Berney test ride, day two.

Due to my unexpected whiplash on Monday I was in a great deal of pain yesterday. A visit with the chiropractor was in order. I was all out of whack and I had one of the most painful adjustments that I can remember. I'm feeling greatly improved only a few days later and I was feeling stable enough to ride last night. Emily and I thought it would be fun to set up a mini combined test so I marked out a rudimentary dressage arena while she warmed up her lovely mare Prima. She was also test riding my new saddle on Prima as she runs a bit wide too. Emily thought the saddle was really nice! She ran through her test and I set some jumps for and then I got Riley ready for his ride. I opted to ride in a thinline pad to see what kind of difference that would make with the saddle. Unfortunately, Riley managed to scrape himself all along his ribs and was quite sensitive to the touch so I hoped it wouldn't pay into my thought process on the saddle fit.

Our event next week is pretty low key. From what I can gather from their previous evening event, there should be about 10 xc obstacles, 6 stadium jumps and my test is USDF Intro A. We practiced the test a few times and Riley felt pretty great... except I forgot just how hard it is to ride in a 20 meter x 40 meter rectangle! I won't bother trying to post the video because it's pretty boring, but he was bending really nicely, kept a pretty consistent contact and was lovely and cadenced. It felt rushed to me, but watching the video it looked very fluid. I am going to work on our transitions quite a bit between now and then as he has a tendency to come above the bit during them. Our free walk needs a lot of help too... the walk itself is nice and forward, but he's giraffe-ing around instead of reaching down into the contact and really stretching his neck.

Centerline!

Looking cute as a button. I sit up so much straighter in this saddle!

Bending nicely and stepping under himself beautifully.

The big takeaway from the ride was that he really understands proper contact now, and I'm starting to think the Dr. Bristol is a bit much on the flat for him. I'm going to try him in something slightly milder to see if he will stay at the vertical. He's not curling to evade contact (if that makes sense) but he also is forward enough that bumping him into the contact doesn't prove to be very useful. I have been giving him little half-halts to sort of pick him up so he doesn't get too deep.

We set up a little course with a few tricky bending lines, one related distance (four strides), total of 6 jumps with the option to jump a few twice if I wanted. I'm still struggling with my overall balance, but he did realize that he's just barely trying over these crossrails and that doesn't help me in the slightest. When he really jumps (and respects the fences, I ride a lot better). My position is a major work in progress but this saddle keeps my leg rock solid and I couldn't be happier about that.

Actually jumping for once. Not sure why my toe is so turned out (that's never been an issue), but in the video my leg stays in perfect harmony with him. I have got to learn how to crouch more over the fences though -- I'm getting there!

Grrrr, it won't let me upload the other video. Stupid jerk blogger!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow he gets a trainer ride (a little dressaging, a little jumping) and Staurday we do trot and canter sets on the hills.

Also, he's not spoiled or anything:

Fresh from the garden at the farm.

He makes me weak in the knees this one.

Love. Love will keep us together.

Berney test ride, day one.

I managed to sneak away early from the office yesterday to meet with Emily and try out the new potential saddle. It was MUCH nicer in person than I expected and it has clearly been well loved. Middleburg does a great job of vetting their used inventory so you don't have to worry about things like shoddy repair work or broken trees etc (which is why I am terrified of buying a saddle on Ebay). The leather is supple and soft with minimal wear. in fact, I could only find wear marks on the billets and the edges of the cantle.

I was nervous, to be sure... Riley as I mentioned, is difficult to fit... and he's opinionated when he doesn't like a saddle. I tossed the saddle on him bare and like what I saw right away.

Really like the balance from front to back. I put a pen on the saddle to see where the center of balance was and it was perfect.

Overall, I liked the fit along the front of the flap. There was a slight gap toward the bottom but I knew that would change one it was girthed up.

Great clearance around his withers. He doesn't have protruding withers, and since he wears a wide it's important to make sure the saddle doesn't crowd them.

