My Saddle Fitting Adventure – Part 4

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

I knew when I took the gamble to lean forward and grab one rein just inches from the bit that Phoenix would either swerve towards where I was pulling and keep running, fall down, or stop. Lucky for me my gamble paid off and once Phoenix realized he had no where to go he stopped dead and had the panicked heaving breath. I was PISSED at him for being such a naughty pony. I was thinking of nothing then but how I was going kill my Fat Spotted Pony. I swear I would not be surprised if those around me saw steam coming out of my ears because I was MAD! I don’t get mad often, but when I get mad I am PISSED. Everyone in the ring had a look of shock on their face and the woman who organized the saddle fitting asked if I wanted to get off and lunge Phoenix.

In that moment I was livid and so I told her that no, we would work this out under saddle. Unknown to me at the time, every other person in the ring was very concerned about my safety. It was not like Phoenix was a little naughty. He has been out of control and dangerous. I had not realized how scary it must have been to watch until the group decision had come down that I needed to get off of him. The organizer of the saddle fitting decided to lunge him since we were not sure how he was going to be. Ground training is without a doubt a big hole in Phoenix’s training. I had felt no fear with the whole situation until I saw Phoenix on the line. What I had taken for naughtiness was panic. Pure, “Holy Shit”, panic.

That scared me because I have never seen Phoenix be scared before. He can get nervous or surprised sometimes, but he is not a scared horse. Watching him try and bolt at the end of the line had the knot in my tummy growing. I didn’t want to get back on. Screw the saddle fitting. I wanted out of the whole situation at that point. As I stood in the center of the ring I tried to weigh my options and find a good out. Sadly, I could not come up with one. The longer I stood there watching Phoenix loose his brain the more trapped I felt. Clearly, lunging was not helping him mentally. I was hoping that it might at least take some energy out. When the organizer of the fitting said that Phoenix was ready for me to get on I could have cried.

Being nervous around a nervous horse is just not a good combo. Since I had no out I had to do the best that I could. Several deep breaths later I walked over to the mounting block. I took the reins of my baby horse and tried not to let the anger or fear that were swirling around my head take hold. Phoenix is the horse that I have trained all by myself. If I couldn’t trust Phoenix that means that I have failed as a trainer. I gave him a kiss and told him to be good. I swear he was telling me that he was going to try, but he wasn’t so sure. I took a few more deep breaths and put my foot in the stirrup. As I swung over I could already see Phoenix tensing up. When I sat down I felt like a coiled spring was underneath me.

Thankfully Phoenix and I were on the other side of the ring from the fitting at this point. It was just the organizer of the fitting, Phoenix, myself and someone taking a lesson. The organizer helped me out big time by reminding me of all the things I could do to help the situation. If she had not been there I would have done nothing but think about Phoenix’s next bolt. She kept Phoenix and I busy enough with exercises that even though he felt tense at the walk, he didn’t feel explosive anymore. It took all my courage to ask for a trot, and sure enough the first time I did it Phoenix started to feel like a stick of dynamite again. I asked him to walk and tried it again, many more times. Eventually I was able trot around a 20 meter circle a few times before I had to walk. Trotting was good because I could not hold my breath while posting.

I do not know how long we were on the other side of the ring working, but I do know it was a long time because the lesson finished up and left us and a new rider came in. The longer I went on trotting the more I realized that Phoenix was not going to get tired. He clearly has some Thoroughbred in him because once the nerves kicked on he was like an energizer bunny. Once I realized that the tense baby horse I had was all I was going to get I knew I had to just get overmyself and canter him. I didn’t want to. Cantering just seemed so reckless. For the fitting I was going to have to canter so I knew I had to try it out now before everyone was watching.

It took a few tries to not get him to try and take off with me. Unlike before, all of these outbursts were easy enough to stop after a few strides. That gave me courage to keep at it. After a bit I was able to get him to canter without any drama. The problem was that he would do the transition, canter nicely for about a stride, and then he would kickout or buck with his hind end. I was feeling better, but not confident, at this point so I pushed Phoenix for a bigger gait to see if that would help. When I asked for forward he did not give it to me, so instead of loosing his attention completely I would ask for a downward transition. We were only cantering half a circle at a time, but I knew that it was the best I could do at that point.

