More Than Just an Annoying Habit

Butterball got his teeth done last Sunday. 

He was quite sensitive both on his maxillary incisors and his first premolars. He had some gingivitis around one of the incisors as well. So we shot some rads. 

And OMG you guys. This poor pony has damaged the roots of his teeth and the bone around the teeth with his bit gnashing habit. His dentist said it looked like he has done this his whole life, which tracks with what his old owner told me. This led to the roots of those teeth ending up in sort of a corkscrew shape, which is most likely going to interfere with their eruption. 

Then the ongoing "bit clanking" (seems to be the somewhat technical term for that) has led to the bone around those teeth being sclerotic on both sides and holding some fluid on the right side. 

The incisors are actually kind of interesting and less scary. Mostly less scary because who really needs incisors AND it's not a problem I've been part of perpetuating, so I don't feel guilty about them. He has congenital enamel hypoplasia (I believe I've gotten that right as to the hypo part of the tooth) of his two front teeth. So he'll be predisposed to EOTRH. Which is "easy" to fix with extractions. 

But back to his premolars... Fortunately his dentist also rides and noted my spiraling when I said "well I'll just quit competing and never put a bit in his mouth again". She reasonably asked what bit he was going in and then made a few suggestions. I did talk to her about my brief Winderen trial where he hung like he has never hung before, and I ended up with sore hands after a 30 minute trial ride. She said if there was no tongue relief then he likely HATED having his tongue squished and reacted by laying on it. Makes sense. I did wish I had ordered the ported version to try then rather than the straight bar. And I'm not ruling out circling back to that in the future since the material would likely be much more friendly for him to gnaw on. However, the fact that he definitely did manage to gnaw on it means that even the tongue relief version would likely allow him to continue to chew on it and chewing on a firm rubber material is better but probably still not good. She also suggested that whatever bit we try I put on a chin strap to limit the mobility of the bit in the back/up direction. 

Current bit - that nice soft loose ring french link, WAYYYYY too much mobility for him to grab and pull back with his tongue

Myler comfort snaffle with a low port that she suggested

The day after his dental we did our canter sets in his rope hackamore. It seemed like the best move regardless since his mouth was probably a bit sore from all the work. 

Turns out that he goes MUCH faster without a bit. He was a certified GOOD BOY for the whole thing and could've truly been a whole porpoise or more and I wouldn't have been able to do much, but he was very good. This go round our canter sets were at 500 mpm, 470 mpm, and 460 mpm. They would've averaged faster, but I was making him trot and pick up the right lead every time he did a flying change to the left. I was having some trouble controlling his shoulders and that led to a lot of right to left flying changes since he prefers to really gallop on his left lead.

The next day I picked up two Mylers to try from a friend. 

Less likely candidate

More likely candidate

And then I put in the more likely to work Myler (which I believe is an MB04 loose ring) and then fashioned a chin strap from a piece of baling twine. 

Two bit guards since it is a 5.5" and he needs a 5" 

My initial impression was pretty good. He immediately tried to start clanking when it was in. When the bit first enters his mouth is always the worst time. Then he twisted his head around some, trying desperately to clank it. Once we got moving he stopped screwing with it as much, but I could occasionally tell he was playing with it in his mouth. His dentist said he probably clanks excessively when the bit first goes in to numb the area basically.  

I had planned on just doing a no contact trail ride to let him get used to it and not trigger any screwing with it when I picked up the contact. But he had other plans and was too spooky and up to let us do that. So we trotted half our normal walk loop with light contact. I worked in the ring some when we got home. He was immediately much steadier in the contact than he has ever been. I could hear him doing something with the bit, but it wasn't making the same metal/tooth clanking sound he makes with other bits. 

The second ride he was busier in his mouth in the ring and the lovely, steady contact wasn't quite as good. We'll keep trying it to see how it pans out though, including jumping in it. I also think that a proper width Myler would have a better shot too since less bit width means less overall flexibility to yank the bit back. There are a number of stores that have bit trial programs, which means that early next week I'll probably be ordering a few to try. 

November Wrap Up

 

	Butterball
Training rides	0
Lessons	3- all jump lessons
Hacks	2- 8.4 miles from home; 5 miles at Black Prong
Flat rides	11
Conditioning rides	1
XC school	2- Majestic Oaks and Sweet Dixie
Shows	0

Butterball had another good and productive month. Our jump lessons this month focused on riding forward between the fences and then not dropping him at the fences. I didn't get back down to JV, but did re-incorporate his methods to my flat rides with positive results. 

I also snagged some comparison pics, last compared to August. Honestly, assessing anything in the dappled sunlight is a bit beyond me. Oops. 

We had two cross country schools this month and one conditioning ride. Our first cross country school wasn't great, blame not great riding or mildly sore feet, your pick. But the second school went much better and we played with a few combinations and skinnies. 

For our conditioning ride, we did 3x3 min canter sets, aiming for training level pace. We didn't quite get there, but did average 458 mpm. It's a start. 

