Worthy of Theo

A couple of fitness posts have convinced me to post an update on my own fitness journey/struggle/brawl.

Last year I ran a 5k and kinda liked it.  I liked the camaraderie, the post workout endorphins, . . . the beer.

Almost every road race in the region includes a free beer

Mostly the beer.  The hubby and I do home brewing and are actually members of a very active home brew club.  We've helped steward and judge at beer competitions.  I'm very new at it while the hubby has been doing this for years.  We kegged my first solo beer last weekend (a weisenbock) and it actually came out good.

But back on the original point, I ran a 5k and didn't hate it too much.  When registration for the event opened up for 2018, I went ahead and signed up.  Then realized I hadn't run since I started my job hunt in early spring.  Whoops.  Time to get on that.  Also time to address the jump in my weight that came with my new office based job.  Sitting at a desk for eight hours and only riding three or four times a week did not keep up with my dietary habits.  I jumped about ten pounds.  Yikes.  My breeches weren't fitting right. 

At the end of October, I hit a new high for my weight and that was the tipping point.  I needed to stop the climb and hopefully shed some of the new poundage.  It's not fair to ride Theo when I'm unfit and overly chubby. 

My motivation

I signed up for a weight loss app and got a treadmill.  I brought my diet back under control, started eating on a regular schedule, and started ramping up my steps.  Let's face it, I love food too much to cut out all the good stuff.  Better to burn more than to really crank down the calorie count.  I hate rabbit food.  Running is awful, but it sure does burn the calories.

As of today, I'm down fifteen pounds from my peak weight.  I'm doing 10k steps a day very consistently.  I've already registered for three little road races in January and February, it will probably end up being four.  I got fitted for better sneakers at a running shop and ended up joining their running club.  Starting Jan 3, I'll be doing running training on Wednesday nights.  They also had to special order my sneakers because I'm a weird size.  6 wide?  Yeah, that's me.  When they put me on the little foot scanner thing, the employee looked at it, looked at my feet, then looked at me and said 'really?'.  Yes, really.  Don't judge my weird little feet.  This is why I hate shopping for riding boots.  Wide calves, tiny square shaped feet.

You'd think the wide base would make me less prone to tipping over, but nope.  I am klutzy as fuck when not in the saddle.  And frequently klutzy while in the saddle.

So many bruises

I still hate running.  It's an act of will to get on the treadmill every time.  On my weight loss app, one of the first exercises was to pick a big picture to hang on to for when you're having a setback.  A lot of people posted about clothes they could fit into or looking good for an event.  My big picture is me trotting down centerline, fit enough to not get out of breath during the canter work.  And wearing a jacket that buttons closed nicely.  And not jiggling.  I want to be a rider that's worthy of her partner.

Down

I think I've come up with a piece of equipment that will actually help my dressage.

I see a market for this.  I need a Kickstarter.

While I work on the proof of concept, I'm working on getting his butt down the slower, harder way.  The fun thing that came out of my western dressage gone full dressage clinic was some work on getting Theo to tilt his pelvis and really sit.  He's now strong enough to try it, but he's pretty sure he can't do it. 

I love the fact that his new 'omg I can't' reaction is to break to the walk as opposed to throwing an ever loving temper tantrum.  We still get little moments of curling and 'ugggggh, woman!', but he's definitely turned the corner on being willing to give it a shot.  He trusts that I won't push too far and that there will be cookies in the end.  He gets the confused, flicking ears, but he doesn't throw down and quit the way he used to.

After a nice, long, low, stretchy warm up, I picked him up.  And then I asked him to come up a bit higher in front of the withers without bracing or sticking his nose out.  Oh, and without laying on my hands.  Tough, but doable.  Then I asked him to take some smaller steps.  Smaller, papi.  Not slower.  Smaaaaller.  The ears start flicking and he starts wondering what this is all about, but he tries.  We can get 7 - 10 steps of short, sitting trot right now without dramatics or inversion.  Yay!  Then he gets to go low again and trot around the ring nice and big.

It's amazing how asking him to sit changes the trot we get afterward.  He stretches out over that topline and has some forward momentum because that's so easy compared to what I just asked him to do.  We do a set going one way, stretch, a set going the other way, stretch, just like his old weight lifting exercises.  We're also working very, very hard on me not over riding with my leg.  I touch him, he goes, I take my leg off.  If he goes forward, I say nothing.  It gives him a way to make me leave him the heck alone.  Theo likes it when I leave him the heck alone.

