A fine weekend

[glenatron]

We've packed quite a bit into the last week or two- sleepsy_mouse went off on holiday last week and I sneakily enlisted a bit of help to get the bedroom redecorated in her absence, which we just about managed. Our internet connectivity problems are temporarily fixed by a 3 mobile broadband modem, which offers pretty good performance and should fill the gap for the ten million years it takes the bumbling nincompoops at BT to do all their obscure little voodoo dances required to switch on a phone line that is already switched on and works fine. I would swear at them, but to be honest I'll probably just detail the facts at some point and allow those to speak to themselves.

So anyway we redecorated and I narrowly avoided electrocution in my investigations of what those weird plastic things on the bedroom wall are- whatever they are they are live and full of electricity. Probably they are wall-lamp sockets that go back to the house's high-tech-for-the-1950s original design.

Then on Saturday we piled into the car and went to visit skiesfirepaved who is entirely as charming as she has always seemed through the interwebs.

Sari ( skiesfirepaved ) currently has charge of a big, charming, Shire mare by the name of Beatrice in addition to her own retired pony Pepsi and she very kindly took us out on a circuit of her village with sleepsy_mouse and I taking turns to ride Bea on the way round. She really is a lot of horse!

Crossing a ford


Posing in the big field near where the ponies live. Not a great pose as Beatrice was on the way home and really didn't see why I had asked her to stop and look grand for a moment when she could be getting back to her field and trashing it through the medium of scratching on stuff. The trouble with an itchy shire horse is that they tend to break everything if they are itchy, but the nice thing is that you are their instant best friend if you give them scratchies.

After our little perambulation we set up in the village and had a picnic that Sari had procured. It was very tasty and featured various inquisitive animals, some odd jelly puddings and fortune cookies. Apparently I'm going to take a chance on something in the future. Really, fortune cookie? That is a revelation.

We were staying at my uncle's house near Peterborough, so we set off there in the evening and it was nice to show sleepsy_mouse around another place I spent much of my childhood.

In the morning, we picked up Sari and headed down to near Luton where Tom and Sarah Widdicombe were teaching a clinic to watch a day of that. It was really nice to see Tom and Sarah again and to watch them work with some different horses and riders. It was also amazingly hot in the arena, which is panelled in so it can be used for Polo training and was in full sunshine the whole day. I narrowly avoided burning to a crisp by wearing long sleeves and a hat and using lots of factor 30. I think Sari and sleepsy_mouse both got more toasted.


Tom teaching in the sunshine. I think Sari got a bunch more pictures, so I'm hoping she'll share a few of those. She has a proper camera with an epic lens that makes mine feel rather inadequate. It was interesting to see them working more with developing flexion by asking the horse to bend rather than working in a back and forwards axis as they might have a year or two back. It was enjoyable to watch and I certainly came away with some ideas to work on around using that bend but it would have been nice from my point of view if there had been some more varied work, just so Sari could have seen a few more different things. That's not a criticism, mind, clinics are all about the job in hand, it's just that most people were at a fairly similar place so they were working on quite similar jobs.

It certainly set me up in the mood for next weekend's clinic.

I came home to find that I had some new stirrup irons and saddle pads waiting for me, so I could go and play with my new saddle, so today we had a bit of an experiment with that.


The saddle seems quite comfortable for pony and I enjoy the feel of being back in western tack, although I'll need a few rides to get back into sitting properly on it.


I think the stirrups are still a little long here. The irons are actually almost exactly the same size as the ones I had but they are a tiny bit wider across the tread, which was enough to make all the difference for my feet.

I still have to get used to the feel of all that fender between my leg and my horse, certainly makes it a little harder to use more subtle leg cues, but the structure certainly feels more secure when mr grumpy decides to throw his heels in the air a bit, which he does when I ask him to go away from his happy corner of the arena into the big wide scary world down towards "M"...

We embark on our next Steve Halfpenny clinic on Wednesday, through until next Sunday, which will be the next time I ride which is a good chance to talk through this tack with a bunch of people who know western equipment through and through and make sure we've got it all configured as well as we possibly can.

Comments

[joycemocha.livejournal.com]

Actually, your stirrups are too short. You're sitting too far back in the saddle (sitting on the cantle)and just another notch down will do. Think dressage length. Look at your picture and your leg without stirrups in the English saddle above, and compare.

When I drop my stirrups in Western, the stirrup is between the bottom of my ankle bone and the sole of my foot. Drop your stirrups and check.

Shoulders need to be back as well.

Rear cinch is way too loose. Have it snug against his belly or else don't use it at all. Safer rather than risk a foot getting caught in it--you don't want it cranked down as tight as ropers will do their rear cinches, but it does need to be tighter.

Saddle looks right fine for him--but it could be a hair too small for you. Unless you want to do some barrel racing (grin). They like snugger saddle fits...

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

That's interesting. The shoulders back thing is just me riding badly because I'm trying to think about the feel of a new saddle and because I only started getting my shoulders right quite recently they're first thing out the window when I concentrate on anything else. It's kind of an unflattering picture because I'm posting, which always gives the camera opportunities to catch you at a moment that looks bad, but it was the only one where you could see the saddle from side on.

