk, she threw in a nice big rear for me :eek: unluky for her I was still on at the end of it and told her off with a quick smack on the neck, which she took very personally :rolleyes:

We then continued back to working and got some really nice balanced trot work from her with her head at a reasonable level, then the wind picked up and it was all so much more scary. We had a few attempted bolts to which she got tunred to face the fence of the school and made to wait until she was allowed to continue etc worked really well (haven't tried that before) we then had the scary tree that tried to eat us, which we then walked past twice just to make sure it was safe then the jump wings were going to eat us (have to admit to grabbing a bit of mane here as she flew to the side) but she didn't bolt just made distance between her and the scary object. So I was happy with that.

We also had very little napping which was amazing.

She looked so much more comfortable in the bit and had foamed up a little on it, we got one little canter out of her on a circle just to se how sound she was (perfect) and called it a day, called her down on a LONG REIN Shandy has never felt comfortable enough to do that before so that was really great.

We are going to have a few more sessions in the school, I actually have to ride her in there she's so ploddy and chilled on hacks, but the wind is throwing up loads of challenges for us to overcome.

For a three year old the fact she was listening the majority of the time and actually made some progress in that wind I am really proud of her.

Just to add it was so windy because our school is on the top of a big slope. Very bracing

[Showjumper]

Sounds like an exciting ride - well done! :D

[Jessey]

Youre braver than I am, havent even got on my boy since the wind picked up, and hes nearly 7 :D Well done, sounds like your making some real progress there.

J

[Hollymead]

Oooh, I love hearing about Shandy - I'm so close to backing time with Holly and it's lovely to hear from someone who's a little bit further down the line than me.
I've been on hol for the last week, but before that Holly had her bridle on and I led her up and down the yard from the bit. I was trying so hard to be gentle with her mouth but had to do a little tug once when she tried to investigate a feed bucket - she quickly got the idea! When turning I used a gentle pressure on the correct rein and she immediatly understood what I wanted, bless her! She has had the bit on probably 10 times now and is still very mouthy - is this normal? She also produces a lot of saliva, no foam, but the corners of her mouth are always very wet after having the bit in.
I'm going to let her have plenty of time to get used to the bridle before I introduce a saddle. So it's onwards and upwards!

[Mehitabel]

marvellous!