Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Thanks for all the ideas.

-- The saddle is new, bought just for him, and I had it checked by a  
saddle fitter before I bought it.  It looks like it fits fine.  We  
did our first 50 together this last weekend (he has done others), and  
there was no back soreness, rubbing, etc.

-- I have a German martingale which helps quite a bit on rides.  I  
like it better than the running martingale, since it gives me lateral  
control as well.  On training rides by ourselves, I don't need it, as  
he doesn't toss his head (or do anything else bad - he is really  
great by himself ).

-- I've thought about a bitless bridle, and I know someone that has  
one, so I might try it.  I'm not sure if you can use it with a German  
martingale, though.   It may be that his mouth conformation isn't  
going to let me use a bit .. if he goes in a hackamore, I'll be  
happy.   I will probably try the bitless bridle, at least in a ring  
to see how he goes with it, and then maybe on a training ride with  
another horse to see if I'm going to have a head-tossing problem.  If  
neither one of those work, then I'll be off on the Great Bit Search ...

I have to agree with Laney -- most of his behavior is (I believe)  
because he hasn't learned to calm down at rides -- or doesn't think  
he has to.  He is a dominant horse, and I think part of the problem  
is that he isn't convinced that HE isn't in charge.  At the last  
ride, my mentor in that ride helped me with some ground work with  
him, which was really good since it was in a ride setting (he does  
perfectly fine with ground work at home).

That is my biggest problem with him - it is really hard to work on  
this with him, since he ONLY misbehaves at a ride.  I'm hoping that  
doing more rides will see an improvement.  However, I need  
*something* on his head so that when he wants to go fast,  I can  
**insist** that he goes my speed, and I don't have to worry that I'm  
wearing holes in his mouth.



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