Between engaging the hind end, the increased laterals, and my improving discipline with the leg aids, the canter is coming back.  It's still hard for him and he wants to throw his head down and lay on his shoulders.  Right now I just want a steady canter with a nice contact.  I'm not asking for power, just carry the canter on your own and keep your head somewhere near normal.  With your nose in.  Last night I half halted and he maintained the canter while on his left lead.  I nearly cried.  I wasn't kicking and he was still cantering even with the request to shorten up.  Not very forward (Trainer A would be losing it if she saw me cantering that slowly), but it was positive and gave me a chance to really reward the try and make it a pleasant experience for him.  Positive training has a downside.  He didn't want to step back into the trot because there are less clicks in trot.  Hm.  Might need to address that in the future.

I'm enjoying this new focus on his hind end.  He's now strong enough and light enough that I can ask him to actually tilt his pelvis.  It's a visible change in the way his butt looks in the mirrors.  I tried to get video but my camera tipped and it was five minutes of the arena ceiling with me saying 'good boy!' and 'little more, papi' a lot. 

I know I thought I was learning collection before, but this is a whole different ball game.  It's going to take forever, but at least we're enjoying the journey this time.

The saga of the saddle

Just a quick update on my saddle shopping.  While I was visiting my friend and playing dress up with my horse, a Dale Martin Ranch Cutter fit Theo surprisingly well.  It had enough room for his shoulders but didn't lay on his withers.  Flare through the shoulders, something something my horse is a freak.

The downside?  That thing is a monster.  At least 40 pounds and long enough to almost touch Theo's hip.  Way too much saddle for my use.  Even when Theo gets to meet cattle this summer (cow camp in June!), it won't be a roping or cutting exercise.  They said I could go in my dressage saddle if I want.  I couldn't lift this dang saddle on my own.  It was pathetic.  I needed help and poor Theo had to stand there while I struggled to get the thing clear of his withers.

But the tree seemed to suit him.  I didn't see any Dale Martin saddles that were short enough for Theo while being appropriate for western dressage.  The barrel saddles were short enough, but feet way out in front.  Bummer.  But they do make a line of saddles on the same Axis tree called Cashel.

Skirt is only 26" long and it weighs 25 pounds.  Score!  It has nice flare in the shoulders while keeping the gullet at 6.5" wide.  This should help with the problem where the wide tree had too wide of a gullet but the medium tree had too narrow of a shoulder angle.

Fun fact!  In a western saddle, when you move up to wide, the whole gullet gets a half inch wider.  Sit down on the withers much?

It's not nearly as fancy.  I'll admit to being sad to not have that rich, mahogany color and all of that beautiful tooling.  The tree is not a fancy flex anything.  The fenders are not preturned.  This is meant to be a saddle you go out and ride in.  It will definitely serve my purpose and if Theo is happy, I'm happy.  It should be going in the mail today or tomorrow.  And it's about $700 cheaper than the Circle Y.

But then I was on horsesaddleshop today while bored at work and what do I see?  New models of Dale Martin including this beauty.

OMG WANT.  And it's a shorter skirt.  And only weighs 28 lbs because it's a single skirt (I'm learning all sorts of new things).  UGGGGGH.  But it's a $3K saddle and capable of holding up through team roping.  That's a lot of saddle.  I should really figure out if I like this western dressage thing before I invest in that beauty, right?  Or maybe I can find one used?

I'm currently convincing myself to try the Cashel that is already ON THE WAY and see how I like it.  And if I like it?  Then try this western dressage thing.  The Cashel's have decent resale value, it can be the down payment on the Dale Martin upgrade if I decide I need it.  I mean, I already know I need it, but I should see if Theo needs it by trying the tree on him for awhile. 

The seat is blue and quilted.  I'm so in love.

Hide my credit card.

Fluff butt

It's that time again.  Time to clip the pony yet again.  I feel terrible plotting to strip him naked when the temps are about to drop another 15*, but he's been puffing a bit lately so it's got to go.  Despite all of my clipping, he's got more hair than half the horses in the barn that have gone unclipped.

