Mia, the nearly 30 year old Arab mare I ride, seems to be going through various issues as she ages.  Bits that used to be fully accepted start bothering her and she always lets me know in a few weeks if she wants me to change then.

Mia, in the past, has not particularly liked bitless bridles (old jumping caveson bridle, LG bitless, Nurtural cross-under bitless, Dr. Cook’s cross under bitless, Light Rider bitless, all three of the Micklem Multi-bridle bitless options, and my Spirit bitless bridle made by Frontier Equestrian,) she gets really irritated if I use contact with them and she does not seem to particularly like how they work on her head.  So a month ago when Debbie asked me to work on conditioning the leather on the Dr. Cook/Spirit  reins bitless bridle that I had lent her to use on her Arab gelding, Tercel, it did not occur to me that Mia would like this set up at all.  I had not replaced the flat part of the reins of this bridle with better leather like I had with the Spirit bitless bridle and Debbie wanted better feeling reins.  So I offered (hey, I insisted) that she let me condition the leather of the Dr. Cook’s with the Spirit bridle rounded cross-under reins and I lent her the Spirit bitless bridle I had with the better leather reins for the flat part of the reins.  So I larded up the leather on the Dr. Cook/Spirit reins bitless three times and started using it on all the horses I ride a few times so that the lard would work itself further into the leather.  Mick’s back got a LOT worse with this bitless bridle so I promptly went back to his bit (I guess rubbing the bit with his tongue helps relax his back.)  Cider did fine but I had a little bit more trouble getting her straight and keeping her straight.  Mia seemed fine with it, but remembering how she had ended up objecting to every other bitless set up I used on her I went back to her bit after riding her with it twice.

In the weeks since then Debbie has fallen in love with the better feeling reins that I had a saddler  attach to the Spirit bridle round leather cross-under “straps”, and Tercel seems to like the Frontier made Spirit bitless headstall fine.  Then Mia started “telling” me that she no longer preferred my JP Korsteel egg-butt full cheek single jointed snaffle, and last week when Tercel and Debbie were trying out my EZ-Fit treeless saddle she got a little vehement about it.  Earlier this week when I was thinking about changing to my Mullen mouth snaffle, I started getting “messages” from Mia that this winter she would prefer the Dr. Cook’s/Spirit bridle reins get up I had used on her twice.  Since I always aim at making the horses I ride happy with me and my tack I listened.  Since I was not going to keep constant contact the worse leather of the flat part of the reins is not too terribly irritating, though when I finally get some money again I will replace them with better leather.

Mia was much happier with this set-up.  She only protested when I tried to keep contact too long and if my hand aids were a bit too strong.  Mia gave me a little “lecture” about how much better she felt my hand aids with the rounded leather cross-under “straps”, and with the way the rounded parts of the reins worked I did not have to keep contact, she could feel all my hand aids just fine, thank you very much.  With the rounded leather part of the reins we are still in “connection” even though I do not have direct contact.  So Wednesday I happily rode Mia around the ring with her accurately and promptly obeying every little twitch of my fingers.  She was also much more relaxed backing up.  Mia was content, I had listened to her, I had responded to her complaints, and I had finally gotten through my thick skull that, with the rounded parts of the reins, direct contact was not necessary with this bridle since she could feel every twitch of my fingers clearly even if the reins were sagging slightly.  Mia does NOT like direct pressure on her nasal bone, so I am reserving direct contact for emergency situations.

So this winter I will use this bitless set-up on Mia.  Hopefully I can keep my hands light enough so I do not irritate her.

Today I had a fun ride on Cider.  It had rained over an inch yesterday and Shannon’s grass riding arena was a bit squishy, so all I could do was walk.  It got quite windy overnight so I was really happy that Cider lives outside 24/7, I would have hated taking her out of a warm stall into the cold wind!  I put on her butt blanket so she would not get totally mad at me when I had to stop and rest.  I worked on keeping her straight (keeping centered in the saddle, keeping both reins even, working on keeping equal contact on both reins, and using my legs and seat to correct deviations) and she responded.  I got some lines that were almost straight, and her turns improved, especially in the corners.  Cider was relaxed and happy enough (though she would have been happier hanging out with her herd!)  I KNOW she wanted to trot around to get warmer but the grass in the ring could not take it and I always worry about her slipping on the wet grass.  The only “discussions” we had were at the halt, she did NOT want to stand in the cold wind, so every time she moved a leg forward I had her move the leg back, and when I finally got her to stand still on loose reins for a moment I told her to walk again.  She even responded somewhat when I asked for two-track movement to the left, but she got crooked when I asked for it to the right (all this at the walk.)  I have been asking for this two-track movement the last few weeks, I am glad that she is starting to figure it out though she does not seem to enjoy it yet, she moves a little bit more stiffly when we go back to moving straight ahead.  I will have to work on this SLOWLY until Cider gets used to it and figures out how to do it comfortably.  Two to three steps on both sides each week, and in a month or two I will see if she improves moving out of the two-track movement.  If she doesn’t I’ll drop it and just keep on working on getting her to move STRAIGHT!

I know I did not get to post much this summer.  I am very happy to report that at no time during the summer did my riding teachers take off my spurs, and all the horses let me ride them with a bit even in the heat.  This means that I am recovering from my last MS exacerbation in a satisfactory manner.  I have found out that the horses I ride are MUCH BETTER than my neurologist in detecting damage to my nerves and brain.  The horses never hesitate to tell me when I am not riding up to their standards and they tell me which part of my body has gotten worse.  Plus, since they see me most weeks they can keep a close eye on the condition of my central nervous system, often detecting damage at the start when I can actually do something to end the inflammation quickly.  Bless all horses!

Have a great ride!

Jackie Cochran