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| Tired pony says, "It's hard work carrying your own head for once!" |
Our pseudo-resident Dressage clinician came back last week, and had my trainer try the above experiment on her own horse: hackamore on the bottom, followed by noseband-less bridle with the loose ring french link snaffle. My trainer loved it, and immediately saw the value for Connor and I in our quest to get him off my hands so that my hands are free to be more effective.
"It's not something to ride in regularly, but I like it because it's going to give you the chance to feel what the reins are supposed to feel like, and it's going to convince him that he really can do this and carry himself. It will give you the chance to be more aggressive about engaging his hind end without also feeling that you have to be so heavy in your hands to prevent him from getting runny. If it works, we'll try it for a few rides and go back to the normal bridle for our lesson next week and re-evaluate then."
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| I dub thee the "Hackasnaffle"! |
I held the hackamore rein where the reins usually are, and the loose ring rein as the "outside" rein, above my pinkie and below my ring finger. Both sets were rubber, and at first, I felt like "Where is my horse? I can't find him!"
But I got used to it and ended up having a spectacular lesson in which it worked exactly as my trainer hoped it would. If he got heavy, he got heavy briefly in the hackamore, while the loose ring stayed light so that I could actually use it effectively. More leverage without more bit was fantastic. Also, my tendency to be heavy in response to him getting heavy was mitigated by the fact that it was the hackamore where I was used to having the bit, and the bit was in a new place that my brain wasn't quite used to.
He was heavy in the beginning while we both figured things out, and light and on my aids the rest of the lesson, until he got tired. I honestly really liked him in the hackamore, though I can't imagine not having the finite control I got with the bit when he was moving correctly.
Finally, much of the lesson was spent engaging his hind end, because I could really get after him (in Connor terms, a couple quick bumps with my leg is getting after him) but also contain the energy produced by the reactive little pony. Two or three more rides in this getup before our re-evaluation, and I am very curious to see how this experiment turns out!