I don't know who hates clip day more, me or Theo.  Actually, I think my boobs hate it the most.  My bra is the most amazing hair trap and even with a rain coat zipped all the way up, torture.  Horse hair garments used to be an act of penance.  I understand that.  Completely and intimately.

French and German

This came up in my clinic on Saturday.  It's something I've heard in a couple of different places, but it's not something I've put a lot of thought into.

Caveat: This was presented to me in a 'the TRUTH of TRUE dressage' sort of way, so many grains of salt will be needed.

I mentioned my interest in western dressage being based in not wanting to hustle along a horse that really doesn't want to power along like WB.  Short back, short stride, heavy shoulders.  Limits.  We haz them.  But he's really cute and does try for me.  I wanted to try him in a discipline where harmonious, calm, light, and obedient will trump fantastic movement.  It's a little heart breaking to know we'll never see big scores in standard dressage no matter how hard we work.  And I know it takes power and balance to do a collected jog, don't get me wrong, but it seems like a kind of power that won't make Theo blow his top or refuse to play.  He likes to be powerful.  He does not like to extend.

"Sounds suspiciously like work, mom"

I trotted for a minute and she announced with great conviction 'I know exactly why your horse won't extend.  He doesn't like being off balance and he's too on his shoulders to extend right now'.

Well, yeah.  Duh.  I've been working on shifting his weight back for nearly three years.  But I'm going to just nod and go along with this because she doesn't know me and from what I hear, she rarely teaches anyone with a formal dressage background.  I also love to collect tools for my toolbox and as Theo hasn't read any of the books on how to correctly horse (whip tap means slow down in his little pony mind, for fuck's sake), I need all the help I can get.

This was when she started explaining that western dressage is based on French training while competition dressage is based on German training.  German training starts with getting your horse as big and forward as possible, then brings them back to collection using lateral movements.  French training starts with balance and lightness, then adds the bigger forward.  French training includes 'classical' dressage and the Spanish style of dressage.  It suits short backed horses that aren't made to be huge movers, the ones that can piaffe all day but find extensions challenging.  German training is better suited for ground devouring WBs that take the bit and soften because they were bred for it.

She really, really didn't like German dressage.  She really thought the more physical ride didn't suit 95% of the population and set a lot of people up for failure.  She prefers to focus on balance and keeping them as light in the hand and leg as possible.  French is apparently coming more into fashion when you see the much lighter contacts in the GP ring.  By her defintion, Vitor Silva is French.  I don't think he'd be happy to be called French, but she did qualify that 'French' was a misnomer and it covers a lot of western Europe.

The idea is that western dressage is focused on lightness and harmony.  Even on the score sheets, submission is replaced with harmony.  Gotta say, I like that.  A calm, accurate, obedient test is what they're looking for.  After all, a working ranch horse is useless if it's bouncing about with lots of power and expression but can't halt and stand.

I personally feel like clumping dressage into these two 'schools' is a massive oversimplification.  I usually hear it from a clinician or trainer trying to explain how they train TRUE dressage while the others are leading me astray (or worse, depending on the level of preaching going on).  It's a spectrum and most trainers are actually in between these two schools.  I've heard it in enough places to be familiar with the two concepts and to have a good idea of what I'm going to hear if someone uses it to describe their training.  It gives me a rough guess on whether or not they'll suit my horse.

With Fiona, the German way of training was the way to go.  She wanted to move, ate up the ground in her gaits, and wanted to reach to the bit.  She would lengthen any time I let her, I had to ask her to come back.  German focused trainers loved her and she worked well with them. 

Exactly one setting:  GO

With Theo?  Yeah, that's not happening.  He needs to learn to sit and develop power while keeping his jaw relaxed and his back lifted.  Then we'll have an extension.  Not an 8, but a solid 6.  Vitor has been, hands down, the best fit for Theo in terms of understanding how his pony brain works and his body moves.

He's thinking about nap time in this picture

So I can't say that I'm a student of one school or the other.  It depends on the horse I'm sitting on.  But it does help me understand why some trainers have more success with Theo.  He's not a WB.  He'll never be a WB.  We'll always aim for our obedience and accuracy marks because our impulsion and extension scores will be low.

Which school is better?  Neither.  I've seen both go off the rails and I've seen both succeed.  I don't believe in absolutes.  Pick and choose from all schools to find the combination that suits your horse.  For Theo?  It's a good thing I took French in high school.