My ridding had gone to shit and I was hanging on for dear life with my hands. Phoenix was tense and ridged and not coming over his back. It was a total embarrassment. I wanted to crawl into a dark hole and never come out. I could feel the sting of humiliation all over me as I asked Phoenix to walk so he could catch his breath. It was in that moment that I questioned why I was even riding at all. Clearly I sucked at it. I couldn’t even get my stupid horse to canter. Not only that, but Phoenix still felt like he could go off at any time. I was miserable. Of course, just as I was feeling so down and defeated Jochen Schleese came over and told me to come back where he was. He wanted to watch us go so he could assess saddle fit.

As I marched to the other side of the ring the other two woman getting their saddle fit decided it was safer on the side of the ring away from my Fat Spotted Pony and I. That left one scared horse, a rider battling nerves, defeate, and frustration with 4 saddle fitters and a full on peanut gallery to watch them.

To Be Continued…

My Saddle Fitting Adventure – Part 2

Part 1

Schleese had brought their whole saddle fitting rig (truck and trailer) into the indoor arena to do the fitting. While they were setting up Jochen Schleese came over and told me that since no one else is ready, and that since Phoenix and I had big issues (the local tack store owner came there with them to train so they were all filled in) he would start with us and then as people came we would take a break. I made it very clear that I understood that I was a low man on the totem pole and that the other two woman should go first. The organizer of the fitting and I had already talked about having Phoenix spend the night at “the Crik” if things went too late so I was not worried about time. I brought Phoenix out to walk him around the ring naked (I got lots of comments about his purple camo! Poor Phoenix).

Jochen Schleese had barely looked at him when both of the other women came out. So I set about my original hand walking goal of getting Phoenix used to everything. Poor guy, his eyes were bugging out of his head. He had what I affectionately call “double stuffed oreo eyes”. Just like Gen, Phoenix has dar eyes and dark skin around his eyes. That makes it very obvious when he is nervous because the white part is very clear to be seen. Phoenix was trying very hard to keep it together, but he would lunge forward and pull against me at the slightest of sounds (and sometimes without sounds). Nothing dramatic, but enough to make it very clear that I did not have a happy horse at the end of my lead.

Once he had calmed down on the side of the ring near the saddle fitting area, I walked him over to the other side of the ring where a rider was on their fancy warmblood. My big fear at this barn was that people would be rude to me just because Phoenix and I did not fit the norm. I had not even taken 10 steps on the other side of the ring when the woman riding yells out in the snottiest voice you can imagine, “Can you just let me have my side of the thing. My horses is having a hard time and I don’t need you to cause more trouble”. Ummm…okay. She might have used the phrase “can you” in the sentence, but I can assure you it was not a question. I was totally taken aback. Just the tone she used was rude let alone what she said. And trust me when I tell you that her horse was not having a hard time. He was being a total saint, her horse could have cared less where Phoenix and I want. She made it clear to me that she was the one with a problem. Not only that, but who tells someone that they cannot be near them?!?! I mean, we all pray that a crazy horse and ride combo will ride away from us, but to say something? Who does that?!?! And last time I checked sharing the ring is pretty standard at every barn…rings tend not to be broken up into “my side and your side”. It was a good thing I was so shocked because I walked away before I could so something I would regret.

The thing is, I am not scared of taking Phoenix to fancy places or recognized shows because I am worried about us standing out, we stand out WHEREVER we go so I have already experienced that this year. It is one thing if a trainer that I do not respect says something, it is something else if Courtney King-Dye were to make a comment (not that she would…I am just saying). The dressage world is a small one. I have less than 3 degrees of separation from all 4 members of the 2008 Dressage Olympic team…what does that tell you. I am afraid that I will not react well to someone being rude to myself or my pony because of the way I look and that will hurt my reputation. I was not sure if I would cry or deck someone who was mean, and not knowing how I would react scared me. As rude and bitchy as that woman was, she helped me in the fact that now I know I will be stunned enough to walk away, and that my reaction is more one of wanting to hurt them back than to cry. Good to know.