I was thinking that the back cinch was loose ( although there is no way you would get a foot in there ) but it seemed too snug on the next stop up. As I say, the clinician we're riding with at the end of the week knows his western kit pretty well ( I think he was an aussie reining champion at one time ) so I'll talk it through with him as that's the next time I'll be riding anyways...

[penella22.livejournal.com]

Hey you're back! Yay for fixing your own connection problems, sheesh.

I'm curious...are you foregoing riding helmets now whenever you're in western gear?

Your position riding the shire is nice and solid! Really nice leg position and you look good and balanced without stirrups. Nice!

I have to agree with a lot of the already mentioned western issues though. Saddle does look too small for you, and I think your stirrups are too short too. At the very least your legs are not underneath you nearly as well as in the first riding-a-big-draft picture.

I thought the back cinch was supposed to be about that loose though...not enough to get a hoof caught, but loose enough to give them room, because it's a pretty sensitive area back there.

[joycemocha.livejournal.com]

Shoulders back is one of my issues, so I notice them on anyone else right away (grin). A lot of us show tension in our shoulders because we want to instinctively go fetal.

As for the back cinch, you may need to put an intermediate hole in with a punch. Get a good quality leather punch and try it. I'm glad to see you have a cinch hobble in there so you're not risking the other problem (cinch sliding back and starting to act like a bucking cinch) but you'd be surprised at what kind of wrecks can happen. I've heard enough judging horror stories from my trainer about loose rear cinches, even ones like that which look not big enough to be a problem--and on a trail, that's loose enough to catch something.

[joycemocha.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I totally concur on the stirrupless piece! Good catch on the helmet as well--I only go without if I'm in the show ring, and that's just Western tradition.

Back cinch, though--no, that's too loose. If you ride on the trails with a back cinch that loose, it's easy to get something caught in there, and then you can really have a rodeo. Take a look at how tight ropers will have their back cinches tightened down. It's not just snug against the belly, it's tight. But the rest of us just ride with a snug rear cinch--if we use them at all. I don't because I'm not doing the sort of thing which requires a rear cinch, and the saddle isn't designed so that riding without the rear cinch will put it off balance.

Luckily, he uses a cinch hobble. Without it, the other risk is that the cinch will ride back. And then you end up with something equivalent to a rodeo bucking strap...

[serennig]

And that western tradition might be slowly starting to change. The last few Open shows (which feature a fair number of the local breed show competitors too) have required helmets on all riders under 18, and the effect is that even old-school show-goers are commenting that it no longer looks strange to see helmets in the WP classes, no matter what the age.

And those new carved/stitched leather-covered styles are really looking good, just need them to not be big clunky Troxels. Maybe they can become just as much a bling-able fashion accessory as anything else Hobby Horse provides?

A trauma doc can only keep hoping, I suppose.

[serennig]

I agree the stirrups look short, though if the saddle is too small you're being forced into the back, which forces you to a chair seat. Some pleasure and the frustratingly mis-named "Equitation" saddles will do this anyways because of how the seat is shaped and where stirrups hang. Much the same as the diff between a close contact saddle (stirrup bars closer to pommel) vs. a dressage saddle (stirrup bars closer to middle of seat twist.)

The "proper" Western leg is the same as the proper English ("Dressage") leg -- draw the line from ear to hip to ankle. You want to look almost the same as you do on Beatrice! (I love that horse, always love the updates about her!!) If you feel the stirrups are too long, it could be that they're really set too far forward and you're reaching for them. I've been told there are ways to convince a saddle to be less frustrating if that's the case, but I've no idea what they are.

Cutters, though, they sit on their jeans pockets at the back of the saddle, slump at the shoulders, and cram their feet way forward ahead of the cinch, and hang on for the ride. That's fine for them, who let the horse do most of the work and try to stay out of the way, but not if you plan on actually communicating with the pony.

[evil-c.livejournal.com]

I can't comment on the western saddle, so I won't, but I will say B looks a good size horse for you! :)

What a great way to spend a day!

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

That cutting seat is also pretty handy if you're riding a horse where things are liable to get a little bumpy- it certainly makes it harder for the horse to shift you relative to the saddle.

I'm sure there will be quite a few pictures from the clinic where I'll be on this and on my regular saddle which will be useful to compare, but the feel of this one is that it is a pretty good size and I think once I'm set up right it will be pretty comfy.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

I'm not stopping using the riding hat, but I don't use them the whole time either- if I'm hacking out or going into a more unpredictable environment I'll wear the hard hat, but when we're pottering around in the school there's no harm in wearing something else as I see it. It is a risk, but then so is everything else.

The other day I got half way through a schooling session before realising that I was still wearing the cap I'd been wearing all day instead of the riding hat I thought I had put on...

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

A cinch hobble is an absolute necessity as I see it. We get enough up-and-down from Dr. Punchy's attitude, the last thing I need is a legitimate excuse for him to be bucking...