Je veux que mon cheval aille de l'avant, s'il vous plaît

Team work

Today I had my very first western dressage clinic.  And I was in my regular old dressage gear.  I threw the demo saddle on my very nice (expensive) 7/8 wool felt pad and all of a sudden, I could totally see that it just didn't fit him.  Just nope.

Too wide and diving down in front.  With the fluffy pad and his fluffy self out of the way, it suddenly became very evident that the front was not okay and it was sitting on the top of the bars as opposed to spreading his weight across all of the bars.  And I finally figured out what was wrong with both of the saddles!  He needs more flare/blocking at the front of his saddle so his shoulder can sweep underneath.  It wasn't a tight tree, it was the front of the skirt not having the right shape to let his shoulder go underneath.

So with great sadness, I put the demo saddle back in my car.  It goes back on Monday.  I threw my dressage tack in the trailer and set out for my clinic.

My truck was well behaved and the twenty minute trailer ride went off without problems.  My friend stole me and Theo away to the tack room to try on saddles.  It's so much easier to learn something like this when you have friends that will let you ransack their tack room.  It takes a team to manage a horse.

The massive ranch cutter from Martin actually fit him, but was so heavy I couldn't lift it up high enough to get it on him.  It was also quite long on him and I wasn't comfortable with that.  The best fit was a Cedar Ridge saddle that was a gaited type saddle custom made for a big shoulder, more narrow horse.  Of course he would want a custom saddle.  Ugggh.  We had a Circle Y barrel saddle on him, but it was too wide. 

Poor Theo was very annoyed by the ridiculous number of saddles.  I let him pull his lead rope in his mouth and gnaw on it to deal with his frustrations.  I can't complain when that's all it took.

I almost forgot to go to my lesson because we were having so much fun trying saddles on him.  My lesson wasn't quite a western dressage lesson.  Frankly, my clinician saw a more advanced pair dressed for dressage and plunged into collection and lateral stuff.  We had a discussion about French dressage versus German dressage and how western dressage is based on French dressage.  I'll have to make a blog post about those two theories.

It was fun and I'll probably ride with her again, but I don't know anything more about whether or not I can do western dressage well.  I do have some fun new exercises to get him started on collection.  She wants us to start bringing his frame up, but focusing on keeping that softness in his jaw and harmony.  We worked hard on his lightness, getting him to move off of a light touch.  It was a lot of fun when he started hopping forward off of a small touch of the spur.

After my lesson, more saddles!  And this time I got some pictures since these were interesting.  Adjustable width western saddles?  I didn't know that was a thing.  Apparently DP Saddlery does Flex Fit western saddles.

That little hole on the swell takes a hex key and you can adjust the width of the gullet.  We dialed in the width just for fun on this one, it took about ten seconds.  It did fit him well, and it's attractive, but is it $3K nice?  I'm not sure.  The leather isn't as nice as the Circle Y saddles I've been trying.  Nothing wrong with it, but not making me grab the check book.

I also threw the DP Saddlery hybrid on.  It's called the Quantum.  I was so curious, I hopped on to take a feel.

That is the first and most likely last time I'll sit on a horse without a helmet.  But it wasn't a planned ride, clearly.  I just wanted to put my butt in the saddle for a minute.  The seat is hard, as western saddles tend to be.  And the saddle is . . . ugly.  I mean there's nothing wrong with it, but the shape is just unattractive to me.  It has english style panels complete with flocking underneath, which appeals to me because I could have it adjusted, but I didn't like the shape of the panels.  Too round.  I also had a hard time getting settled in this saddle, I couldn't find my spot.  It fits Theo well, but I wasn't sold.  If I'm going to ride western, I want to ride western!  The horn was also insanely high and I was having trouble with that.

So I'm going to talk to the saddle shop on Monday about my next attempt.  I'm currently thinking this one:

Let's see if the gaited tree and lack of neoprene on the bottom makes him a happier pony.

Stranger in a strange land

AKA How the fuck is a western saddle supposed to fit????

I dreamed about this last night.  I watched youtube videos about western saddle fit for HOURS.  How can this be so hard?  I can fit english saddles without breaking a sweat.  I figured a saddle was a saddle and that I'd have enough basic knowledge to fit this saddle with at least some confidence.  I can tell if an english saddle is good within a couple of minutes.  Wither clearance, shoulder angle, rocking, bridging, balance.  Done.  I should be able to do that on a western saddle, surely.

