# Bedhead's riding journal {AHA, Training + Sidesaddle



## Bedhead (Aug 4, 2013)

Hmmm, I did not know this forum existed prior o: I thought I had scanned the forum but I guess I missed it.

This will be a very, very nice streamlined place for me to keep a journal on my riding (Hurray!)

I've been riding with the same trainer since 2010. I started riding lesson horses, then her personal horses, and leased a gelding in 2012 from another girl at the barn. In the following November I stopped riding the hunter gelding and took up my current horse, Rush. He was trained Country English Pleasure (Saddleseat), and in 2013 I trained him to carry me aside. Rush is my main squeeze (there's several horses here and I may add more to list) and the light of my life. He's since been dropped to Hunter Pleasure due to his age and we might try Sport Horse under saddle, but unfortunately we're dealing with a soundness issue. It's under control and he'll be able to go back to full work after some time off and adjustments to how he's trimmed.

In the meantime, the trainer is letting me show one of her half arabian CEP mares. I'll be showing her in the sidesaddle at the show in a month.

There's various horses that I pleasure ride- Knightly, a Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horse, Rio a paint, and Emma who's a lovely little arabian mare.

I've got my dressage lesson horse Abbott as well who I ride on Tuesdays. I've actually learned quite a bit on him- he's a trained eventer, however he's one of those horses who doesn't do the work for you. If you do it right he'll d o it right, but he won't carry you along. He's taught me how to feel a horse that collects or is disengaged, because he's very obvious about it- but as soon as you ask him properly he does whatever you want without thinking twice about it. I also recently started jumping lessons on him so I can learn properly.

After the show at the end of the month, I won't be much interested in riding the half arab mare anymore, however Rush will still be off work for some time. The trainer has a nice little black arab mare she's going to let me start fooling with, which will be good for everyone- the mare will get worked, and I'll learn how to finish a started horse (However I'll essentially be starting the mare over from scratch- she's exceedingly green, as no one has hunkered down and focused on her).

The trainer says I may be able to take her to an open show in September (just a little local one in the walk-trot classes), however I also think the trainer is over estimating what I'm hoping to achieve in that kind of time frame. I'm not planning to even saddle the mare until next month, and only if she's ready.

For August, I'll be focusing on getting her to be solid on the lunge line, then once she's good on vocal cues she'll be long lined until she does that like a champ. I'm not really aiming to have her show polished and ready in two months, even by greenie standards. I'll be under supervision for the under saddle portions, but this will be my first time laying down the foundations for a horse and I want to take it slow and steady and at the mare's pace. If we happen to be in a place where she can do some walk trot classes in the fall then I'll be more than happy to take her, but if not then I don't really care.

With Rush still out for the moment, my drive to show has kind of come to a screeching halt. The only reason I'm showing the bay mare at the end of the month is because the girl who's recently taken her on as a project detests riding sidesaddle (her prior horse had an awful trot for riding aside, and she only showed it because the judges loved him aside). I was going to ride the mare at the show anyway before the other girl took her on so I'm not encroaching on anything she had planned. I _love_ riding aside, so that was the only incentive to get me riding her. Once the show is over I'll be focusing all my attention on the little black mare, and the bay mare will finally have someone who can focus on her and give her the kind of attention she deserves. The bay mare is nice and I'll get through the classes but I just didn't mesh with her like I did Rush, however the other girl has really started to like her now that she's worked her a few times, which I'm happy for. The little black mare will be a nice learning experience for me and while she gets worried about some things, she's a real sweet heart who tries to do the right thing and I think we'll get along just fine until I can get back to working Rush again.

Today I'm going to see how the little mare does being lunged, and if she does well then I may try to long line her and see how she does with that (assuming she knows enough about bits to understand how to change direction to the outside of the circle).

