Confessions of an Equestrianoholic

Today’s weather – cooler than it’s been with very low humidity. It was an absolutely perfect weather day for riding.

I get to the barn and my friend and fellow boarder Monika wants to come on our trail ride today. Monika is the owner of Texas, a beautiful older quarter horse who happens to be Alfie’s best horsey friend. Literally, the 2 are joined at the hip. Texas is not obsessed with Alfie, Alfie is obsessed with Texas. It’s actually a very sweet friendship they seem to share.

As I’m walking Alfie in from his field, I notice he has a spring in his step. He is moving beautifully. Yesterday after Alfie’s challenging ride with my trainer, I spoke with our barn manager Regina who agreed that the humidity was too much for him and that his arthritis was having a bad day. I asked her if she could ride him for me to see if she felt anything about him that was off or not right. She’s never ridden him before and was happy to oblige.

I get him all tacked up and Regina gets on him. I immediately can see that Alfie is much less stiff in his movements. He was forward, responded to Regina’s leg and seemed more willing to move today. She gets off and I get on, and he is much better than yesterday. I was able to get him to do some circle exercises in both directions which he did well with. He still seemed a little stiff in spots but overall he was better.

While I finish my warm up, Monika is finished warming up Texas. Regina and Jenna are our designated pedestrians, this is Texas’s first time on the trail. 😊

As we make our way towards the trail, Texas is both curious and intrigued at the sites. We walk past some rock piles, our manure pit, and he is just enjoying taking in the sites. We walk through the gate and we are on the trail.

As we approach the first bend, we alert Monika that the super scary hunting shack is right around the corner. But have no fear Texas, Alfie’s got your back. As we approach the shack, Texas stops to look and, like Alfie, wasn’t sure what it was. But Alfie is an old pro at this shack and we walk past it with Texas following Alfie.

As we approach the end of the trail, we turn around and head back. Alfie is completely in his element out here. I was also more relaxed on this ride.

Leaving the safety of the arena has always been hard for me. The unknown trail, today we saw a deer and several frogs in the puddles, it’s these unknowns that scare me. Unless there is some sort of zombie apocalypse happening, no deer is going to be entering the arena.

Over the years people have told me I need to relax more when I’m riding. It was suggested to me I smoke marijuana, or take a shot of vodka before I ride. I’ve never smoked marijuana in my life and a shot of vodka would probably make me super sick, since I’m not much of a drinker. I completely understood though where the suggestions were coming from and why it was so vital for me to not be nervous. If I’m nervous, the horse is going to be nervous.

Logically, yeah, I get that. Getting my emotions to match up with that logic, ha, not so easy. But I’m really lucky that Alfie is so incredibly tolerant of my nerves, and he goes out of his way to protect me.

Despite having these nerves, I’ve overcome them enough to accomplish many trail rides with him in addition to interesting off property events such as cow sorting and obstacle courses. The first time we sorted cows, I had just gotten an Apple Watch and it’s got a built in heart rate monitor. It went off 52 times during the 3 hour clinic because my heart rate was so elevated…but I did it anyway. Alfie had a blast with the cows. So whenever I start to get down about being nervous with things, I just remind myself it’s ok to be nervous – but I’m not giving in to it because I’m overcoming it enough to do these exciting things. And at the end of the day, that’s really all that matters.

On our way back to the barn, I got a brilliant idea. Next week, weather permitting, my lesson is going to be outside on the trail. I spoke with my trainer Kari, and she thought it was a great idea. We can practice our leg yielding, our shoulder and haunches exercises, trotting, all while outside, in the “unknown.” It will give Alfie and I a complete change of scenery, and some new challenges to overcome. ❤️🐴

Bits, bits and more bits. For my non horsey friends, bits are the part of the bridle that go into the horses mouth which the reins are attached to. There are many different types of bits, Western ones, English ones, training ones. I will admit, my experience with bits has been pretty limited, I’ve always looked for the opinions of others who know more than me when it came to choosing a bit.

