Combined Training today!

Well it was sort of a mixed day with bad and good - but that's good I suppose, gives us things to work on!! Because I'm not here half the year while at uni, my mum rides Flynn and does a fab job of keeping him fit, and although she was a really good rider in her day, she doesn't school or jump any more, just hacks! So since December/first week of Jan I've been back once in the first weekend of Feb, and again this weekend. So he hasn't been schooled much!

But in dressage he was great - normally the first time on grass of the season he's horrendous, because he thinks grass = jumping ha. But he was great! He's got a weak left hind though (we think he must have had an injury in Ireland before we got him), which comes right with regular schooling, but because of the colder weather and not much schooling, he felt quite unbalanced on it on the left rein during our test, and wasn't bringing it through properly. I'm not too worried about it, as our instructor gave us lots of exercises to do to strengthen it before she left, and they've always worked before, so I'm hoping when I have April off for Easter, I can do lots of strengthening work on it.

It will be interesting to see what mark we get because of his tongue though.. Tried so many bits, and trying some more in April when I'm home properly, but if anyone has any advice I'd love it! He's not evading the bit at all, just physically doesn't have enough room in his mouth for his tongue and a bit.. Even his dentist said it was one of the biggest tongues he's seen! But we always get marked down for it
















Then onto showjumping! Well. We'd had a brilliant jumping lesson on Friday, but I think suddenly being back in a competition atmosphere after so long etc blew Flynn's mind a bit. He was just hollowing quite a bit, and being really sticky over every jump. To be fair to him it was a disgusting course, really poorly built and really shoddy jumps. Didn't flow at all, and they just weren't substantial or welcoming. The first 5 were like verticles with not much in them, then a weird 180 degree turn back onto a spread with bright fillers.. Not normally a problem, but it just rode horribly, and as Flynn was being so sticky he wasn't having any of it despite my best efforts and we had a refusal! Cue me going into thelwell mode with a fair bit of 'GET ON' growling and he jumped it second time, but still a bit frustrating! He was fine after that though. I just hate how defensively I was riding! But I'd rather be in my unattractive determined mode when he's being difficult, rather than my nervous mode which for some reason hit me at the end of last season for the first time! Anyway, they were doing schooling rounds as well, so since no one else was ready to jump, I just went straight back in and we did a MUCH better round - we were both much more relaxed, and I could focus on the approach rather than whether he was going to jump or not! So finished on a really good note Especially considering he's only jumped once since November and gone out and popped a 3 foot/95cm course with no qualms on the height is really good! The rest will just come with more practise as the season goes on











Scond round










Also going to do lots of work in the holidays on getting him rounder over jumps. He was really hollow today for some reason, which he isn't usually, so going to do lots of exercises for that so he's jumping better! Also please do excuse my position today I am literally disgustingly stiff after three days intense riding - really goes to show those who say it's not a sport are talking bullshit, because I would not be this stiff and out of practise after a few months if it was so easy haha!

Very well done if you got through all that, and pictures are thanks to my wonderful dad who braved a very broken toe, a 5am start and freezing temperatures to take his wonderful daughter to some horse show

You both look great! I love seeing how far you've come with him some you first got him!

Ahhhh Flynn He's always been a forum favorite!

Unfortunate you're not able to jump and school him as much with school but glad you can do pony bootcamps in between! Awesome that your mom can at least keep him in shape with flatwork!

Look forward to future updates!

I love love Flynn, hes so cute. Thats strange about his tongue. Ever thought about hackamore or a bitless solution?

Thanks guys! It's so weird to think back on the old HL we could hardly even canter on the right leg, and were working horrendously on the flat! He's such a good boy now though, so proud of him

Morgan - yeah, I thought of that last summer when I was schooling him in the field, so I just attached his reins to his headcollar and schooled him like that and he was so good - doing canter to halt etc just off my seat. So I WISH I could just go bitless with him, but for some reason in dressage you're not allowed to use a bitless bridle/hackamore. So stupid.. Would be quite tempted to try one for jumping, but they're expensive and don't have one to borrow before I buy in case it doesn't work annoyingly!

Oh, and the pro photos are up!
Would buy this one if his head wasn't chopped off!

That stinks they don't let you have anything bitless. I know I don't show dressage, but with reining, you can use any kind of bitless/hackamore as long as it isn't mechanical.

He still manages to get his tongue out of his mouth even with the flash on? He truly must have a huge tongue!

