Having fun or "mental health days"

I'm sorry for being so neglective of the blog lately. (I haven't even taken any birthday pics this year!) Everything with Crispin is going well. We are progressing slowly but surely.

As a proof of life, here are two short clips from us just having fun. One (fuzzy one) of us cantering on the track the BO mowed into one field (I had to hold the camera in one hand while navigating Crispin with the other).

The other one of us just hacking through the woods. On both you'll see what it looks like sitting on Crispin

The Birthday present I gave to myself

Another reason why I didn't blog as much as I should/could, I had a pretty big, scary, round birthday comming on and on a saturday too and decided, that I needed to be far away from home for that. So, what better thing to do than treating myself to a dream vacation to (and on) my birthday. Organizing and actually taking that trip took up a bit of my free time.

I went horseback riding in Wales! (On Welsh Cobs of course). It was simply wonderful!

First I went to Cardiff for two nights:

The Bed and Breakfast:

Being a bit of a nerd (and a newhovian) I just had to go to the "Doctor Who Expirience", take a trip on the TARDIS (sorry for the sideway pix, no idea why blogger sometimes does that...)

and then help The Doctor fight off Cybermen and Daleks

The expo was nicely done and a lot of fun. I also booked the walking tour to some of the places where episodes of  Doctor Who and of  course Torchwood where shot.

 
After that I had some Cream Tea at Mrs. Pettigrew's Team Room

Then the real fun began. On saturday I went up into the Black Mountains to a farm where I would be spending the week exploring the mountains on trusty, homebred Welsh Cobs.

There where hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of these around:

For the first three days I got paired up with Julias

Who carried me around safely up and down steep mountain trails and rocky roads

The weather was lovely all week long and we had some spectacular views from the mountain tops

After three days Julias deserved a break and I got to ride another lovely pony called Ebony who was just as lovely to ride as Julias. Forward, responsive and amazingly sure-footed!

We even met some feral ponies on the welsh mountains

I had the most wonderful time, and enjoyed the Welsh mountains with their rough beauty very much.

This is how we do it: Trick Training

I decided to do a round of "this-is-how-we-doit-post". A series of postings of my day-to-day work with Crispin. Longing, long lining, trick training riding and lessons.

Let me start out with a series of videos of the trick training (Zirkuslektionen) we've been doing. Crispin loves doing that stuff. Some things he picked up very quickly, some took (and will take some more) time and training.

I have been working with a trainer (Manuela) on the stuff that seems to be more difficult for Crispin. She's been very helpful, mostly by showing me how to brake things down into smaller steps and making it easier for Crispin to understand and do what I'm asking.

I think he has had the most issues with tricks that involve movements that are difficult for him under saddle as well. Mostly things that involve lifting and opening his front end/shoulders like the spanish walk for example.

Let me start by posting some videos of the good stuff:

Yielding to and away from me.

"Dancing" (both directions).

I'm still working on getting him off the lead, but he has the tendency to turn whenever I do so. He just loves that trick too much...

Backing up.

And now to the bad stuff and some work in progress.

The leg lifts and the plie are tricks that are supposed to help with bowing (Kompliment) which would be the final goal for now.

The problem with the fetching is just timing on my part. He will pick up most everything I ask him to but not hold on to it long enough for me to take it from him (and to make sure that handing the stuff over to me is the main point of the trick) but that's just details.

I do Zirkuslektionen mostly after longing Crispin (as part of the cool down) or on a day off.

Five Years!

Actually, It's been five years with Crispin a few weeks ago (end of september). But
I have been very neglectful with the blog and I haven't even realized it! So much has been going on. All good, nothing too spectacular. I will have to revisit most of that some other time. For now, just some fun pix. Good times.

Results

The chiro/pysio could tell...

I mean, the sheets always look this busy but you can see, there was something going on at the exact spot where the Grandeur puts pressure on the spine (T 13/14) and while she was working on that spot I could tell that Crispin was uncomfortable.

I still think it was good for his back despite that one pressure point (which I was aware of anyway). But now that Crispin is "fixed" I'm not going to continue with the grandeur and will be going back to to using the Sommer (which should fit now that the fitter changed the panels).

