...and takes his first field trip down to Holly's in Southern Pines.
Oliver is doing quite well, with Sam on vacation. He’s starting to develop a work ethic. He’s a funny little thing – he loves to be caught and played with, and loves to have his ears and nose scratched like a big dog. He is getting funny about coming into the barn for work, though – I can’t tell if it’s because he’s anticipating being saddled for work, or if he just finds the barn a spooky place because he doesn’t spend a whole lot of time in it. He’s taken to being silly about being saddled. He was always a little spooky about things coming at him from behind, like a saddle pad or a pat on the butt, but I think I’ve gotten him over that. When I go to place the saddle pad on his back, he scoots away and tries to leave. Luckily, I’ve been working with him on cross tying and tying in general, so he doesn’t freak when he hits the end of the ties, but it’s annoying because he doesn’t DO that after I’m done riding. I can flap saddle pads and saddles all over him after the ride, and he just stands there with this expression on his face like I’m nuts, but he’s putting up with it. His back doesn’t seem sore, but I thought that maybe he was not liking my saddle, even with the Corrector pad. I found a used Heather Moffett SBS/Fhoenix on Ebay for $800, and thought I’d give it a try, as the Isabell on Sam slides around, even with the widest gullet in. And, with the widest gullet in, I can’t ride Oliver in it, even with the Corrector pad because the differences are too extreme. I’ve been riding Oliver these past few times in the Isabell with the medium gullet in because Sam’s been on vacation, and that seems to work really, really well. So, the Fhoenix was really for Sam, so he was the first horse to test it out. I was skeptical because I didn’t see how it could be different from the Ansur, which was comfy, but seemed to press on Miles’s withers. Plus, it wasn’t the most stable thing out there. I’ve been lurking on the various Enlightened Equitation boards and checking out reviews, and everybody says that the Fhoenix is so much more stable than the Ansur and more secure, so I thought I’d give it a go. He LOVES it. I had a heck of a time getting Sam’s head off the ground because he wanted to stretch the minute I asked him for it. The canter departs are perfect. No head flinging into it. The nicest thing about this saddle is that I didn’t realize just how much I tended to sit to one side when asking for bend – this saddle really lets you sit centered and really wrap your leg around them. All of a sudden, Sam’s “bad” right side isn’t so bad anymore. I’m thrilled.
I tried it on Oliver, and ehhhh…not so good. Oliver seems to like it, but I don’t like it on him. I have a tendency on him to sit with my hips slightly closed, because the horse is freakin’ uphill. That puts a lot of pressure on my lower back. The Isabell is the first saddle that doesn’t do that to me on him (the Antares does, but I can live with that as it’s a jumping saddle and I don’t spend a lot of time sitting in it), but this Fhoenix is pushing me to the back of the saddle and hollowing out my lower back. In the Isabell and the Antares, I can put the shims in the back of the Corrector and it levels it out for me, but I can’t use the Corrector with this treeless saddle, so I’m thinking maybe one of those Cashel riser pads for the back? Or just using the Isabell on him and keeping the treeless for Sam? I’m beginning to think that horses that are built uphill, with a TB-y build, just don’t work as well in the treeless saddles. What would you do? I’d love to find a solution as I’d love to sell the Wintec and just get down to one saddle, but if I have to keep both, I will.
Oliver had his first lesson with Holly last week. He hadn’t left our barn since I brought him to it from his home in SC in March, so I had pretty low expectations of his behavior. I had done some trailer training with him the week before and he’s happily getting into and out of othe trailer by himself, so loading him up wasn’t a problem. He actually hauled quite well, even with the back doors open (it was promising to be hot), and unloaded like a champ. No screaming, no pawing – I was thrilled. I led him over to the arena to get on with her wooden mounting block (all I had with me was my little plastic step stool) and he marched around the arena, looking cross eyed at a few jumps but in general, being quite good. Holly really likes him – says he’s very cute, and has a wonderful canter (which is why I bought him – his canter is incredible). We decided to jump him a little. Oliver put on the brakes and refused to listen to my leg as we approached the crossrail, so Holly said “Don’t let him turn away from the jump – he’ll never be any good if he gets away with it” and dropped the crossrail down to a pile of poles, which I stuffed him over from a walk, and then immediately turned him around and jumped him back and forth over it a few times. After that, we raised it back to a crossrail, which he jumped fine, and then jumped everything else she put up without stopping or running out – sure, there were some looky, wobbly jumps but he went over everything. I didn’t have my whip on me, which I will remember to bring next time.
I have a lesson with Christan Trainor this Friday. I’m really looking forward to it because I know how good Christan is with the babies. I’d like to get Christan’s opinion on how to deal with Oliver’s lookiness – my gut is telling me that I shouldn’t worry about it, because everything is still new and overwhelming to him. Holly’s place was new to him, and he’s never jumped anything other than the stuff at our barn and his barn in SC. He did jump everything after that initial stop, so Holly isn’t too worried, but she did say that I need to get him past that initial stop/look. That’s why I want Christan’s advice, as well as getting to play over Denny’s xc course.
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