I took Phoenix back to the side where the saddle fitters were and stewed a little bit more. It was just so rude the way the woman said it. You can say somehting like “I am a little nervous right now, would you mind waiting to walk your horse over here until I am done? I will be off in a few minutes” or, I don’t know, do what we all do and just suck it up and ride (PO often will take a crazy horse on training board for a month or two so Phoenix and I have often had to ride around an explosive horse, not fun, but it is part of life). I was also mad because Phoenix was really not being that bad. He was never out of control in hand, he would lunge forward a little and I would catch him. All 4 feet stayed on the ground the whole time and he never even turned sideways. I was so mad at what a bitch that woman was. Luckily, I hand walked Phoenix for a long time after the woman left the ring before it was my turn to be fitted so I was much calmer when Jochen Schleese called Phoenix and I over to get started. Phoenix seemed to be settling down as well. His eyes were still popping out of his head, but he was at least starting to be the mouthy monster that I am used to .

To Be Continued…

My Saddle Fitting Adventure – Part 1

All day on Tuesday I was looking forward to my saddle fitting. Because I have to work I was not able to get Phoenix on the trailer. The woman setting up the fitting and Phoenix’s Owner (PO) worked the timing out and they loaded Phoenix up so he was waiting for me at “The Crik” when I got out of work. The organizer of the fitting got a call early in the afternoon that Jochen Schleese and crew were running late and could we bump everyone back by an hour. When the organizer told me that I got super excited. Why? Because that left me enough time to see my Gennyral! This week sucks and I have 3 day where I am working over 14 hours so that means 3 days of no Gennyral. I was worried on the fitting day that I might not be able to see my horse all week. An hour was plenty of time to leave work and see my horse before heading off to the fitting.

And for those of you who have never had a saddle done, saddle fitters, regardless of what company you use, are not usually on time. I have had them come over an hour early on a visit and I have had them come several hours late. It is just part of the saddle fitting experience and so I was expecting is on Tuesday. What I thought was nice was the fact that they called to update us on their progress. So why are saddle fitters not on time? They block out a certain amount of time per client like any other service provider. When they run into a problem horse they need to take the time to fix the problem. You should not want a saddle fitter that rushes to meet appointments because that means they are not giving you and your horse the undivided attention it takes to fix a problem saddle. On the flip side, sometimes they have easy fixes all day and so they run early. Fitting a saddle to a horse is complicated so you all should be wary of a saddle fitter that has a fitting session down to a timed formula.

Anyway, before I even got to Gen’s barn I got another call that now they were running two hours behind. I figured I would just head over to the barn where the fitting was and just groom and play with Phoenix to kill some time once I was done with Phoenix. The woman who organized the fitting was thinking ahead and ran off to the store to get food and booze for everyone to help pass the time. PO was actually over there changing her fancy horses blankets (she moves him to an indoor in the winter before she heads to warmer weather) so it was fun to chat and munch in a nice heated tack room.

It took me a moment to fine Phoenix in his temporary stall. I was laughing, because you would think an Appy at a fancy barn with a purple camo blanket would stick out like a sore thumb! They had hidden him in the last stall in the back (they swear it was the only one open) and I was able to find him by call out his name and having him nicker back to me. I just followed the sound of his voice until I saw his nose pushing through the bars. Phoenix was having a hard time with the new environment. In fact, I will admit that my pony was being stupid. He was spooking at the sliding door to his stall! What horse is afraid of a stall door! The poor Fat Spotted Pony’s eyes were popping out of his head and he wasn’t even eating his hay. That is just not like my Phoenix at all. Phoenix will spook sometimes, but he quickly gets over it. He doesn’t stay scared ever. He also doesn’t ever have food in front of him that he is not eating!

I was worried about his not normal behavior, he was a big mush because he was so nervous. He was putting his head on my shoulder, burying his face in my arms and just being the sweetest, most affectionate pony ever. I brushed him and tried to desensitize him to the door before heading back to the warmth and comfort of the tack room. After chatting a while the ladies came up with the good idea that maybe I should walk the baby horse around the indoor to try and get him to calm down. Phoenix was not acting like himself, maybe hand walking would be just what he needed.

To Be Continued…

Part 2