Experiments

Ever since last fall I had to wrap my head around the fact that my dressage saddle stopped fitting Crispin perfectly.

The gullet and overall fit is still fine, only the shape of the panels in the rear doesn't really fit Crispin anymore. His back lifted and got broader, straighter overall (left to right) while the panels remained (of course) more roof-shaped, sloping and pinching him in the back.

When the fitter was here the last time (I think it was last november) we decided to give reflocking one last chance and, if the fit got any worse, he said he could take off the panels and replace them with a different style.

The fit got worse and I decided to give new panels a chance. They had to be ordered and it took about 6 weeks for Sommer to make them and another two for my fitter to fix them to my saddle.

That's experiment No. 1.

The fitting issues with the Sommer were another reason why I invested in the Grandeur and was very happy to have it. Since I wasn't too happy with the fit of  the Sommer I only used it once or twice a week (for trail rides or lessons) and was stuck with the Grandeur (or with not riding at all) the rest of the time.

Two weeks ago I had to send the Sommer to the fitter, to get changed and was stuck with only the Grandeur to ride in. I rode in it about 3-4 x a week (dressage, even lessons but also trail rides).

After two weeks of riding only in the Grandeur, I realized that it had worked wonders for Crispin's back. His back feels more even, softer and it looks like he's ready to muscle-up in all the right spots...

...hmmmm...

While he still gets that one pressure point on his spine from the Grandeur (though, I do seem to be getting better at managing to avoid that too) the Grandeur does seem to benefit him quite a bit. Why not take the chance and make the two weeks in the Grandeur into a 4-6 week brake before going back to using the Sommer again...?!

That's experiment No. 2.

It's horse fly season, so trail rides are not very alluring during the next 6-8 weeks. So why not? See how long I can keep it up...?

I already rode in the Sommer again, once, but only because the fitter brought it back yesterday to fit the new panels to Crispin. I does look good so far. But, I also took the saddle home with me right away, so I won't be tempted to use it for another 2-4 weeks...

...and of course to take pictures.

New panels:

 Old panels:

new:

old:

Grandeur Barock Bareback Pad Revisited

After spending a little more saddle time in the Grandeur Barock I wanted to share my new won experiences with you.

First of all, I still like it a lot. Much better than the Christ Iberica.

BUT, I also had to make a few modifications (of which most would not heve been possible with the Christ).

I had to move the stirrup attachement around a little. At first it was a little too far forward (and painfully pressing into my inner thigh), then I put it too far towards the back and now it's position is perfect (I think). And all the modifications were just a couple of centimeters!

On Crispin there still is a little pressure on the spine when I ride with stirrups. He doesn't seem to mind, but I can tell when I take the pad off, that there is a little pressure where there should be none.

Because of that, I tried to ride without stirrups most of the time. It works OK, I can post better than I could in the Christ but I don't *love* it and I don't feel all that safe and secure. I even thought about switching from the Grandeur Barock to the Grandeur Dressage, because the Dressage comes with knee rolls and for *me* that's what's missing on the Barock. That got me thinking. I do have velcro knee rolls on my Sommer dressage saddle AND there is some velcro on the Grandeur as well... ...so why not try and attach them to the Grandeur...?!

So, I tried and it works!

I feel so much more secure with the knee rolls and they help with posting without stirrups too.

BUT, for various reasons I want to be able to use stirrups with the Grandeur too. I thought about it and decided to get an additional pad to put under the Grandeur to raise the saddle just a bit more. I searched the web for western pads, pads for treeless saddles, grandeur pads with inlays and many more until I came across the pad Christ sells to go under their sheepskin saddles. It's called "SD Christ Champ", has pockets for 1.5cm foam inlays AND a sheepskin bottom. (Now, finally Crispin can have sheepskin on hus back again too!) The only question remaining:

Will it fit under the Grandeur?

It does! (And it fits under the Sommer as well!)

I have ridden with it twice and so far so good.

I also took a little video of me riding in the Grandeur. It's from a short ride and I butchered it down to 8 minutes.