My New Favorite Picture

Hi everyone! I don't have time to blog right now, but had to share this totally adorable picture of Tuff and I from this afternoon. (well, just ignore the dumb dumb on the right, actually) Is he not the cutest thing ever??? ;)


We did a mini training session with his daddy (aka my husband, and dont tell him I called him Tuffs daddy). Just mainly getting ready for the farrier who is coming hopefully at the end of the week.

Have a great night all!

Bitless Bridle Plug

Daisy in her beta bitless bridle

So I stumbled across an article on a horse news website talking about an experiment with Dr. Cooks Bitless Bridle. Which most of you know is what I ride Daisy in when we go english. I really like the bridle, although I won't call it a miracle and have a spaz over it like some of the users do. Its a good tool, my horses have liked it, there you have it. It is still not legal in a lot of recognized show organizations. Though hopefully that will change someday.

A little background on the bridle first. I have used the bitless on 5 horses so far:

Cisco - I actually broke him out in this bridle. He never had a problem with it and did well in it. Although we have never tried him in a bit. He has been rode in a Noavel and a bosal also. I can't really say which he did better in at this point, it was so long ago. Right now he is rode in the Noavel. Can't say that contraption is my favorite, but it works for him okay.

Doll - My QH mare I owned as a teenager. She did really well in this. She was very unsettled and annoyed in a bit. I tried tons of them. She just never was happy with any of them. In the bitless I could get her to flex and stop her constant chewing.

Dixie - Out of all the bits and bosals and headstalls Dixie does best in the bitless bridle. She is very nervous and jittery under saddle, but not dangerous. In various bits she has thrown her head a lot, acted VERY annoyed, etc. She responds well to the bitless and it helps me to know I can get up in the reins and not be afraid of hurting her, since she is so sensitive.

Daisy - Of course you know I like the bitless for Daisy. She is another like my QH mare, chewy, unsettled. She doesn't misbehave, but also you can tell she is not comfy with a bit. With the bitless there is of course no chewing, she responds quietly and without annoyance (most of the time, sometimes you can tell she doesn't care for the noseband pressure).

Tuff - I haven't had anything but the bitless on him, besides a halter of course. And he does well in it. I have ground driven him a few times and he still is learning the woah, but turns quite well in the bitless. Overall I like his response with it.

So! I watched the entire thing, and I think it is pretty consistent that the bitless did make most of the horses happier. (the appaloosa obviously has other issues going on, and did the worst I think)

I do want to say I'm a little disappointed in the partiality. You can clearly see the judge (Mitzi Summers) was a bit more optimistic about the horses performance without the bit then she should have been. Not quite as objective as she could have been I think. But what can you say, lol.

The first horse was my favorite. CLEARLY he was much happier in the bitless! (super cute also)

Intro with Dr. Cook



Horse #1, Bitted




Horse #1, Bitless


Horse #2 Bitted & Bitless



Horse #3 Bitted


Horse #3 Bitless


Horse #4 Bitted & Bitless


Final Results & Questions Part 1


Final Results & Questions Part 2


So let me know what yall think! Hope all is well with everyone. Until later!

Jumping FOOLS We Are!

Okay, I had like the funnest (ya, I know, not a word) time this morning!! I decided to go out and ride Ms. Daisy May since I had a little extra time before work and it is SO nice out right now! Plus I needed to check on her leg anyway. Originally I was planning on just put putting around bareback. But then I saw my beautiful english saddle sitting there (thanks again Becca!!! ;) ) and I thought...now that sounds like fun! Its been too long! So I was like, I'm not going to do any jumping or anything, just get out there and have some fun trotting around, etc.

Heh, yeah right.

Anyway, loaded my stuff up, left a pouting dog behind, and headed out there. I get there and Daisy and Rusty are not far down the fence from where I want to be, so I start calling them and shaking the bucket while I get my stuff out and over the gate. They start moseying on over so I give Daisy a piece of carrot and get her halter on and then bam, it hits me. I forgot her bridle. DANGITDANGITDANGIT!

So I have to take her halter off again, put all my stuff back over the fence and drive home again. Once I get back, TWO MINTUES later they are GONE. I'm like what the?! I was just here! So I start calling again while I set up the jump (you never know, I might want to pop it once or so....heh) and get my camera in position.

I'm done, but still no horsies. So I sigh and head off to the pond, knowing thats prolly where they are. Its a bit of a trek, through nasty sticky bushes and thorns, etc. So I finally grab her and head on back, getting my arm stuck STUCK in a thorn on the way out. That was not cool, I mean I saw my skin getting PULLED out away from my arm! So gross. Its just a scratch tho, thankfully Daisy stopped and backed with me so I could disentangle my SKIN. :shudder: Sorry, I'll get over it now.



