Tuesday, August 3, 2010

replacement

The good news is that my wonky Barefoot is being replaced, yay!! They agreed (after some foot stamping on my part) to take it back to look at it and have now apologised for what they call a little 'setback' and are sending me a new one. It's hard enough to sit on a horse, with all it's imbalances, being a wonky human; sitting in a wonky saddle is just one step too far, LOL.
So today I rode Moo bareback again (I could shim my treed saddle to suit but as the new saddle will be here soon I think I'll do without) we had a good session. He is improving with the moving away from the left and I played with slowing the walk right down and then letting it out again. It's quite strange because bareback I only have to raise my toes/drop my heel and he halts and that even works with the reins on his neck and my arms in the air (yes I've been playing), I suppose this transfers from using a dropping of weight into the stirrups as an aid to halt when saddled. I have also noticed that the problem of the chair seat could well be down to my inner thigh! You know, the bit that some folk think you can pull out and back to get the thigh flat to the saddle! To be honest I can't tell what I look like bareback because my trusty camcorder has thrown a sicky and I'm working on a cure. When Yvonne was house sitting she saw me up bareback and said I looked straight so for now I won't beat myself up about the thighs and I'll just keep stretching it all in the hope that my legs may end up 5cm longer.

Chapiro worked at liberty to start, oh that boy is just such fun to be with and he makes me smile. The clicker work has helped his concentration enormously but he still has his baby moments but they are very forgivable. We finished on the lunge with some good trot and canter transitions and then some trotting poles to get him stepping through a little. A good day in all.

4 comments:

Claire said...

why is it that manufacturers will insist they don't make mistakes, when we all do!

glad they're sorting it, hope the next one is OK

Di said...

After all this bareback riding you may not want to go back to using a saddle! ;-) Chapiro does sound like good fun, you've taught him well. I'm going to put some poles down for Remy tomorrow.

trudi said...

Exactly Claire!

Di, I do think I will do lots more without stirrups work and maybe the odd bareback even when I have my saddle.

allhorsestuff said...

Nice work!
I adore riding without stirrups and preferably on my "Soft Saddle". You do have to do different things to keep yourself balanced and from bouncing...I like the freedom of it.
Hope you get the other things worked out..more options!
KK