[tom909.livejournal.com]

Good to see you and Lou at the weekend. No comments on all that riding position stuff, except, don't forget to relax and enjoy the ride.
On the rear cinch stuff, on my saddle (Black Rhino) it is designed to have the cinches done up evenly. The front and back of the saddle flares, so that it rocks front to back. This avoids any pressures on the shoulders and also avoids bridging. It seems to fit really well on a lot of our horses.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

there's no harm in wearing something else

As long as your head stays mid-air, you mean.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

As long as I keep it and solid objects separate, indeed.

If I don't, I don't honestly know how much difference a riding hat would make in an arena like ours. I don't know the physics of it, but I don't believe the outlook is good if you land directly on your bonce whatever you are wearing.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that, sounds like if I'm going to use the back cinch it will want to go up one- that's interesting about the design on your saddle, no question.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

At bare minimum, those pics above make clear that your arena has solid wooden post and rail and your horse has hooves. I personally would rather not have my head come into direct contact with either of those.

Look. It's your head, and your brain, and hey, you're not in my country, so I assume whatever happens to you doesn't impact the cost of my health care. The only dog I have in this fight is thinking that you have a pretty decent brain in there and that I'd rather not log on one day to hear that it got scrambled.

I won't nag you past this post. But I happen to have this link on traumatic brain injury bookmarked, so here you go: http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/011126.html#011126

And this is an old thread from the Chronicle board: http://chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=35009

I was going to go a little anecdotal here, but you know, I don't think I can do it without utterly losing my cool. So let's just leave it at this: you are too damn smart to be this stupid.

[serennig]

I don't know the physics of it, but I don't believe the outlook is good if you land directly on your bonce whatever you are wearing.

Trust me, it looks very different on a CT scan when you wear a helmet vs. when you don't.

[serennig]

LOL yeah. We sometimes call it the "defensive stance". Minus the slumped shoulders.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this, by which I mean you're a terrible nag but you are absolutely right and I really do appreciate the sentiments. It's exactly why I wouldn't ride out without one ( or indeed without hi-vis ) and I usually do wear it for work in the arena, but not always. If I'm in doubt I ride with the hard hat. I know that I'm counting on luck and statistics there, but then I kind of feel like I'm always counting on luck and statistics...

I'm sure it doesn't help that because I'm more into dressage and western disciplines, most of the riders I really admire ride without hard hats, collectively setting a terrible example to impressionable youths such as myself who are driven to immediately copy them :)

[serennig]

Yep.

Have I gone without, once or twice? Yes. But I really do mean "once or twice". I can think of exactly two situations when I did not wear one while on horseback, and I felt guilty the whole time. Would be mighty hypocritical of me, otherwise.

[skiesfirepaved.livejournal.com]

I will be uploading my photos from the clinic, although my USB card reader has mysteriously disappeared - which is odd, because I never use it anywhere other than my PC so it should STILL be attached to it. :| But when that's found I'll put the pics up for you. :)

Oh wow, I LOVE that picture of you and Bea in the ford - not entirely sure what Bea's doing, lol, but it makes for a great photo. And you look very relaxed and Westernised. :P
(far more harmonious than my own ford photo...)

You and Zorro look great! He looks rather pleased to be a Western pony. :P

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

He does quite like it actually, except when I insist that we do some work rather than standing around in the comfortable corner of the school. It suits us both well at the moment.

I think Bea quite wanted to look at the water around her feet, but I couldn't let her investigate it fully without losing the reins altogether...

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I deleted the parent post ( asking if you wear one ) because I saw you had already answered it a little bit higher up...

[wldhrsjen3.livejournal.com]

I'm jumping in here a bit late so please forgive me if I'm just repeating something already pointed out, but Troxel does make a Western helmet that looks just like a hat. You order them the same way you do a regular Western hat (measure your head at the brow, then choose your size) and they look pretty sharp. Might be a good compromise... protection plus style! :D

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

I don't really mind the look of normal hats - they're not very practical in bright sun you get in the southern US but they work fine in the english rain. I've always thought the western-styled hard hats tend to look a little lame, though I don't know I've seen the troxel ones, maybe those have solved that problem...

[wldhrsjen3.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the ones I'm talking about look just like cowboy hats, but there's a hidden helmet inside. Of course, as you say, in the English rain they're probably not so practical. :)

[wldhrsjen3.livejournal.com]

Have you seen the Troxel cowboy helmets? They looks just like cowboy hats but with a hidden helmet inside. Most of the trail riders and WP people around here are wearing them now, especially after a well-known local man was killed when his horse threw him into the arena fence. I've just ordered one for myself but haven't yet gotten it to try it.

[serennig]

Haven't seen one in person yet, just in magazines and stuff. If they've managed to overcome the clunkiness of the usual Troxel design, and if you've seen people wearing them, then hurrah! I like that it, functionally, has all-around brim, way more useful for trail and endurance. I don't know that the price made me willing to take a chance on ordering one without ever seeing one, though. You gotta tell me what you think!