It looks like you're just using a full cheek snaffle on Flynn. I'm assuming you've tried a plain O ring snaffle or Egg butt and didn't have success with that.

It makes sense to find a bit with a narrow mouth piece so his tongue has more room, but then you deal with it being more harsh.... I suppose if you have careful hands, it could be done though.

Yeah, we've tried tightening the flash, but it just made him stressed and he still got it out! A friend said her horse used to do the same thing and she used a grackle and that worked, so might try that, although doubt it would help as the bit would still be a problem..

Yeah, using a full cheek snaffle atm! Yeah, we tried a myler with him as they have much thinner mouthpieces, but he still stuck it out the little bugger! It's not dressage legal, but I want to try one of the more ported mylers as that should give him more tongue room.. I've never had them check inside his mouth before during tack checks, but I'd be so worried about it happening the one time we did use an illegal bit if it did help so frustrating!!

I just don't see why you can't compete bitless in dressage, it doesn't make sense!

I wish I could help you with the tongue, I don't know if any of this might help but these are some things I do with one of the horse's I'm riding who has a tongue issue. His tongue issue occurs whenever he locks his jaw and stops chewing. Admittedly he's had some poor training and is very out of shape but we took off his noseband and flash to encourage him to move his jaw. I carry my hands high and use a piece of twine round his neck to teach him to half halt, balance, move his shoulders, and to use his back. I'll also occasionally do quick twiddling with my fingers to just get him to chew the bit (this is not constant, just occasionally) to unlock his jaw. (he was held together with very closed, tight hands) and he needs to know the bit won't hurt him and that he can reach out to it, so I give a lot when his bodies in position to take the bit. I don't take the rein to bend, I lift the rein and add leg (knee) and touch him with the whip and then half halt with the twine so he doesn't run off or ignore my request. There are a lot of little things that are possible to do at different instances...I don't know if any of that helps at all but I thought it might be something to play with or try. And if it doesn't help, no harm done.

Most of the horses I know will stick out their tongue when something becomes locked somewhere (and it can be very hard to feel the particular stiffness or know what to do to fix it). I've ridden a lot of different horses and been through quite a bit and with the horse above, I wouldn't have known what to do, especially not the quick twiddling to encourage chewing. At this point I'm doing the best I can with him, I can only tell his tongue is out when I feel his jaw lock and he ceases to chew. I think when he becomes stronger I'll feel it in other but for now that's how I feel it. So good luck, it's a really tough issue.

DressageNerd wrote:I wish I could help you with the tongue, I don't know if any of this might help but these are some things I do with one of the horse's I'm riding who has a tongue issue. His tongue issue occurs whenever he locks his jaw and stops chewing. Admittedly he's had some poor training and is very out of shape but we took off his noseband and flash to encourage him to move his jaw. I carry my hands high and use a piece of twine round his neck to teach him to half halt, balance, move his shoulders, and to use his back. I'll also occasionally do quick twiddling with my fingers to just get him to chew the bit (this is not constant, just occasionally) to unlock his jaw. (he was held together with very closed, tight hands) and he needs to know the bit won't hurt him and that he can reach out to it, so I give a lot when his bodies in position to take the bit. I don't take the rein to bend, I lift the rein and add leg (knee) and touch him with the whip and then half halt with the twine so he doesn't run off or ignore my request. There are a lot of little things that are possible to do at different instances...I don't know if any of that helps at all but I thought it might be something to play with or try. And if it doesn't help, no harm done.

Most of the horses I know will stick out their tongue when something becomes locked somewhere (and it can be very hard to feel the particular stiffness or know what to do to fix it). I've ridden a lot of different horses and been through quite a bit and with the horse above, I wouldn't have known what to do, especially not the quick twiddling to encourage chewing. At this point I'm doing the best I can with him, I can only tell his tongue is out when I feel his jaw lock and he ceases to chew. I think when he becomes stronger I'll feel it in other but for now that's how I feel it. So good luck, it's a really tough issue.

Thank you, that is worth a try when I'm back home! The only reason I don't *think* it's stiffness (so please please correct me if you think it still could be haha), is because even with his tongue out he will be stretching down into the contact and swinging along evenly though his back, and then when I ask him will work really nicely long and low, opening up and doing serpentines, circles etc all long and low and really using his back, and I wouldn't have thought he'd be so willing to do that if he was stiff? And I can give the reins completely and he'll still be working round/in an outline etc holding himself happily with no contact, yet still have his tongue out? But I don't know nearly enough about dressage/horse anatomy or whatever so I really easily could be wrong those were just me thoughts! But it is definitely worth taking the noseband/flash off to see if that helps him relax.. I hadn't really thought of that so thank you!

