Last Sunday's ride on Cider did not go very well. I have been trying the Wellep Lever Cheek snaffle on her, seeing if I could use the bit while my hands deteriorated in the heat. At first everything went well, I used the bit through two stretches of 18 days of highs over 90 F and on Sunday we were into the third extended stretch of heat and high humidity. Two weeks ago I noticed that Cider was not reacting as well to the bit. On Sunday she lost all patience with me. All of a sudden this soft mouthed cooperative mare turned into an ironed-jawed sour eyed totally non-cooperative equine. We started off well, but the longer I rode the more Cider started sucking up into a tense ball of resentment.

Most people think I'm smart and that I learn quickly, but not the horses. All the horses seem to think that I am pretty dumb and very slow on the up-take. Cider, like the other horses I ride, often thinks that I am too dumb for words! Here she had been plainly telling me that something was not working right with the bit &/or my hands and I had been ignoring her. So, to get her point through my thick skull, she went back to the tried and true methods of stiff tongue and jaw, opening her mouth when she didn't like my aids (I do not use nosebands), carrying her head up, and giving me short, hurried gaits. It was my hands, they were no longer steady enough to ride in this bit. The way this bit is designed, with the easily moving lever cheeks which cause poll pressure, means that I do not get a true feeling of the horse's mouth, and that my fingers do not realize how far they have moved. I can ride with it fine in the cooler weather, but when the heat triggers my MS symptoms Cider thinks I'm being to abrupt with my aids. Of course she is right, after all it is her mouth, she should know!

So when I got to ride Mia on Wednesday I started out working on my lower legs. The security of the seat in Forward Seat riding comes from the lower leg, from the knees downward. So I started off on loose reins, getting up into the two-point position and I concentrated on letting my weight sink down into my heels, keeping my knees down, on relaxing my ankle so my feet could sink down into my Stubben Offset stirrups, and I practiced gripping with my upper calf. When my lower leg felt right I asked Mia for contact at the walk. She rewarded me, moving right into contact with relaxed tongue and jaw. After around a 1/4 of the way around the ring she would politely ask me for more rein and I would go back to loose reins and working on my lower legs. We went back and forth like this for several minutes, then we snaked our way around the jumps in the ring, both on and off contact. After a while I felt stable enough to try the posting trot on slightly sagging reins (Mia does not like swinging reins at the trot.) To my surprise, and without any urging on my part, after a minute or so Mia lengthened and took up contact, again with a relaxed tongue and jaw. We trotted on contact until I felt like my hands were losing it, and when I asked she obediently went down into a relaxed walk. Such a big difference than with my ride on Cider. Mia and I were using the simple cheeked Wellep bit, the one with direct action on the mouthpiece, and I had no problems feeling her mouth and my hands were pretty good at keeping contact, at least until my hands and arms got too tired.

I find it truly amazing that I am still riding in a bit. Usually by the middle of June I have to give up on the bits and go completely to using some bitless option. But this summer, with the regular cheeked Wellep snaffle, I am still riding Mia comfortably in a bit even though we have had 61 days so far this summer with highs over 90 F and here it is almost the end of August! So far so good, the regular Wellep bit seems to cushion the effect of my hand tremor enough so that Mia still consents to taking and keeping contact. Far out!!!!!

Next Sunday, when I get to ride Cider again, I am going to change to the regular Wellep snaffle, it just means that I will have to move the one bit back and forth between two bridles. If Cider consents to taking contact with relaxed tongue and jaw I will go on using the Wellep, if she does not I will then change to bitless, probably the Light Rider (a modified Scawbrig) since it does not have poll pressure. I get the feeling that Cider does not like poll pressure, and she did not like the poll pressure from the Wellep Lever Cheek snaffle when my hands got too bad. Either way I hope she relaxes and I get my wonderful, feisty, cooperative ride back.

Riding Forward Seat is not easy for me as I am not very athletic. Because of my general physical klutziness I have to work hard on getting my position right, and I HAVE to get my position right because it is my only hope for staying on the horse at any gait faster than a walk. It isn't easy to stay in the saddle when you don't have a sense of balance. When I get my position right I find it easier to keep my balance, and when I get my lower legs right the stability helps my hands stay steady and relaxed enough to smoothly follow the horse's mouth. My reward from all this hard work is beyond compare, a content, relaxed and free striding horse who obeys every aid immediately. Of such stuff dreams are made.

Have a great ride.