Snaffle vs Hackamore

December 18, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

I had one of the busiest weeks with the Brown Wing Studio that I can recall. I launched my two largest projects of my entire career within 12 hours of each other. By Friday I was tired and fried and by the time Brian got home I was wandering aimlessly around the house because I couldn't spend another minute in my office. Steen and I had a very mediocre ride in the hackamore. I rode in my saddle and I was tired, and the bales were very low. I could tell he didn't have a lot of energy, which meant he was quiet but not as responsive as I've come to expect. The whole ride was just ok. He didn't do anything bad, but he did very little that was quite up to the quality I am shooting for. The only things I was really getting out of him was energetic backing and a nice downward transition from the trot to the walk. But I probably wasn't riding great either, so we just did the best we could....

Unsticking the Back

Robin

December 12, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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I ended up riding three horses today, though it wasn't quite as exciting as it sounds. Cathi was riding her thoroughbred, Chewy, when we arrived, and I mentioned after she stopped loping that he moved so differently from Steen. She immediately offered me a spin. I climbed up into her hunter saddle with stirrups that were way too short. Chewy is at least 16hh, and big too. He felt pretty strange. But I walked and trotted around on him for a few minutes. It never hurts to get the feel of another horse.

Then I climbed on Steen. It was in the 30's, so warm enough to ride in a saddle. I also rode in the hackamore again. I am starting to feel a lot more comfortable with it, and of course it is a whole lot easier to balance correctly with a saddle so I thought the set-up would be a good one. Since Steen is still getting used to the hackamore, me riding in a saddle probably smooths...

Bareback in the Hackamore

Robin

December 10, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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Brian and I wanted to get to the barn early this morning in hopes of having the indoor arena to ourselves. The thermometer said 7° when we got up and 10° when we left the house. I pulled out all the stops as far as my wardrobe is concerned, digging out my sock liners, helmet liner and turtle fur neck warmer. We got the horses into the barn and Steen was very fidgety while I groomed him. He wasn't doing anything bad, he just kept moving his front feet around. Due to the cold, I wanted to go bareback, and since I wasn't going to be working on loping, I decided to try out the hackamore again.

Steen seemed annoyed with it when I first put it on, and then distracted when I took ...

Chilly Ride

Robin

December 10, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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It seems to have been our year for buying saddles. Although Brian has been largely happy with the bear trap, it seems lately to be causing some problems for Bear. Being that Bear is now 16 1/2 years old and we want to keep him healthy and fit as long as possible, we decided to look into upgrading Brian's ride sooner rather than later. Luckily we've learned so much about saddles in the last year, he had a pretty good idea what to get. Naturally as there are no tack shops in the entire region, we had to find something online. Eventually we settled on a used McCall wade style saddle.

When you have something like a new saddle, it's hard not to ride even when conditions are not optimal. T...

Birthday Snow

Robin

December 7, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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Brian loves snow, and almost every year he seems to get at least a little on his birthday. Today we had a dusting, but not enough to clog up the roads. Lately we've been a bit concerned that Bear's saddle might be causing the intermittent tightness he gets in his right side, so Brian and I decided to switch saddles for the day to see what kind of a difference it made. Luckily I never mind riding in the Bear Trap, and it fits Steen fine. Steen never seems to mind it either.

My plan for the ride was to keep working on the lope exercise, mixed in with other things, of course. Our first go was awesome. The second and third times picking up ...

Stopping from the Lope

Robin

December 5, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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We've had mucky weather and Saturday was so wet and chilly it just wasn't worth a barn trip. I stayed home and wasted a ridiculous amount of time creating, raising and training a digital version of Steen instead of hanging out with my real horse. I guess turning 30 didn't entirely break me of my compulsion to occasionally waste an entire day on computer games.

Today it was still muddy, but at least there was no more moisture falling from sky. Steen was quite dirty. Even through the bulk of him was protected by the blanket, his legs, belly, neck and head were so dirty it still took me quite a while to get him cleaned up. He was fidgety during grooming again. Nothing bad, just a little restless...

Winter Attitude Adjustment

Robin

December 3, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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We had a dusting of snow last night, and temps were in the low 30's when we trudged out to the pasture and saw Steen had made excellent progress in making his new blanket just as dirty as his old one. We went indoors to tack up. I wore a pair of boots I bought a few weeks ago in my ongoing attempt to find winter footwear that doesn't leave me with ice blocks on the ends of my feet each ride. The new boots are part of my recent personal campaign to develop a good attitude about bad weather. Being born and raised in Arizona didn't exactly prepare me for these Iowa winters, but lately I've become increasingly aware of the fact that even native Iowans spend a lot of time moaning about the cold every year. My husband is one of those rare people who likes the cold and the snow, and I am a firm believer in the idea that we make our own happiness. If he can love the winter, I can at least ...

Happy to be Back

Robin

December 1, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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This Thanksgiving I experienced one of the greatest holidays injustices imaginable. I came down with the stomach flu 20 minutes before Thanksgiving dinner. I managed roughly four bites of turkey, a few spoonfuls of mashed potatoes and peas, and two forkfuls of apple pie. Then I had to lie down and suffer for several hours. I went to bed thinking I'd feel better in the morning. I didn't, and we delayed our trip home. When we finally made it back to Iowa City, I was improved but not mended. Today I finally felt up to going to the barn, and the weather was accommodating. With the sun shining and temps in the 40's, Brian and I headed out in the afternoon. We found Steen had created two new holes in his blanket while we were away, one large one in the butt and a smaller one in the lining. *sigh. Bear looked plump but otherwise fine. Both our guys seemed happy to see us. We got...

Arizona Horses

Robin

November 29, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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We went to AZ for Thanksgiving, and of course spent some time with the horses there. My sister has been riding more lately, and we were hoping to take Jak and Jo out on the trails. Unfortunately Jak seemed off to me the first day I tried to ride, so I rode for about five minutes and got off. The second day, he started to buckle underneath me when I slid onto his back. I dismounted immediately and brought my sister down to investigate, but at that point Jak stopped exhibiting all the symptoms that had made me worry about him. She climbed on and he moved around fine for her. Jak does have this talent for making me think he is ill and thus getting out of work, but the next day I went down there to try again and it was completely obvious from the moment I led him out of the corral that something was wrong. We called the vet, who couldn't make it out for a few days. Jak seemed to be sor...

Pre-Vacation Ride

Robin

November 20, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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We stopped at the barn on our way out of town for a "quick" ride. I knew I should probably revert back to the snaffle and give myself a chance to learn a bit more about the hackamore, but when I saw the beautiful set-up hanging in my locker, I couldn't resist. So I put the hackamore on Steen but took the bridle with me as well. We retired to the strip, and things started out pretty good. Steen was feeling a bit stiff, but not like the previous ride. I thought maybe we could work through it. I worked on loose figure-eights and various other non-demanding exercises, but after a while I started to feel it. Steen was getting more stiff, not less. At that point I tried some bending exercises, which backfired entirely. The problem is that I am not familiar enough with the feel of the hackamore to know if Steen's not bending because I'm not asking him right, because he doesn't understand,...