We decided to tack him up in just a simple pad to see how the saddle settled in once I was up (I usually ride in a half pad of some sort). Riley is the kind of horse that will really let you know when he's in pain of any kind. As I girthed him up he was licking and chewing and happy. No dancing around and no grumpy looks. I stuck my leathers on and realized that they match perfectly (so does my breastplate -- bonus!) and got on.

Whoa.

I felt like I was sitting INTO my saddle instead of perched on it. My leg felt locked it place and it was immediately super comfortable. I was very excited to go play around on it. Initially Emily was worried it was a tiny bit small for me (in the seat), but I could fit my entire hand behind me and she agreed it was just a completely differently style from my old saddle.

Now for more pictures (which is really all I am good for these days as a blogger):

Loving the position of my leg and weight in my heels for once! *just after a jump

Comfortable enough to find my own balance again.

Riley was VERY distracted by the cows off to our right and felt like myabe he should veer us into a standard as a way to escape them.

My leg is still slipping a bit, but my balance was much better.

I posted this one so you could see his cute expression, oh and my super talented way of climbing up my horses neck.

When I picked up the canter, he felt the best he's ever been and Emily commented on both of us one stride in. The difference in this saddle is remarkable.

And, then there's this... homeboy loves a stretchy trot.

Back swinging and happy.

We picked up our right lead canter first try from the walk and Emily was very excited for us! Jumping was a bit rough as it was a whole new feel of balance for me and not wearing spurs was not a good plan for such a hot day. But I needed to know how he felt over fences so off we went. Sadly, he gave me a serious case of whiplash after the last oxer by over-jumping and stumbling upon landing, if I had been in my other saddle I would have come off for sure!

I went on a nice hack after our ride and he was terrific. I hope this is the last saddle we'll need for awhile! 

And Blogger is being an a-hole so no video for you! Tomorrow, Emily and I are going to set up a little combined test for ourselves to run through our dressage tests and do some jumping! I'll let you guys know how day two in the saddle goes!

Oh yea, one last thing:

Entered!

Saddle woes and wins.

I have mentioned in the last few posts that I was going to be looking for a new saddle. I didn't want to give it too much thought yet because I don't have much of a budget, Riley is really hard to fit, and I pretty much need the size/style of saddle that everyone is looking for so I knew it was going to be a bit of a hunt. I've ridden in a few of Emily's saddles and while she's much taller than I am, I really like the balance of the Berney Bros. I thought it would be interesting to post some recent photos of me jumping in both saddles so you can see what I mean (these shots were roughly a week or two apart).

Current saddle. Heritage jumping saddle. Fits both of us well enough. smaller knee block and no thigh blocks.

On the flat, my position is quite good in this saddle, but you can kind of see here that if I want to put my stirrups up any higher I'm going to be in trouble with the knee rolls.

Case in point. The balance of this saddle doesn't allow me much security and I am thrown forward, pivoting at the knee.

I'm still jumping ahead, but my leg is staying firmly at the girth and underneath my body for a better overall balance.

When I am balanced, I'm able to give Riley all the freedom he needs. Having a saddle that gives me this kind of security allows me to find my own balance without throwing him off.

In between fences, love how my leg is in this photo, right where it should be.

 So, with Emily taking a trip down to Virginia for the WEG trials, I begged her to make a stop at the Middleburg Tack Exchange (aka, heaven) to look for my white whale of a saddle. She took a current wither tracing with her, my non-existent budget, and some parameters of what I was looking for.

In case you were wondering where I was instead of going to the WEG trials, I had a super long wedding to shoot on Saturday. While I was in the middle of shooting the ceremony, I got a couple of frantic texts from Emily saying that she found A 17" BERNEY BROS. IN WIDE. What!?! I was able to sneak away during the communion portion of the mass (there were also two other photographers) to go outside and make a call. She said she literally looked at hundreds of saddles and felt like it was a lost cause. None of the saddles fit Riley's wither tracing (did I mention he's hard to fit?) and she was starting to give up, when she saw on the top shelf a lone Berney Bros.