While we wer at the vet yesterday with Rush the trainer asked the vet for a sand guy's number- vet gave her the number of a guy who knows a sand guy, and she says she wants to redo the arena in white beach sand and I know she's planning on redoing at least one of the round pens. Very, very excited for the happenings at the barn c:


----------



## anndankev (Aug 9, 2010)

subbing, happy to have found your journal.


----------



## Bedhead (Aug 4, 2013)

Worked the little black mare, Zz, today. Final verdict is "okay". She didn't do anything _bad_ persay, but we did have to discuss how to properly lunge. She probably would have had an easier time of it if I'd of had a round pen to work her in, but the trainer dismantled the one she wants sanded, and the other is unusable because of how hard the ground is right now. We made do in the arena but I think it confused her as the mare did just fine when she was on the rail, but as soon as her circle had her coming off the wall to cut across that's when she was like "No hable?" Definitely want to be working her in the round pen more anyway if I can help it.

She eventually figured it out, and then once she was going well I started to ground drive her. That went okay as well- she did what I told her, and we got a few laps around the entire arena but she wove like a drunkard. I'm pretty sure it's the first time in a long while she's been ground driven (if not the first time ever), but she did well all things considering. I thought she'd be more worried about the offside line being behind her hip when we circled but it actually helped to keep her going in a goo circle without trying to turn out and getting confused in the line.

After that, she got hosed down (which she was very good about, though not a fan of having her face cleaned), sprayed with the rose conditioner and fly spray and I untangled the nasty looking witches' weaves from her mane- it's actually pretty long once it's all untangled.

Honestly while it was a sturdy "okay", it was much better than what I was expecting. It wasn't pretty, but it could have gone alot worse- she tried, she listened and was definitely doing better at the end of the work out and there wasn't any sort of panicing or getting tangled in the lines. 

I was having some serious reservations about wanting the trainer to let me break Zz under the side saddle once she's got a handle on things in a normal saddle, and while I'm not going to rush to it we're going to see how much she actually knows in a few weeks (until then I want to keep ground driving her and working on getting her to be super responsive to vocal and hand cues, which I'm hoping will make under saddle work easier and I can eventually get her going off leg cues and lighten up on using my hands [though it's not like I'm a heavy handed rider anyway] and if she does well under saddle and seems to have her head on straight then I'll ask her if I can try it in a month or so after we start working her astride).

I need to remember to take the black weighted skirt to the barn so I can ride the bay halfarab mare in it on Sunday- Hoping for photos and videos if she doesn't murder me!

Some photos from today post work out; she was very good about letting me drape the working lines across her back, not so good about keeping her head still for a photo.


----------



## Bedhead (Aug 4, 2013)

Introduced Astatica to the apron and she was _fabulous_ oh my goodness.

It's not a perfect video (she was dumping her head behind the vertical and rather than shortening my reins to bring her head back up I just kept raising my hands, and while my back was pretty solid for the most part at the trot I was leaning too much at the canter), but all things considered it is pretty darn close.

http://vimeo.com/135888302

We're going to practice a few more times (I shouldn't need the draws next time) before the show but I am _so_ excited for the end of the month now.


----------



## anndankev (Aug 9, 2010)

Looks like her back stays pretty smooth, even with all that knee action.

Good Luck at the show.


----------



## Bedhead (Aug 4, 2013)

So I cantered over a jump for the first time today =D

I've been taking dressage lessons for a while, then starting jumping a few weeks ago (only had one lesson aside from today, eventing trainer was out of town last week). The jumps have been small, about a foot, foot and half or so- horse is a trained eventer so it's NBD to him, and lets me focus on figuring out how to two point ****. It's been going okay, first with the one jump and then with two.

However after a few times I guess Mr Abbott got frustrated with trotting up to them because he'd trot the first jump and then tried to canter the second one (which I wasn't expecting), so he bucked in protest to my panicked flailing haha. Then he got all jazzed up so we had to take a few minutes to get him to find his chill.