My dad just sent me over the dressage sheet.. Not great. We got a mixture of 5s, 6s and 7s, but hardly any comments explaining why. One was what I know we would be marked down for which was when we went uneven in left rein trot, so that's something I know when I can school him regularly which is fine! And then the ONLY explanation she gives for such low marks is in the overall box at the bottom where she said we lost marks due to his tongue. It's just really getting to me now that he can do a lovely test and be marked lower than a horse that has gone round hollow with the rider sawing at its mouth, simply because the other horse manages to keep its tongue in, even though it's not even moving correctly. Before his tongue we were getting tests in the 20s, and now we ALWAYS get them in the 40s, even though, if anything, his way of moving has actually improved. GAH!!!

It's hard to say. I've had a lot of rides where I've thought, wow they're really elastic and over the back and so light in the bridle and they follow to reach my hand but they still aren't quite through and using themselves as well as they could be. It took a lot of learning for me and being told I wasn't getting enough out of the horse before I really developed to feel for having half the horse and the whole thing. I'm not saying that's what is going on, I'm just saying it's something to think about (and very frustrating when you think it's going well and your trainer is like not really). Personally I think it might help Flynn to flex more at the poll and relax his jaw. Chewing of the bit would help too. Because chewing makes a big difference for horses with tongue issues.

For me when I ride Sporty and Quest, suppleness and chewing is VERY important to me. Sporty I sometimes will ride as round and deep as I can make him. It's never forced, trust me Sporty cannot be forced to do anything he doesn't want to or is uncomfortable to do. But I'll take the inside rein and when he gives entirely in his neck I release and have him in the outside rein because I leg yield him into it, while I ask him to give with the inside. And then take it up immediately the moment he ceases to be supple, relaxed, and stretching. I do a lot with position on him and there seems like a million little things I do that I can't put into words when I ride that particular horse. Like I might post bigger on the outside hip when on a circle and put more weight in either the inside or outside stirrup depending on where his balance is. and in downward transitions I always focus on keeping him really supple and laterally submissive and that makes for better transitions on him.

Quest I am always encouraging to chew so I will twiddle in the bridle. But keep in mind this horse was ridden with a very locked hand and elbow so he only knows how to lock against the bit but not actually accept it, so twiddling teaches him to chew and stretch down to it. He is being ridden into a contact but the twiddling makes a big difference for now. I won't always do it, eventually he should be supple to a squeeze of my hand or a lift in the connection or whatever but for now that is what I need to do, so that he understands what I want and can travel in the direction he needs to.

Really what I'm trying to explain is when you're training, you do not and should not necessarily be textbook perfect. Do what is necessary, effective, and will help you and your horses training. A trainer I've worked with likes to say as strong as necessary, as light as possible and I think that's a pretty good standard to go by. The round and deep I would carry always because it's such an effective tool for making a horse more supple, over the top line, relaxed, and happy. There is a reason people like Carl Hester and Jean Bemelmans use it with their horses. And it's not something I'd encourage everyone to try because they don't have the feel for it but you're a nice rider and can feel a connection and ride without aggressively attacking the face. Because round and deep is a relaxation thing, not a pull, shove, or fight thing, though sometimes you have to be strong to say yes you can go a little deeper and stretch a little more. It really helps with relaxing the poll and jaw and chewing. When it's done well, the horses are so supple, elastic, and through that is feels really amazing when you start picking them up.

So that's stuff maybe to play around with in your mind. I don't know if it will help or not and I kind of feel uncomfortable suggesting such things because it does take quite a bit of finessing and trial and error to get a feel for and I don't know if I should say anything or not but I figure you can make better decisions for yourself than I ever could or ever will, so I'm just throwing ideas out there.

Thank you, that's all really helpful! You reminded me as well how Flynn used to chew SO much on the bit and would salivate so much.. so maybe I shouldn't just be looking for a thin/ported type bit but also a copper/sweet iron type bit with rollers or something, just to get him chewing more and distracted from sticking his tongue out.

Home properly by the end of march, so hoping to get a selection of bits on trial, so will keep you updated!!