A small cross section of the used saddle inventory at Middleburg Tack Exchange

She pulled it off the shelf half-heartedly and nearly died when she was the size and shape. And then, this:

Like a glove.

Beautiful used condition. Love the balance of the seat and the more forward flaps than my current saddle. I don't have super long legs so I don't need a really forward flap.

Exactly what I was looking for, nice knee block and a small thigh block.

So I made the call, gave them my account info and it's mine on trial for a week. If I like it and it fits us both, I can make the seller an offer against the suggested retail price (all their saddles are on consignment).

So, fingers crossed for us that I have found something suitable! The very kind British woman who works at the shop mentioned to Emily that the Berney's never last more than a few days because everyone wants them and they last forever. What a score! I will post my current saddle for sale if this one works out to recoup the money!

Ps. I got a 17" because Berney's tend to be a bit generous in the sizing and don't usually come standard in half sizes.

Pps. Based on all of these photos its clear I need to do lots of two point work to lengthen my leg and stretch down into my heels. Sadly, I will never be one of those riders whose heels look super flexed (years and years of gymnastic has given my ankles early arthritis!)

Jumping all the jumps... and other adventures.

Riley and I had a busy weekend...

Thursday he got a trainer ride and was apparently a total butthead. Locking his jaw, bulging his shoulder and pretending to spook at the cows he's seen a million times (and is turned out next to). Eventually she was able to get some good flat work out of him, but I think he thought a few days off meant he was now retired. They worked on a lot of transitions and of course, his right lead canter.

Friday I had farm duty in the evening, and I wanted to fit in a flat ride in Emily's dressage saddle. It fits both Riley and I really well.We started off doing lots and lots of sitting trot (he has THE BEST trot for sitting) and he actually moves better while you're sitting the trot for some reason. Serpentines all over the ring using my leg and set to change the bend in his body. he finally getting the concept of moving off my leg instead of leaning on it. One exercise I worked on was walking down the quarter line, leg yielding to the rails, walking a few steps then yielding back off, walk a few steps and then back on the rail. This really got him moving straight and it helped set him up for success at the canter. he was very forward on Friday and the first canter depart was a little explosive, but he picked up the right lead first time after my little leg yielding exercise. We did the same thing again and we got another perfect depart (from the walk) on the correct lead! Hooray! We cantered some more in the other direction and he felt great. I really like riding in the dressage saddle as it really allows me to lengthen my leg and open my hip angles. My plan is to flat in it once a week and do some no stirrup work in my jump saddle every ride.

So Apparently.

Hm, I've tried leaving comments on several blogs over the last few days and for some reason none of them are working! I just wanted to let you guys know that I have been reading and commenting!

I'll post a real update soon. Lots of riding to come over the next few days (even some time in a dressage saddle) and a trainer ride today.

Epic three-day weekend

Side note: I got to see this at a Drive-In theater Thursday evening. BEST.

Riley is back in full work and I couldn't be happier. Our ring is finished! Woo hoo!!

He got a training ride Tuesday and was a superstar. Emily wrote about him on her blog, you can read it here. I'm actually quite surprised as to how straight and forward he feels in the new ring. One of the best things about it is that the owner choose to put the perimeter fence about 10 feet away from the edge which actually forces the horses to go straight and carry themselves, or at least you will know just how crooked they are as they cannot "lean" on the rail. His right lead canter is coming along wonderfully. Emily really worked on that Tuesday and when I rode him Friday he picked it up rather easily. He's still quite counter bent in that direction, but he's learning to move off the side leg and right now I am more concerned with the transition, getting the right lead and maintaining impulsion rather than forcing him to bend. With time and strength that will come too. We are working on some baby lateral work at the walk and he's starting to get it.