After he settled down we went over the jumps, and I was feeling a little bit braver so I let him canter over the second one, and then we did that a few more times and I didn't die!

Going to work Zz today and at some point I'm going to ride the bay mare again in the sidesaddle to practice posting and transitions within the gaits.

At the show there will be a Country English Pleasure Open a few classes before the actual sidesaddle class, which I will use as my warm up for the sidesaddle class. AHA says it's perfectly legal to ride aside so long as your attire is appropriate for the class and an apron is over your pants, so that will be a go. However I will _have_ to post in the sidesaddle since it's a "regular" class. And I will need to work on getting her to trot/strong trot/trot, canter/hand gallop/canter with minimal fussing which I am not anticipating to be a problem.

We're gonna smoke all those trainers and their astride horses ;D


----------



## Bedhead (Aug 4, 2013)

Pretty sure tomorrow I'm going to go and ride the three horses at this lady's property she lets me putz around on. I typically work them bareback, but I haven't ridden the mare since she left my trainer's facility to her owner's property so we will see how that goes lol.

Rush's heart bar shoes are coming in tomorrow as well so I will be there when the farrier goes to put them on his feet.

Also little know fact: I'm going to try and take Rush to the Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show next year. I'm without a doubt going to do all the sidesaddle classes, however the thing I am not sure of is if I should show him main ring hunter pleasure or show him in Sport Horse Under Saddle. The girls at my barn think he moves better for the SH ring- I don't really care either way, however I do want to do what he is best suited for. Of course now he's lame as all get out so taking a recent photo/video of him is absolutely out of the question.

Really hoping these shoes set him up right. On the one hand I'm not super anxious about riding him again (obviously I'm not going to value my passtimes to the detriment of his health), however on the other hand I've also gotten incredibly antsy the past few months being unable to ride him, even if I' ve been keeping myself busy by working other horses.


----------



## Bedhead (Aug 4, 2013)

Rush's heart bars are in and on his feet thankfully. Farrier is keeping an eye on him. 

Going to ride Astatica in the side saddle again today, this time just working on the posting trot. We will see how that goes **** and hopefully she won't get angry at me for flapping around on her back (not that I would blame her in the slightest haha) until I get the hang of things.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Bedhead (Aug 4, 2013)

Rode the little black mare the other day- she actually did very well, but we need to work on her staying to the rail. She kinda did a drunken weave around the arena. Going to ride the big bay mare in the sidesaddle today and figure out this posting nonsense.


----------



## Bedhead (Aug 4, 2013)

So I've been a little quiet the past few months; Rush was cleared to go back to work, I bought my own side saddle (hesitant to use it until it's been customized to him though), we have a walk/trot show this upcoming weekend which we will be doing in the side saddle I was riding in prior (my trainers).

Since we're transitioning to hunter I've been trying to retrain Rush to work with his head down/show him it's okay (since working with his head down is Cardinal Sin #1 as a saddle seat horse after he's been warmed up), and today while we were lunging (I just had his halter and the lunge line, no bitting up or long lines or anything), he started to reach down at the trot on his own which I was quick to encourage/praise with a "good boy", and I think he's starting to piece it together because after a few "good boy"s he looked like he was deliberately doing it more to see if he'd still get praised for it, and held it longer each time. It will probably be a while before he totally gets it since he spent so long being taught to keep his head up that he just moves that way, but once he figures out all the odds and ends I think he'll be happier moving out as a hunter; I know he's got all the breeding for a saddle seat horse but when he gets himself more properly engaged, when left to his own devices, he looks like a really pretty hunter, not a saddle seat horse. Hopefully the rest of the training and transitions goes well, but he's under conditioned and getting back in shape after almost 5 months stall rest and 6 months off work (the last month he was finally allowed to be freely turned out, before he was cleared to go back to being worked)


----------



## Bedhead (Aug 4, 2013)

So I tried the new saddle on Rush; he didn't seem to mind it whatsoever, but the seat is leather rather than the suede I'm accustomed to so that will take some adjustments. I'm going to give myself the winter to get used to it however if I still feel as precarious as I did then I may look into having the seat replaced (So yes, I know my eq was questionable, but that's what the trainer is for; audio is muted but she was coaching me).






