The link drops you into the challenge, which is over today – but no menu or other place to click on to find the courses. Are they mainly FB based vs web-based?
NEreader, what do you like about the cheese grater stirrups? Are they more comfortable, more stable?
You didn’t ask me, but using cheese graters and I no longer lose my stirrup. I know losing a stirrup really means I am gripping and lifting my knee – but for some reason my foot sticks to these better, and or I have a chance to reweight it before it slips off!
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I feel much more stable in them. Also, I never worry about my feet slipping around when mounting & riding in the rain.
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There’s a facebook page:
https://m.facebook.com/groups/riderpilatesclub/?ref=share
If ypu look on the page under “Features” there is a scrollable banner which you can move across to the courses.
Next course starts on the 2nd October.
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I have the Equisoft girth and my girthy horse seems to like it a lot. Definite improvement in her girthiness and in tightness/soreness of her pectoral muscles since we’ve been using it for the past year. After seeing her improvement with it, I got the Total Saddle fit StretchTec girth for jumping, which has kind of a similar concept, and she also seems to like that one.
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I have a Stretch tech short girth and have meh feelings on it. The horse with the sternum soreness doesn’t seem to notice much (if any difference) vs her ovation girth. I’m thinking she will either love or downright hate the sternum plate style girths (and the TSF isn’t enough of a “plate” to make a difference for her).
Yeah, the Equisoft I think definitely has more movement/stretch than the TSF. I just don’t like the style of the Equisoft long girths (my jumping saddle has short billets).
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I borrowed a pair of stability leathers and liked the feel, gave up my opera stirrups when they didn’t release my foot fast enough in a fall resulting in a sprained ankle.
Has anyone tried the wide webber style leathers? Are they better than the stability ones?
I don’t like how they destroy the soles of your boot though!
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Bombers, happy tongue.
After a lot of trial and error, I finally worked out that my pony loved a big square 45 degree forward port (conrad style). After forking over a significant chunk of change for many bits (driven and ridden) in that vein I thought I was there. Then I bought a loose ring happy tongue straight.
I’ve never seen such a significant change in how a horse responded to a bit. Never. A month ago I ordered one of the new driving bits in the same mouthpiece. After driving in it about 4x I used it last week in our final FEI 1* test. I focus on riding all summer long so we weren’t, ummm, overschooled in driven work to say the least. I had low expectations, but in driving you have to complete (not be eliminated) two 1* CTs to move up to 2* CDEs so they was my goal.
Instead I had the best 1* test scores I’ve ever had (recently it’s been added to intermediate so I’ve driven it a few times w/3-5 judges each time). And I’ve shown under 2 of the 3 judges in this year so I have a benchmark lol. It’s the bit.
I’m going to replace my conrad style Weymouth on the full bridle with the happy tongue version as well.
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Padded reins. I rode a sale horse and loved the reins.
Lunging Cavesson. You can change direction as much as you like with no adjusting equipment.
Grooming Glove. I bought it at a car boot sale. I love it. You can use your palm or just one finger.
Cair girth, for cold backed horses.
And my saddle blanket.
The saddle blanket I am sad about. I LOVE IT. it is made of something plasticky and is like balls added together and it has a gel pad in it.
The problem is that it does not seem to have reached the English World. The 2 I bought are shaped for a showjumping saddle and I bought it at a car boot sale.
I can not find it anywhere for Dressage, or jumping.
Western seem to have it, however the sizing doesn’t fit at all, so I am making the showjumping ones work until they die.
Super Comfort Stirrup Iron Pads.
The soles of my feet would really start to hurt by the second or third hour out fox hunting. I tried sandpaper surfaces, cheese graters, wide stirrups, compositemstirrups, Sprenger flexible irons, offset irons, and then I found these pads for standard fillis iron stirrups. Game changer for me, for sure.
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Fun fact: I once sent a pair of stirrups with these pads that I no longer used because they were tad small for my foot to Tried Equestrian for consignment. They rejected them because “the stirrup pads were zip tied on”.