<---sorry yall, I know I need to get some proper tall boots, but gosh, these are my favs and I only paid a few bucks for them at the thrift store! lol


Got the fat girl tacked up and on up I went! Side note, don't you love english girths! I know Daisy should be in the 3rd hole on each side and that is it! I really don't have to worry about it being too tight/loose now that I know thats a good place for it and its easy. Sighhh, okay, done.

So before this I was shooing Rusty away from my camera about ever couple minutes. After I got on, I had to do the same thing. Then, while I was occupied he knocked it off the bucket it was on. Great. So I had to get off and on again, geeze. Then while I was over pulling branches off the tree that were in my way, he somehow knocked it over AGAIN and this time chewed on my tripod so its screwed up. GRRR, at least he didn't hurt the camera, right? So off and on again. Also had to get off and on again after I dropped my whip when I was pulling branches off. -_- Lets just say my muscles are going to be loving that tonight!

So we walked about a bit, letting her get stretched out. I also started teaching her how to do a turn on the forehand. That was fun, lol, lets just say she had her tail going a mile a minute while I had my leg behind the girth trying to cue her. She was a bit confused! But she did do some good step overs and I quit, then a little later on did a bit more with it. Just easing her into it. I eventually want to be able to do some side passes, too fun! I'm following mugwumps advice on this.

Then we did some trot work, which was a little bumpy to begin with. She was REALLY bouncy for some reason! I was having a hard time keeping my butt in the saddle, and I'm usually a good trot sitter! I tried posting first to begin with but then quit to feel her trot better. I think she was pretty stiff, its been getting cooler in the mornings. So after a few rounds that smoothed out and we tried a figure eight. Well right as I sat 2 beats to change my diagonal she quit on me, so we tried again and that time was great! We did that a few times and she was a star. She was actually really moving out (for her) in her trot today. It is cooler out and it was morning, so that probably has a lot to do with her energy level.

So on to the really fun stuff! I saw the jump...it saw me...and off we went for it! Now, I was looking for a fight with Daisy like last time. Weave, wobble and stop. Then proceed to trip over it.
So instead of this:

I got THIS!
And this...
And this!

She was JUMPING yall, not just stepping! It was SHOCKING I tell you! Now it probably doesn't look that big/high or whatever to you people, but to me, it was like jumping 5 foot, lol! Our very first try at it I was SO not ready for her to launch herself like that! As you can see from my fetal position in the first picture, haha. I was like holy smokes! I think I was even prepared to hit the grass after that one, I remember thinking that in the back of my mind, and being totally okay with it, lol! You can hear me laughing in the video and going DAISYYY! But I was having oh so much stinkin fun.

A lot of it was her stopping and then LEAPING over it, lol. As we progressed she got better and was trotting over them instead of stopping and jumping from a standstill. Our last one was really good so I quit on that! But really no balking or quitting on me this time! Last time she needed LOTS of whip slapping and encouragement and was weaving all about trying to avoid it. This time she was keeping a good trot to it (and in fact was getting ill if I kept urging her as we went towards it, she was kinda like "I SEE it, okay, I'm GOING!") and staying pretty straight and locked on!

Oops, guess we should have backed up from the camera a bit more-->


I have to tell you too, this horse is a saint people. I mean, one look at the video and you will see why. She put up with a LOT of my crappy/weak riding! Gosh I wish I had legs of steel! Thats my biggest problem, I just don't have the muscle strength to keep myself where I should be. Oh and my lurvely roach back. :roll eyes: But I digress.

She was noticeably off a bit today. :( After watching the video I can see it is definitely her left hind, which I knew. I would think I'd know if she was in pain, so I don't think she is. That makes me feel better. I may start looking into an arthritis supplement... She was so willing today, that I just think its stiffness/age, not pain, you know? Who knows, she could have an old injury there that I have no idea about, that makes her stiff, etc. Hard when you own a horse in their later years and have no idea what went on before! But its probably just age.

Heres our video! Took me all day to edit it. We were going in and out of frame the whole time so I tried to cut it so yall wouldnt be watching the grass for long periods of time, lol. Try not to laugh too hard, though I know I did! (sorry about the gnats! gosh, no idea why they were so bad!)


So there ya go! Also, her wound looks GREAT. I think its closing up so that there will be little if any scar. Thank God!

Till later!