However the ride went well; I wanted to go around the ring, see how he did, see if it fit, and we did that. We're still working on getting him to chill and put his head down and work long and low, but that will just take more saddle time (however I was not focused on that at all during this ride; I think he was bobbing his head when I took up my reins and/or concerned because he felt I wasn't feeling as secure as I usually am in a sidesaddle.).


----------



## Bedhead (Aug 4, 2013)

Been working with Rush to help get him back in shape over the past few months. Lots of groundwork and lots of lunging with poles. As we all know poles are Rush's absolute favorite ;-) (not)

When I consistently started adding the poles into our groundwork he was less than thrilled with me. First he didn't want to go over them at all, then he started hauling booty like someone had said his tail on fire and I guess we had a breakthrough today since he walked in trotted over them responsibly like a normal horse. I'm mostly using the poles to help build him back up but if this continues to go well then I may be able to make a low level jumping horse out of him yet. I'm typing this out as I cool him down and we've been walking over the poles repeatedly with no silly business. Today's a good day


----------



## Bedhead (Aug 4, 2013)

Also, I've been taking jumping lessons the past couple months (Well, the first couple of lessons were small jumps, then we went back to a lot of ground work and poles and whatnot since while I may not be too shabby on the flat, the same cannot be said over fences); While I usually ride the Eventing trainer's show horse, she put me on a guy who's much quieter and took me out to the jumping field. Since I didn't have anything to worry about with this quieter horse I was more than happy to pop over whatever jumps she pointed me at, having a grand old time but I woke up the next morning unable to move D:

Went to a banquet last night, got a top five with my horse club for my age division which was surprising because while I did really, really well with Rush during the first show of the season he was out for the rest of them and when I did show I was poking around on lesson horses or sale horses to see for my trainer how they did in a show environment. Also rode Rush and he did super, but he's getting the next three days off since he got ridden 3x last week and lunged, then we'll probably settle it out to x2 light rides and x2 long lining sessions a week.


----------



## EmilyJoy (Dec 30, 2011)

Subbing, so cool to see a sidesaddle journal! I am a big fan of riding aside, and I'd love to try it some day.  Keep it up! 

Just curious, where did you get your sidesaddle from?


----------



## Bedhead (Aug 4, 2013)

Thanks! It's tons of fun (I sadly haven't been riding aside as much because I'm focusing on getting Rush back in shape and it's simply easier to do in a "normal" saddle.) If you ever get the chance definitely take it.

I bought mine from a woman who showed Friesians down in Lousiana; My trainer and I are a HUGE fan of the comal side saddles, so when I saw it listed for sale and it was actually in my price range I about had a heart attack trying to find my card fast enough, lol.


----------



## EmilyJoy (Dec 30, 2011)

Huh I haven't heard of that brand before, I'll have to check them out. 

Definitely post updates when you do ride aside...I love the photos.

(In a nutshell) What training did you do to moving a horse that's been ridden astride to aside? Do you really have to work on the off side of the horse where the leg is no longer?

The whole thing looks fun, and if I do ever get the chance to ride aside I wouldn't pass it up!


----------



## Bedhead (Aug 4, 2013)

It's a very small saddlery near where I live, so it's not very well known. The man who made the side saddles died about five years ago so what's in circulation now is all there is. They're fairly popular in the Arabian, Friesian, etc., show circuits. They're more suited to broad, flat backed horses with minimal wither.

As far as training him, it was fairly simple. Rush has negative associations with crops and still gets in a bit of a twist about them to this day, but you couldn't ride him with one without him freaking out thanks to a past trainer. I spent a lot of time in a regular saddle working with him on settling in with the crop and accepting it as a replacement for the outside leg. 

