One Link

Monday morning it was cool and misting, so of course I went to ride. A little mist is not going to keep me out of the saddle. Luckily the mist tapered off and I did not have to ride in the rain like I feared would happen.

I got my upper body warmed up by currying and brushing MJ's body and legs. He was pretty quiet in the cross ties and generally cooperated with me. Merry kindly helped me by picking his feet, brushing off his lower legs really well, and putting his boots on. We saddled him and put on his butt blanket, he LOVES his butt blanket. So he was pretty relaxed when we put the bridle on. As I hooked up the curb chain it felt a little too loose so I decided to see what would happen if I adjusted the curb chain one link shorter and I checked to make sure I could still get two fingers side by side between the curb chain and his curb groove.

Shortening the curb chain one link was a BAD MISTAKE on my part.

We started our ride out fine. We just walked this ride, I decided I needed to go slow with the extra riding so for the first 6 weeks of my homework rides I decided just to walk, so we proceeded around the ring with contact on the bradoon alternating with sagging reins. Everything seemed fine, MJ established contact when I asked him to and did not show any signs of distress..... until I tied up the bradoon reins and asked for contact with just the curb bit, after all he had done so well with contact with the curb bit the previous week.

All of a sudden MJ was no longer the quiet need-a-good-bit-of-leg lesson horse. He reached for the bit and he quickly backed off from the bit. I asked again and MJ's head went up, his tongue got super active with the bits, and when I did not get the message his face went behind the vertical—behind the bit. Immediately I loosened the curb rein, apologized to MJ, and I kept the curb rein sagging for the rest of the ride. MJ was not happy the rest of the ride, to his mind I had made the curb bit REALLY UNCOMFORTABLE for him and he was definitely not going to reach out for contact with it. I had broken our agreement about riding with the curb and he made good and sure that I knew than he was not please at all about it.

Since I was already tired I did not make the connection between his sudden distress and the fact that the curb chain was one link tighter. I just spent the whole ride trying to re-establish decent contact with just the bradoon and after a lot of comments from his tongue manipulating the bits he relaxed somewhat and his distress lessened. It was so obvious that I had done something wrong, really wrong, and all I could do was try not to cause him any more distress from the bits.

As a Forward Seat rider I was totally horrified when MJ went behind the bit. If I had been a rider who was “playing around” with an imperfect understanding about what the dressage masters wrote I would have been thrilled, for a brief moment MJ was flexing at the poll properly with his head up. A hundredth of a second later he was behind the bit and jangling the now loose bits in his mouth. I would have thought I had finally made progress while I was committing severe errors in riding.

After my ride I thought a lot about this sudden disaster (to me it was a disaster.) I thought about changing my bradoon a lot, maybe the three piece bradoon with the center roller was suddenly too mobile for MJ? In my mind I tried to picture how each different style bradoon would act in his mouth and if that could improve matters, but nothing stuck out as an answer.

THEN I remembered, I had tightened the curb chain one link. It was obvious that MJ thought that this made this previously acceptable curb bit for contact completely WRONG for him.

When we started my lesson on Wednesday I confessed my horrible mistake to Debbie and left her to fit the curb chain like she always does. MJ was so much happier with my hands. He cheerfully reached out freely for contact with just the curb bit the first time I asked and I had no problems, he kept his head down and his mouth relaxed. He had forgiven me my mistake, I was really lucky there.

At first MJ's back was really stiff and it was obvious to me that he wanted me to get my darn butt out of the saddle. I got up into 2-point, sinking rapidly into the crotch seat since I was tired, and MJ's back got to feeling much better under me.

We did all our normal stuff at the walk, and for most of that time I did turns just using my inside upper thigh or alternated my outside upper thigh and lower leg. MJ did fine and he reached down searching for the bits while I kept his walking speed up. After that Debbie wanted me to try and get MJ straight just by alternating my upper thighs, I did this by not yielding with my upper thigh when his back pressed against it. MJ straightened out fine and I did not use the reins at all for this. Our trots were fine, and the downward transitions were particularly smooth and easy to sit.

When my lesson time was almost over I asked Debbie if she wanted to see us doing something in particular, and she wanted me to walk him around at a decent speed while I was up in 2-point to get my improved heels further down. As we did this walk I established contact with just the curb bit and alternated my legs asking him to extend his stride.

And MJ responded with the best walk he has given me in the two years I've ridden him. Relaxed head and mouth reaching forward into relaxed contact, his legs swung forward and back freely, his back relaxed and got into moving his legs “swinging” markedly from front to back, MJ gave me the free striding ground covering walk that both fox-hunters and trail riders desire, around 4 MPH. Fifty years ago a good show hunter was expected to produce this walk, but times have changed. I joked with Debbie that even this superior walk would have been marked down by a hunter judge because I got it with contact with the curb bit, the horrors!

Debbie told me at a recent show a judge had gotten after the competitors in one class because none of the horses had a decent ground covering walk. She said she wished she had taken a video of me and MJ with her phone so she could show her other riders the type of walk she wanted them to do, as well to show other riding teachers and judges so they could see the now all too rare good walk.

I was so relieved, that last walk was proof that MJ had forgiven me for my mistake, something I learned to never take for granted decades ago. MJ showed not fear of the curb bit and he showed no discomfort when I kept contact with just the curb bit. I had made a mistake, then when MJ rightfully objected to my mistake I made amends by stopping doing what was bothering him, and then I figured out what had caused this to me disaster and made sure not to repeat that mistake.

A curb chain that is one link too short can turn an acceptable curb bit into an instrument of torture.

Thank you MJ for forgiving me.

Have a great ride!

Jackie Cochran