The last day of the month he had his dentist appointment, much more on that later, and we played with bridleless work. We kept it to walk, halt, and circles, and he was fantastic. He did veer onto the grass at one point and stole a few bites before I got him routed back to the arena. But other than that he was quietly responsive and in tune with me. 

SO CUTE

Cookie plz 

He also snuck out of his field one night and into the field with Ms. GY's OTTB and her old man. Everyone was fine. But the electric fence is now always on at night. 

Claiming innocence

Looking ahead, we're signed up for HITS in December. Turns out my whining was not completely over. We both have to be USHJA members to show. Oye. $105 later ($20 to transfer his registration to me, $85 for my membership), I think we're done. And I think we're going to make it to a foxhunt(!!!) this month too. Conditioning wise, I'm going to keep plugging away at getting to that 470 mpm pace and making it feel easy for us. 

Never sick of this view 

The Bare Minimum

I hope you all had a lovely, peaceful, warm Thanksgiving. 

Delicious pie. I slacked and did store bought crust and in spite of par baking it, it was still a bit underdone when the pie was definitely done. 

Butterball and I had another lesson with PW on Wednesday. Ms. GY came with and PW rode her OTTB. It was very cool to watch how he carefully guided but stayed completely out of the horse's way over fences. 

Butterball got a gymnastics session. It was carefully curated to shape his style over fences and fight the dying on landing that we would both like to do. He started out pretty lackadaisical over the fences, but by the time the oxer at the end got bigger, he was putting in some real effort. PW helped me out by telling me at what points to add leg and at what points to let the exercise itself do the work.

The exercise started with two bounce rails then two bounce cavaletti then one stride to a vertical. We built the vertical up a little bit while pony pants sorted out his feet over the bounces and I sorted out WAITING for the spot to come to me. Then we added a one stride to another vertical then two strides to an oxer. As the oxer got bigger his effort over the smaller earlier fences also improved interestingly enough. I have seen enough videos of myself cantering lately that I felt the need to put some thought into my lower leg as we cantered around. It seemed to help some, but there is still plenty of work to do. It was easier to work on my position over fences through the grid, so this was a nice tie in to the last lesson where I felt kinda loose and incorrect with my position a lot of the time.  

We ended with one run through at a slightly lower height to build his confidence and focus on straightness. This lesson was so good for both of us. The concepts we've been working on still applied: don't drop him between fences, create the canter you want way before you get to the first fence. We'll likely repeat the gymnastics in our lesson next week to solidify those concepts. 

Headless horseman!

Those little ears, those knees. Guys, how is he so perfect?? 

Rage Quit

It was a good thing we'd had a great lesson on Wednesday AND that I was sitting next to my coworker who walked me through the process. Otherwise the combo of learning Eventpass and a new Show Management System might've been enough to make me stick to unrated shows and recognized eventing. But we fought through and I *think* I am entered in the December HITS. Sadly we are not doing hunters. Turns out PW doesn't want to be embarrassed by me and thought we should do some ticketed schooling BEFORE we entered actual classes. To the best of my knowledge ticketed schooling, that means you pay a fee (a mere $30 at WEC, but WAIT you have to be entered in the show and have paid all the misc fees to do a ticketed schooling, so $30 is a bit deceiving) to go jump around the jumps that you will be showing over, typically while other people are in the ring and on the Tuesday before classes start on Wednesday. So $267 of entry fees + $80 of my USEF membership + $300 for BB's lifetime USEF registration and we're golden to go to HITS in December and do 4 jumper classes over 2 days. The actual entry fee isn't bad for 4 classes, so now we've just got to play a bit more in jumper land this year to make the USEF memberships worthwhile. 

Anyways, back to the lesson and away from the finance (and patience) breakdown. I think this lesson was FINALLY where it clicked, what so many trainers have now told me in different ways. He needs to have enough pace so that I'm not doing much the last few strides. It is FINE if I need to add a bit of spur to support him for the longer spot. But I SHOULD NOT be chasing the last few strides. We got that in lines a few weeks ago working on dividing them into two halves with the GO-2-3-4 and then assesss-2-3 in a 7 stride line. But the feeling hadn't really happened for singles until Wednesday.  

It wasn't a super pretty lesson TBH and my position went out the window a couple of times. But we jumped all the things and all the lines on stride the first time.

Progress, slow and steady. 

His level of dedication to not peeing in the trailer, good boy

This was 1.05m. PW commented that he jumps even better as the jumps get bigger. I was actually physically tired from this lesson, which isn't normal for me. But the effort BB puts in over the bigger fences means I am having to do more in an *attempt* (often failed obv in the video) to maintain my position. 

This and That

Butterball and I joined Ms. GY at Sweet Dixie on Saturday morning and had the best time. I used the lessons from earlier that week with PW and didn't drop him, no matter what the distance. My friend came as our ground crew too and pointed out NOT letting him lengthen into downhill fences was helpful. Oh yeah, EM pointed that out too. 

With that feeling, I started asking questions with some skinnier fences and combinations, and he was 100% game on. Not a single hesitation. It is a great feeling.