Once he was solid on that we lunged him with the side saddle (making sure it fit, making sure the balance strap didn't bother him, etc); I can't remember if I was on him with a lunge line that first time we put it on his back, but the second time we put it on him my trainer had me on a lunge line at first and then turned me loose. I've been the first one to back a few horses side saddle so the only real thing they do is sometimes they'll drift off to the right looking for that leg, but they eventually settle in. He was walk/trot/cantering off the lunge line with a weighted apron by the second ride without any issues.

Even if you've got a horse ridden almost exclusively off seat and legs while there may be a bit of a learning curve it shouldn't impact things _too_ much; I know cow cutting is largely done that way and I've seen videos of a woman on an FB group who cuts cows side saddle. Granted I ride fairly evenly off my hands and seat (or rather I use my hands and voice to prep him for the seat cue, since he tends to drift off in that little pea brain of his and he hates surprises), but even still I'll shift my hip back for the offside canter cue, etc.

While he tolerates them for me, I made a point to meet Rush halfway on the crops ; he's good on only one leg for his walk and trot, the one leg obviously doesn't bother him for the on side canter cue, but for his offside we worked on the hip shift and lift with the outside rein. He picked that up very quickly, but for horses who don't have such strong reactions you can just substitute your crop for your leg. If we're at a show I might carry it, but I normally don't use it and if I do it's very softly, and only for the off side canter (Yes, he should just get over it, but he's very much a horse that makes you go "Is this the hill I want to die on", and as long as he does his job I meet him halfway on things.). When we're at home I don't bother with the crop.

So, in a nut shell, it took us all of a collective hour to have him working solidly with the side saddle and apron. If a horse is solidly broke there shouldn't be any shenanigans- they might go "where TH did your other leg go????", but they get used to it very quickly. You can either sub your "missing" leg with a crop, or work with the horse so he knows what you want even though you're only working with one leg. The saddles are structurally built different from astride trees so the pressure is even, despite you having both legs on one side. 

So long as you make sure to keep your right shoulder back so you're not twisting to the onside, and the saddle fits, they shouldn't have much, if any, issues adjusting.

Rush _notably_ prefers the side saddle; not sure if it's because something with the weight distribution feeling better, or simply because I feel more secure aside which makes for a happier pony.


----------



## EmilyJoy (Dec 30, 2011)

Thanks! That was very informative!


----------



## Bedhead (Aug 4, 2013)

Jumped on the grey horse at the eventing trainer yesterday. Trainer was gone so the assistant gave the lesson. It went well (well, as good as a novice jumper's lesson can go). I still need to work on sitting back because I'm terrible about leaning forward and forget "one day it's going to come back and bite me"- it already has, several times over. I'm sure my lower leg is a hot mess but the poor grey is a saint and I'm pretty sure you could approach a jump facing his butt and he'd still make it work. I'm not brave enough to ask for a video yet.

On the plus side, finally cantered Rush in the new sidesaddle (no video  ). My butt was firmly in place thankfully. It wasn't seamless and easy (which is good? I guess? My seat felt fine the entire time. It wasn't anything nasty), but we had breaks which is the important part  Going to ride again in it later this week in preparation for next weekend.


----------



## Bedhead (Aug 4, 2013)

Walk trot cantered the pony again aside. New bit, new padding, and sans crop. One or more of those variables agreed with him (probably missing the crop, knowing how he is about those), as while he's normally keyed up and tense for the first five minutes, he was 100% relaxed from start to finish (except when the trainer's dog jumped from her lap into the arena right as we were passing the gate  )

This was the very crude warm up- it was without question the worst part of the ride, however you can see it's not _that_ bad. Trainer said (once it was all said and done) it was the best ride we've ever had.

Note to self; wear a sports bra and remember how to bend your elbows good lord. At least I'm sitting up a little better :shrug:

Music was a freebie from Youtube, but when I saw it matched up with Rush's trot how could I not use it?