NOPE.

Let's discuss some details of western saddles I never realized. 

One:  No flocking.  I never really realized that there is no flocking on a western saddle.  That means the little tweaks and adjustments I'm used to are impossible.  Instead, you use your saddle pad.  That 1" saddle pad that feels ridiculously thick?  It's taking the place of the 1" + of flocking under your english saddle.  Your saddle pad is a crucial part of the saddle fitting equation.  Uhhhhhh, what?  My english saddle brain is spazzing out.  Theo's jump saddle is so well fitted I could use it with no pad at all and a loose girth with no real problems.  It's not going anywhere.  Now I'm learning about getting close and then fine tuning with the right saddle pad.

Not a good pad, likes to try to escape

Two:  Saddle pads are not frivolous and easily changed.  These things are beefy and do not fold or bend easily.  They are expensive.  They don't go in the wash.  You don't collect a dozen just 'cause.  You have a saddle pad that is broken in to your horse's back and saddle.  You use that pad.  Done.  You might put a show blanket on top for fancy occasions, but it's very thin and just for show.  My brain hurts.

New (expensive) pad

Three:  Western saddles are long.  So long.  Usually the whole 'not off the last rib' thing is something I don't have to worry about too much.  That is no longer the case.  My short backed horse is a problem in this dimension.  I have a 16" saddle and I'm watching his loins very closely.  I'm having a lot of trouble with pulling my saddle too far forward because I'm so worried about how long it is.  And directly related to this, where the hell is the front of my saddle?  I know its that concho, but I cannot seem to get this thing settled right where it belongs.

Pretty sure this is shoved right up on his shoulders

Four:  Freaking heavy = difficulty in checking the fit.  It's actually really hard to work my hands up under there to check for clearance and bridging.  Is it evenly squashing my hand the whole way?  I dunno, I lost blood flow to my fingers up at the shoulders.  It's also really hard to get my pad up into the gullet because it's also heavy and trying to lift the whole rig on a 16h horse is enough to make my bad shoulder send up distress flares.  I need a stool.  I wish I was joking.

Booty shot (using a stool)

Five:  Flex tree means the cinch loosens after mounting.  The saddle settles bit more when I climb on.  I can't figure out how to tighten my cinch from the saddle.  You can see where this would be problematic.  Slipping saddle pads are my life right now.  And when I tighten it up enough to keep my pad sorta in place?  Theo hates me and I end up with it tight over his shoulders (also see point number three about putting it too far forward because I'm worried about his loins).

Seriously, how could this thing ever be tight on his shoulders?

I still haven't made up my mind about this saddle.  I have a new saddle pad on the way to see if having a nice, thick, wool felt saddle pad fixes the slipping issues.  Theo's back is pain free and he's moving well, so I'm not too worried about him for these test rides.  I carefully palpated his back last night after riding and he just made happy faces and dozed, enjoying his massage.  I'm worried that I'll sink a bunch of money in a new saddle and then a month from now find out it's making him lame.  Because that's how these things work.  And there are no western saddle fitters in my area at all.

Wither clearance?  What's that?

In an attempt to preserve my sanity, I'm taking Theo, his new saddle, and his new pad to my Saturday clinic early so I can have multiple western riders help me out with determining whether or not this saddle is okay for him.  My friend from my drives to SC with the princess is now the barn manager for this facility, so she's offered to pull out a bunch of pads and help me.  By all accounts, the saddle sits too low over his withers, but it's got the right angle for his shoulders.  I get on and off, it doesn't move.  No rock or roll or slide.  Walk, trot, canter, it doesn't move.  I ride with or without stirrups without a problem.  Not very good at cinching my girth yet, saddle doesn't move.  Saddle pad disappears, but the saddle stays put.

The more narrow saddle fit his withers better but was pressing in on his shoulders (too narrow an angle, didn't follow his shoulders). 

 Medium tree that I took no pictures of because I was convinced it was too narrow

Or at least I thought it was.  Maybe it was too far forward and I should have kept it?  UGH.

I've also sent an email and a million pictures to the saddle expert I've been working with.  That poor woman will be earning her commission the hard way on this sale.