I hooked Billy!

[susanne]

Kellie, I apologize if someone else mentioned this and it slipped past me...

Some minis have very shallow pallettes, making an otherwise well-fit bit extremely uncomfortable for them. The way a single-jointed snaffle sits in the mouth can push the joint up into the pallette on such a horse.

With your experience in big horses, I don't doubt that you carefully fitted his bit, but this problem is not always immediately apparent.

Good luck! Billy is adorable, and I hope you post photos when his previous young owner gets to go for a drive!

 

[Kellie in OR]

Hi Leia! Thanks for the compliment on my hands. I have worked real hard on them. Then I saw that video and that is the first thing I saw...my hunching. E-gads...why didn't my riding lessons transfer to THAT. I think I was just trying so hard to be still and calm that I perched there and didn't move. The other reason is I WAN'T TO BE CLOSE TO BILLY IN A HYPERBIKE, LOL!!! It won't be long and I will be ordering.

Last night I ground drove and long lined Bill in just the halter. The halter is just a flat style nylon, but it does buckle snug at the chin so it does not not slip around. I attached the reins to the side hardware. Per usual he was very good. Then I took the bit off the driving bridle and slipped it over the halter. He behaved the same, very well, so I think he is fine with the blinders. But I will be checking the placement and may have to tweak things a little to get it perfect.

Bill gives to the contact and flexes laterally very well. When I take up contact and drive him up into the "bridle" (halter) he will give me a little engagement off the hind and slight vertical flexion. With his fat short neck I think he would suffocate if I tried to put him in a frame or headset, EEK! He travels the same at liberty....with his nose straight out. Just like a green and out of shape horse with less than ideal conformation, which he is/has all of.

I have done all the same ground work with Bill as I have my riding horses. Bill turns on the haunches, foreturns, sidepasses and leg yields. He has been flagged and sacked out thouroghly as well as ponied from my big horse. His previous owner had kids ride him all over and took him camping and to poker rides. So while he is green in some ways, he has experienced much. So far I found nothing that phases him.

What has impressed me the most about Bill is how quickly he has learned voice commands. He is a GENIOUS! I was pushing him to walk too fast. Too many years riding Tennessee Walkers, I hate a lazy walk and always work it forward. When Bill broke to trot he came right back down to walk with "e-a-s-y walk". No big deal I know, but only second time in cart and he was able to stay focused on my voice. He is SO cool!

So Thursday Billy gets his teeth done and bloodwork. I'll give him time after that to recover, then back to work. I'll check and double check all the great suggestions you guys have given me. We are a work in progress <grin>.

Thanks a bunch!

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Hi Leia! Thanks for the compliment on my hands. I have worked real hard on them. Then I saw that video and that is the first thing I saw...my hunching. E-gads...why didn't my riding lessons transfer to THAT. I think I was just trying so hard to be still and calm that I perched there and didn't move. The other reason is I WAN'T TO BE CLOSE TO BILLY IN A HYPERBIKE, LOL!!! It won't be long and I will be ordering.

That's the impression I got too, and it's far better than simply slouching as if you don't care!

Just remember, you're effectively "leading from the rear" when you're driving. In that video your whole body is focused on him, so where do you think his focus is going to be? Yup- he's going to mirror your posture and try to figure out what you're staring at back there. Look up beyond him at your destination and I think you'll find he relaxes and goes forward more softly.

I still think the bit is far too low, and it will be hard to raise the blinkers without raising the bit, although not impossible.

I agree, the bit is too low at this point. Raising the blinkers will help but they don't have much room to adjust upwards before the buckle interfers with the browband on that particular bridle so the bit itself will probably need further adjustment as well. First fix the teeth, then the bit!

One thing at a time.

Leia, Kody does not drive in a check outside the breed ring (another strange rule!!) it seems strange to me that you should drive him all the time in blinkers for the odd breed class??

First of all, I like how they look- that's the real reason.

Kody does not mind them the way he does a check so I can afford to cater to my own aesthetic values without input/discussion from The Horse. Secondly, it avoids a lot of hassle from American judges and trainers who would feel it necessary to point out that I was being "unsafe" regardless of his actual behavior, training, personality, or equipment.

Third, he does indeed like driving in an open bridle. The problem is that he liked driving open so much that when I put him back in blinkers he threw a fit and started spazzing at every little sound made by the other horses driving around him. Remember that this is Kody: it wasn't that the noises were suddenly scary...he was throwing a temper tantrum at not being allowed to see his buddies now that he knew it was possible! We ended up in a ditch extricating ourselves from barbed wire and I said "Never again, boyo!"

I'm sure I could train him to accept both forms of bridling without the theatrics and have in fact pondered using an open bridle on marathon but for daily driving it's simply easier to use blinkers so he remains accustomed to them and doesn't cause safety issues unexpectedly at the breed shows. He was fine with the check too...until I took it off. Now he sees putting it on as the imposition it is and not something to be accepted unquestioningly; I don't want the same thing to happen with the blinkers.

You know me, Fizz- I don't do anything driving-related without a reason!

Leia