What I do know, Alfie doesn’t have the best teeth, and he suffers from TMJ. Yes, even horses can suffer from that (his jaw doesn’t align properly so he can’t actually fully close his mouth – as a result, he gets pain from it that goes to the top of his head (his pole) and down through his neck. But he has a wonderful therapist that comes every 5 weeks and gives him adjustments. Between those adjustments and the massage I do on him we’ve managed to make his pain a lot better.

Alfie’s bit that he had been using for the last year or so is pictured below. Now prior to entering the dressage world, I was only familiar with western bits. I knew nothing about this type of bit except that because it’s rubber it would be comfy for him to be in his mouth.

When we started using this bit Alfie reacted really well to it. I was relieved that he was relieved that something in his mouth wasn’t going to hurt his sensitive teeth and jaw.

Last weekend when I went to bridle him before our trail ride I noticed that he really didn’t want to open his mouth for the bit. In fact, this was something I noticed a few weeks ago. And then I started to think maybe it was too big for his jaw.

I spoke with our barn manager Regina and barn owner Kari if they thought perhaps this bit was contributing to Alfie’s “opinions” during our lessons. One of the boarders, who’s been in the horse field forever explained that this particular bit is more like a training bit for dressage horses. She didn’t think it was actually helping Alfie since it prevents the horse from being able to move their head easily into the contact. In fact she said it could slow them down, making it challenging for them to want to move forward. Some of the pieces are starting to come together.

She let me borrow one of her bits to try on him. It’s called a rubber D ring snaffle and it’s very similar to what we used before the current one, minus the rubber. Here is a picture of the new bit.

You can see, it’s not one bar of rubber across, its jointed. Being jointed like this means when I jiggle say my right rein, he’s gonna feel the movement easier than with the straight bar. So our communication should be better.

Today was the first day with the new bit. I woke up bright and early, I was so excited to try it. I was ready to leave by 8AM but realized that was a tad early lol, so I sat on the couch watching The Golden Girls for an hour…it seemed like the longest hour ever lol. I left for the barn at 9.

I get my boy from the field, and as he’s eating his pre ride brunch, we make the switch of bits….hahahaha, say that five times “switch of bits, switch of bits”🤣🤣

I get Alfie all tacked up and I put his bridle on. He fights me a little with opening his mouth until he realizes this bit is WAY thinner than the other one. A few adjustments are made to the bridle to accommodate the new bit and we are ready to ride.

I line him up at the mounting block, climb the stairs and wait, hold up, HE STANDS!!! He doesn’t move, he didn’t anything, he just stood. I didn’t have to correct anything at all because for the first time in weeks, he stood on the first shot! I get on and off we go into the arena to warm up.

At this point we have an audience. Our barn manager Regina, her wife Jenna and fellow boarder Susie have all come to see if Alfie likes the new bit.

The first thing I notice – a lot of chewing and drooling – good signs. The next thing I notice…our circles are the most fluid they have ever been. It’s then time to trot. For the first time in months, Alfie voluntarily had a forward trot. He was able to bend his head beautifully to take the contact of the bit, something he struggles with at the trot. We trotted today the most we’ve trotted in ages. He felt good.

This also was the first lesson in a long time where he didn’t break out the dramatic head toss until the very end of the lesson when he was tired. We ended our lesson with the company of my trainer Kari walking next to us out on the trail.

Horses tell us how they are feeling all the time. It’s our job to listen to them. It’s not easy trying to figure out what might be troubling them or bothering them but when you do finally figure it out, it’s pretty close to perfection. I knew Alfie needed to hit the trails last weekend because he was getting ring sour. I knew he would be good today because he was “refreshed.” What I didn’t realize was what a difference changing bits would have on him. As I was putting his saddle away, I whispered “thank you” to him. Thank you Alfie for always taking care of me even when you are uncomfortable. Thank you Alfie for having the patience of me learning. Thank you Alfie for being you. ❤️🐴

So my lesson yesterday had it’s challenges. I normally do not ride Alfie 2 days in a row, but last night I got to thinking. My boy loves to trail ride. And we hadn’t been trail riding in a very long time. We have a nice path that goes around part of the property into a lovely woodsy section of forest. Alfie and I only did one super short ride back there when we first moved to this barn which was a year and a half ago. So I decided that today, I was going to ride him outside.

