Saddle fitting

On Wednesday Little Love had an appointment with a saddle fitter.  This is a lady who has studied saddle fitting in Great Britain and had came highly recommended by several people.  I had talked about this appointment with Little Love for days, to make sure she understood what was going on.  Saddles have not been her favorite thing in the past, and can you blame her?  I'm not sure she has ever had a saddle that even remotely fit her. 

As expected, the lady was amazed by the size of Little Love's withers.  She has big withers and when the woman pointed out the difference in height between her withers and her back (by holding a stick at the level of her withers but parallel with her back), even I was shocked.  The difference is four to five inches.  I had been afraid the lady would say that the only way to find a saddle that fit Little Love was to custom order one that cost more than an arm and a leg, but I had nothing to worry about.  Apparently they don't even make saddles with such high "panels"in the back.   So, the only option, no matter what saddle we have, is to use special pads underneath. 

The lady had a few used saddles with her and we tried them all.  The first one she tried on Little Love's back, looked good, even to my fairly untrained eye.  It was a English jumping saddle, NOT my first choice.  Then we tried some dressage saddles and a few other all purpose saddles.  We even tried a western saddle.  But none of them fit like the first one.  I had never seen a saddle on Little Love that actually allowed her withers to have space.  With a special pad (that you can fill with little panels), it looked and felt even better.

Little Love did so well through this entire process.  The lady was very understanding and talked to Lilo the entire time, assuring her that she wouldn't ride her, even thought she was trying on all these saddles.  In general, the energy around this woman was very peaceful and balanced, which helped Little Love immensely.  It is amazing how different she can be around people just based on their energy and intention.  The other day another woman stopped by to show me the used saddle she had for sale and the second she approached Little Love, she tried to bite the woman.  She never let this lady close.  There was something about her that rubbed Little Love the wrong way.  Perhaps it was merely the fact that the lady desperately wanted to touch Little Love; she was completely in awe of her size. 

Despite my dislike towards riding in a jumping saddle, I took the saddle for a try out period (the price was also a little more than I had planned for).  It was the only saddle that really fit Little Love and that's the most important thing.  I can adjust  - or so I keep telling myself :-)  Since we only have the saddle for a few days to try, I tacked up Lilo immediately and went for a walk.  It was absolutely weird to climb on her back and ride her.  I haven't ridden her since we were in Switzerland and even then I didn't ride her very much.  I felt really out of place and Little Love seemed a bit nervous, too.  She did, however, leave the yard without stopping.  It wasn't until the mailboxes that she decided this was a bad idea.  I climbed off and we continued on foot, both of us.  When we arrived at the bigger road, I asked Little Love if I could get on again.  She was alright with it, so I got back on.  We did a bit of trot and even a bit of canter and then I got off to walk back home.  Little Love seemed alright, but somehow our connection was not the greatest.  I was really worried I was making a mistake about the riding, what if Little Love didn't want it?

I didn't make it to the barn yesterday, but Melissa went instead, so Little Love got to think about this riding business a bit before I showed up today.  She was really muddy, which meant I had to scrub her clean to put the saddle on.  This, in Little Love's opinion, was highly irritating.  Not the best start for our ride.  When I put the saddle on, however, she stood completely relaxed as if she didn't care.   This is really out of character for her, so I took it as a good sign.

We walked for the first half kilometer, then I got on.  I rode her at the walk, working on my own position and bear down to see if I could get her to respond.  Low and behold, her back came up under my bottom, but since she has next to no muscle, she couldn't hold it for long.  I kept working one that and got the back a few more times.  Then we did a bit of trot on a slight incline and Lilo stretched down with long rein, lifting her back up.  When she wanted to walk I let her and got off to walk by her side. I must have been sitting on her perhaps 15 minutes, but it was enough for the day.  In any case, I don't think I ever want to sit on her much longer than that, at least not without some breaks in between.

I had a really good feeling the entire time, like Little Love was alright with the riding.  The fact that she so willingly brought her back up tells me that at least the saddle doesn't seem to bother her.  But does the riding in general bother her?  She is a very opinionated horse and I would hope for her to tell me if she didn't want me to ride.  I worry about this constantly, but I have to trust that she will communicate with me about this the same way she communicates about everything else.  In the winter riding will perhaps become important, depending on the amount of snow.  I know Little Love enjoys our time together on our walks and today I felt she even enjoyed it while riding.  I'll be going back over the weekend to test the saddle some more.  At the moment I'm leaning towards buying it even though I'm still a bit torn about the whole riding business.  I figure I can always sell it, right? 