----------



## Bedhead (Aug 4, 2013)

I bathed and clipped Rush yesterday since we're leaving today for the NTIF tomorrow and Sunday; he was a very, very good boy. A very, very ***** boy, but a very good one none the less.

He's very fidgety about his ears and I was able to rub them down during the bath and not only did he tolerate them being clipped, but he let me go over them again when I realized I done goofed and used a 40 (yikes) and let me blend it a little better with a 10. This is the same horse who flipped over on my trainer the first time she tried to do his ears, so the fact I was able to clip him unassisted, without a twitch AND "clip him twice" with the second blade is a testimate to how far we've come on that front.

My jumping lesson is an hour early so I'll be able to drive back to my main barn after and help get the horses loaded, after clipping another two horses who are also going. Very, very excited.


----------



## Bedhead (Aug 4, 2013)

I'm on my phone right now but Rush did SO well at the Irish Fesitival! His pick up was perfect, he was nice and cadanced. I talked to the photographer at the show and he's going to send me the files for this year and last year ! I am so excited


----------



## Bedhead (Aug 4, 2013)

Rush did perfectly yesterday (no surprise). The first demo he kept breaking at the canter and I realized it was because I hadn't tightened the side saddle enough and it had slipped; trainer explained away my tack malfunction with "and Rush, being the gentleman he is, felt his lady slipping and stopped on his own so she can get adjusted." and of course everyone was like 'awwwwww how sweet'

Then, at night when we were prepping to move the horses the CUTEST little girl (I doubt she was four) was being carried by her dad and as they walked past Rush's area she said "Night, night unicorn! Don't let the bed bugs bite." (He was not dressed as a unicorn, but of course he's "white", which provided me + the barn crew with hilarity all day)

But yeah, he did great and I can't wait for show season this year  Emailing the photographer today and I will be sure to post photos once I get the link for those.


----------



## Bedhead (Aug 4, 2013)

Rush and I are going to our first show in almost a year tomorrow and I am so excited!!

Making our redebute into the hunter ring, and our debute into the sport horse ring. Also (of course) riding side saddle. Hoping it all goes as well as it did last year, as we've been making a TON of progress and I'm super happy with how he's been going at home.

Pony was also v good about having his ears done again, which was super. He may be a respectable equine citizen yet.


----------



## Bedhead (Aug 4, 2013)

Rush did wonderfully. Behaved himself like a gentleman, won both our classes and took home the reserve championship for the Hunter division.

There was a photographer who sent me several photos. For now I'll just post these two. I hadn't realized how long my horse's tail was; Rush's tail is often in a braid, but seeing it down in the photos is strange lol. I've joked about wanting a tail to rival DA Napitov's, and clearly we're well on our way to that "goal" (it started as a joke I swear). I'm perpetually leaning forward, and the one where I'm actually sitting back Rush is behind the vertical, so I think I need to lengthen my reins and sit back and then everything will balance itself out. I wasn't particularly going for any sort of headset or frame, we were just cruising around the classes hoping for the best.


----------



## QueB (Aug 9, 2016)

Alrighty well, y'all can't get rid of me that easy (hehe)

After numerous attempts to revive my account, I gave up. Here we are.

Rush is doing good. His canter is a hot mess at the moment but we've got a steady walk and hunter type trot, so hopefully the canter will fall in line in its own time.

In the mean time, here's a photo of Rush pouting.


----------



## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

just thought I'd add, as a moderator, that we are working to get Bedhead back onto her original account, as only one is allowed for members. I know, the whole password thing is to blame, and we understand and appreciate folks letting us know, as Bedhead/queB did, that they need help getting set back up.

over and out.


----------



## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

This journal has been closed due to prolonged lack of participation by the author. Journals that have no active participation by the author for a period of time greater than 18 months will be considered abandoned and will be closed until the author asks for them to be reopened.


----------