I spoke with my trainer and barn manager and they both thought it would be something Alfie would enjoy. My barn manager Regina took it one step further and said, how about a trail ride? We have an amazing pony named Tommy who is staying at our barn for the week and he is a trail master. So Regina would ride him and I would ride Alfie. Of course I said yes!

Here’s the deal with me and trail riding. I’ve done it bunches of times. I enjoy it. But it lacks the “safety” of riding in an arena. So I’m never 100% comfortable. But Alfie is. This is his jam.

I get to the barn, get Alfie from his field, he enjoys his brunch and I tell him we are going to go on a trail ride today. Of course he just keeps eating his brunch 🤣🤣.

As I’m getting Alfie tacked up, I find out that Regina’s wife Jenna, their son Allan and their friend Sarah are also going to be coming along. So we’ve got 2 people on horses and 3 pedestrians. How cool is this! I internally breathe a little sigh of relief. It’s been a long time since I’ve taken Alfie out on a trail and yeah, I admit, I’m a little nervous. So having some people walking with us just in case Alfie or I needed them, was a comfort.

I know, you are reading this and wondering what is my deal? I’ve had Alfie for over 4 years, he’s never done anything to put me in harms way, why do I still get nervous or anxious. Trust me, I’ve have this same discussion with myself over and over and over. The bottom line is, I trust Alfie 99.9% of the time. It’s that .1% that gets me. And you know what, that’s ok! He is an animal, and his instincts can kick in at anytime, and it’s that unknown that causes my nerves to get a bit edgy.

After Alfie is all tacked up, it’s time for the mounting block. I line him up, get him situated, adjust his position a bit, ask him to stand, climb the stairs, grab the reins and I get on. Holy cow. He stood. If there hadn’t been a bunch of people standing in the arena looking at me, I would’ve cried happy tears (I finally did once I got home 😊)

We warm up in the arena for several minutes, he’s much more willing today which was a nice change from yesterday. After our warmup we head out.

Regina is a former horse wrangler at a dude ranch so I know if we run into any issues she’s got my back. As we round the corner and head away from the barn she looks back and asks me if I’m ok. I tell her I’m a little nervous, it’s been a long time and she says, it’s all good, and it’s ok to be nervous. Alfie is very excited to be walking outside past the barn, he’s able to keep pace really nicely with the pony Tommy. He’s got some spring in his step.😊

As we enter the trail, I actually stop and look around and the beauty. And then I realize how different I feel to be out on a trail from the previous times I’ve trail ridden. Yes, I’m a little nervous, but it’s a different kind of nervous, it’s more like some butterflies in my tummy than actual fear. And the reason is so simple, I’m a much more confident and skilled rider than I was before. I’ve got this.

The terrain on this trail is basically a dirt road, which is perfect for Alfie with his tendon issues. I can see what we are stepping on and so can he. Our first obstacle was some puddles. Alfie generally doesn’t like to walk through puddles although I’ve gotten good and getting him through them. But today wasn’t about what I can accomplish with him, it’s about him. This ride was for him, so we rode around the puddles. And then we saw it….a hunting shack…🧐

So here is this hunting shack, grey in color, nestled in the bushes. As we approach it, Alfie takes one look at it and immediately gets startled. He didn’t really spook but you could see he was trying to figure out what it was and why it was it in the bushes. He walks away from it giving it a wide berth yet he can’t stop looking at it. So I stop him and turn him slightly so he can see it with both of his eyes. We paused for about 5 seconds and then we walked on. This is the first time I was able to keep Alfie calm, cool and collected with something scary. The last time we encountered something scary, he spinned around and around until he didn’t see it anymore. I stayed on him but felt like I failed him because I needed help getting him past it. This time, he trusted me, and I didn’t let him down. I proved to him I had his back.👍🏻

We get to the end of the trail and turn around to head back. The trail ride was about 25 min, and I can honestly say we both enjoyed it. But again, this wasn’t about me, this was about him. Every Sunday – weather permitting, we are going to ride this trail. ❤️🐴