Preparing for the winter

How do you know its fall? It is a definite sign when you realize your horse's coat is getting thicker. The temperatures haven't dropped drastically, but it looks like Little Love is preparing for the future. Which is a good thing, since last I heard they are predicting a really cold winter for us. I am looking forward to that with mixed feelings. It would be nice to have some snow (emphasis on the word some, not the same as tons), but when temperatures linger below -20 Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit) for weeks on end... it gets a bit old. I'm starting to think ahead and have looked into getting metal "spikes" (well, they are really like these raised screws) for Little Love's boots, so we can get up and down those hills also when it gets slippery. From what I remember, the first times the temperature starts going into the freezing digits is at the end of October (next month! Yikes).

Thinking about the future has also brought me back to the question about the saddle. I know I was sort of on the fence about purchasing one, but have finally decided to go for it. I don't plan to start riding Little Love a lot, in fact, quite the contrary. I'm hoping to use the saddle for short trots and canters while we are on the trails and perhaps when the snow is too deep for me to tread. Although, if it is too deep for me, it may also be too deep for my horse! LOL. I definitely need to build up the muscles on her top line before I even consider sitting on her back. And ask her for permission. I have contacted a saddle fitter and am now hoping to hear back from her, so we can get the process moving forward.

In the meanwhile Melissa and I have been taking walks with Little Love to build up her stamina (and help burn some of that sugar :-). Yesterday I ventured quite far on my own. Little Love seems quite comfortable on our walks, she takes new thing in stride and looks for me when something is not quite right. I, too, have learned to stay in my body and be with her, even if I'm not actively seeking contact at all times. Yesterday when my husband called during our walk, I immediately noticed a change in Little Love's focus. She started scanning the surroundings with heightened interest. Someone has to keep an eye on the environment, after all, and if I'm on the phone, I'm obviously not doing it. When I heard it was not an emergency, I told my husband that I would call him back later. I have learned my lesson about cell phones and horses!

Tomorrow it is time for the trimmer to come again. It is about time. I trimmed Little Love myself about two and a half weeks ago, but her hooves seem to have kicked into a whole new pace when it comes to growing. Which is great, of course, but means she needs to be trimmed more often. Especially her bars are quite high at the moment and I can see it affecting her. I would have trimmed her myself, but the trimmer wanted to see for herself how and where the hooves had started to grow after her last trim (I only take the bars and heels down when I trim). Especially the right front is a bit tricky.

Then, on Saturday my friend Selma, the osteopath, is coming to work on Lilo, Kira and Metku. Hopefully she will be happy to see the progress we have made with undoing the tensions in Lilo's ribcage. I certainly have made my best attempt in completing all the stretches, but we'll hear the verdict tomorrow!

Day 117 On riding

Last week when we were out for a walk, Becky asked me when I was going to start riding Little Love again.  I told her I didn't know.  Which is true.  At the moment the other possible answer would be "never", but I guess I'm not ready to say that out loud - yet.  But her question made me think.  When was I going to ride Little Love again?  Was I going to ride her? 

I don't know.   I guess that depends on her, more than anything else. 

I have been working her in hand in the arena  a few times a week.  We work on alignment (straightness would be another word) stretching down, collection, lateral movements and transitions.  I am not a certain "method" to achieve all this, but rather a system the two of us have worked out over time.  We only do about 10 minutes at a time, sometimes 15 min if Little Love is highly motivated (and sometimes 1 minute if she isn't :-)  Why do I do this?  The main reason would be to keep her body correctly aligned and to build up muscle, so she can be healthier and live a longer life.  Also, it is interesting, for both her and for me.  And it is a change in the routine.  I figure we will do it as long as she seems to enjoy it.  But, in addition, it builds her up for riding - if I were to ever ride. 

Out of curiosity, I put the bitless bridle on today and walked to the arena with Little Love.  Then, I climbed onto her bare back and rode her for a whole 4 minutes at the walk and a bit at the trot.  I have not ridden her for weeks (or has it been months?) and I have not ridden her at all in the arena since I bought her.  Riding her on the trails is one thing, but the arena... she does not have good memories of that place, I am sure (indoor arena's are even worse, and if I never take her to one for the rest of her life, so be it).  It felt strange to sit on her.   

The first thing I noticed was that once I was on her back, Little Love started to look around and listen to every little noise.  She even spooked a few times, yielding away from a little crackle in the bushes.  This is her way of mentally and emotionally escaping an unpleasant situation (the rider) by focusing her attention to something else.  Sort of like when you are trying to talk to someone and they turn the volume up on the radio and yell "I don't hear you!".  Another word for this is dissociation.  In any case, it was enough for me to want to get off.  So I did.  We continued working in hand and Little Love changed back to her focused self, showing me some brilliant canter departures from the walk. 

I think we won't be riding in the arena again.  And what comes to riding altogether?  Only time will tell.