He looks so little in this picture! 

We did another fun trail ride at Black Prong with Amanda and Hillary. I downloaded a .GPX map this time and we used that to navigate. It worked beautifully. 

He's turning in to such a pro and knows to drink when we get to nice pretty water. Side note, this place must be absolutely soggy during the wet season

Henry got very skeptical when it got deeper than the regulation 11"

Then on Monday BB and I took a bareback hack around the neighborhood. All went well until the herd of five cows SPRINTED at the fence as we were walking by. A car was also coming down the road. Poor pony tried so hard to hold it together as he went sideways and then attempted a spin. He let me hop off though and then walked right up to the fence (granted while hiding DIRECTLY) behind me and sniffed noses with the offending moos. 

This was the trouble maker that ran first 

Ridiculously friendly

He was a little on edge, understandably, after that until we found a patch of nice black jack to munch on 

He and his buckskin BFF can share the makeshift hay feeder

Foggy ponies

Don't Be Like Carrie Underwood

Butterball and I had a very productive jump lesson yesterday. But I'll back up to 5 days before that. Last Friday we took a lovely 8.8 mile hack from the farm. Butterball started out HOT. We did a lot of trotting and cantering, but only on grass and/or the sandy parts of the lime rock. I clocked his excited trot at a swinging 12 mph. We met a woman getting on her horse on her farm who asked if he was an Arabian. We also met a whole lot of annoying dogs. Fortunately all fenced, but one who waited until we had just passed it to charge the gate and lose its damn mind, which understandably caused the pony to spook. Rude dog. 

He felt great the whole time. He then had the next two days off since I worked until 4 PM and we're not prepping for a three day anymore so I get to NOT squeeze in a ride in the tiny amount of fading light left after getting home at 4:45. 

Monday, through a series of horses being horses, we found ourselves alone at Majestic Oaks. People were out in golf carts taking down flowers from the horse trial over the weekend, so I felt safe popping over a few things. Some things were fine, others were not great. I stopped and put hind studs in because I felt him slip at the base of a fence and the ground is in fact pretty hard and slick right now. He seemed a bit better after that, but was still opting for the pop chip more than seemed right. Although my riding and the shift in plans might've been contributing, I was still worried about his feet after our long hack. I chatted with my friend and we decided that next farrier visit he'd get leather pads behind. 

Tuesday we did a dressage ride, but Ms. GY had some small jumps set up in the arena, and I couldn't resist adding in the canter cavaletti on a circle. Fit it in, make him wait. It took a bit, but we got there. It's such a deceptively challenging exercise. Wednesday I clipped him (badly) and then we loaded up and went back to PW's. 

Chimney sweep pony. Clipping was needed.

Excessive. My bath kinda sucked too. My poor clipper blades. 

PW kindly said my clip job wasn't too bad. I told him not to look too close. Butterball warmed up pretty well and felt relatively soft and springy. 

We started with a warm up 2'3" oxer off both leads. We popped over it off the right, but off the left the spot was going to be deep. Naturally I flung the reins at him and took my leg off, and he stopped. PW assessed that he 100% could have jumped the tiny jump from any distance, but that "Jesus take the wheel" is not an appropriate strategy on my part. He explained that when I see the deep spot there but then let go of all contact, his stride actually lengthens further, making it even worse. So, hold the reins, sit up and support with leg. That served us well for the rest of the lesson. We didn't have another stop even though we didn't get beautiful distances to everything. I did think at one point that "if you're not failing, you're not learning." Our previous lesson everything had just flowed beautifully and felt so easy and perfect. This lesson was definitely a lesson of failures and growth. 

PW did take it easy on us since we were obviously a bit discombobulated. He started with the jumps pretty soft and then built up the one stride instead of pushing us straight into it. Eventually though the last few jumps were a meter again and we put the whole course together including the one stride. 

We've been working on related distances since pre-Kentucky using the strategy of breaking them up into two parts. So for a 7 stride line, land and GO 2-3-4 then assess and half-halt 1-2-3. It works wonders and prevents the long, flat, last minute push to get the strides. We got the leave out 6 in our lesson this week doing that and did a leave out 5 in the lesson at the end of October. But it doesn't look horrifying doing it this way. There's no last minute fling at the fence that causes panic in me, the pony, and those watching. You know the type of ride, you cringe as they leave the ground in a mess. Yeah, we want to avoid that and this strategy seems to work. 

I did feel the need to clarify with PW after - a few jumps in our last course I felt like I definitely spurred him off the ground to get the slightly gappy distance instead of the pop chip. PW said that was totally appropriate. But I don't want to create the horse who "can't think for himself" and needs to be told exactly when to leave the ground. But EM and PW have distinctly NOT told me to take all leg off (as Amanda pointed out once out cross country at Sweet Dixie), but instead to support quietly. I need to find that balance. Leg quietly on so I don't HAVE to spur him off the ground. 

No lesson media so enjoy the view from the trailer after 

October 30th lesson video - better than nothing?