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The plasticky pad isn’t made any longer. I agree the western ones don’t work. I used to have several in the dressage shape, mostly made by me, cutting the jumper pads to fit. I loved them too, they rinsed clean in seconds, and dried about as quickly, and horses didn’t get hot under them.
Do you have a picture of the pad? It sounds like something I have tucked away in a tack trunk.
I love them too, and just realized my pair must be at least 15 years old as well! I have a pair on both my jump saddle (MDC Classic non-jointed, regular footbed stirrups) and dressage saddle (old school Stubben heavy filis irons) and they are the best. No more slipping foot in the stirrup, and I actually like the thick feel under my boots 
I tried a pair of MDC wide footbed Sport stirrups (with the really thin footbed that has the spikes) and I gave them back so I could have my nice thick footbeds!
Great thread. I agree with a lot of people here that finding a saddle that fit ME was a game-changer. I’m also a big fan of wide-base stirrups. I have a light-weight plastic pair with treads that are kind of similar to bike pedals. I’ve heard people complain that they bounce around and are hard to grab when you lose one but I’ve never had either issue. I also love a tall mounting block. I feel much safer and usually carry a big step stool from the hardware store when I trailer off-property, just in case.
I haven’t seen anyone say this and I know some people hate them, but a real pair of stiff dressage boots. Those taught me how to apply the leg correctly and how to let my leg hang better than any trainer I’d ever had.
A couple of other game-changers which were horse-specific:
- NS Verbindend snaffle: I was going through the bits at a booth at Devon this year and the business-owner came over to advise me against trying one. She seemed to believe NS was all marketing and hogwash. Well, tell that to my old mare who had never truly been on the bit in her life prior to finding that bit. I think she was almost 20 by then. (I did have another horse that protested it almost immediately, go figure).
- An anxious gelding I had could only take a breath in the double bridle. I didn’t start him, so I don’t know what his association was with it or with the snaffle, but he was suddenly a rideable horse in the double. I think curb removed any question about where he was supposed to be.
- I’ve never had any horse object to a sheepskin half pad. I had a mare that was “hoppy” behind in the canter (it was correct with separation of the hind legs, but she had straight hocks and a tendency to come croup-high) and her back used to pop you out of the saddle every stride. A Thinline pad let me sit her canter so much better.
- A mare I had for training would turn around and take a chunk of flesh out of your arm, cow kick, and swat her tail when you did up the girth. The owner said the first time her colt starter saddled her the horse flipped over in her stall. We scoped her, checked saddle fit, her owner spent tons of money on repro exams, etc. She was fine under saddle and not reactive to any palpation of her back and stomach. She hated anatomic girths, sheepskin, neoprene, everything. A friend loaned me a Mikmar short girth and I tried it on her. She went to bite me, stopped herself, and then yawned three or four times. She would always give you a dirty look when you tightened the girth, but was never truly reactive again.
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When I changed to the double bridle all the questions, like “exactly WHAT do you want me to do?” ended. The horse would check both the bits, and since I ride with sagging curb reins the horses are not confused about IF I am asking for more collection because if I want a little more collection I tweak the curb reins.
All the “existential angst” the horses had for my rein aids disappeared.
The usual “twenty questions” the horses had ended, with the double bridle they know exactly what I want and the horses do not have to waste time and energy figuring it all out.
It took me several years, but now when my riding teacher puts me up on a new horse she knows I want to use my double bridle. Since the horses move better under me and do not get anxious about what my rein aids mean my riding teacher gets to see how her horses can move when they are not in the grips of the existential question of “What in the world does my rider want?”
Besides my current lesson horse prefers me keeping contact (VERY light contact) with the curb bit over me keeping contact with my bridoon (Fager Alice 3-piece with a center roller titanium bridoon).
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Verbindend pairs really well with a Conrad in a full bridle, and both of them are designed to address not only low palate, but also thick tongue/tongue interference , so if that bit works for a horse, I would take that tongue relief into consideration when trying bits.
My guy uses the verbinded in the full bridle but goes much happier in a bit with more tongue relief in the snaffle bridle
