Kate Little Clinic: Day 1 - Bits and Flatwork

 Now that over a week has passed, and I've had time to process learnings (and photos) from the clinic, I'm finally getting around to recapping what was an incredible 4 days of instruction from Kate Little. 

This beautiful gem of a horsewoman

Right from the start, I wanted to pick her brain on what bit she thought would work well for Pyro based on his mouth conformation, so she set right to work torturing Pyro poking around in Pyro's mouth.

She also found some knots in his cheeks and helped him gently release them.

These were her notes:

• His palate is average: not too low, not too high, not too hard.
• The size of his tongue is average, but the root ties in VERY high (which explains how he's able to draw his tongue so far up in his mouth and get it over the bit).
• His lips are relatively fleshy, like his mother's, so he requires a slightly larger sized bit than the rest of his anatomy would otherwise dictate.
• (Here's the kicker I was missing) His lower jaw is apparently EXCEEDINGLY narrow. 

Because his lower jaw is SO narrow, the curve of most bits may not match him well (especially when you factor in how wide his bit has to be to accommodate his lips). Additionally, she was able to show me how a double-jointed lozenge bit could collapse so far that it jabs both ends of the center lozenge into the roof of his mouth. On other horses, the width of the lower jaw would prevent it from collapsing that far.

I was advised to spend more time normalizing handling his mouth, so he's more accepting of it. 😅

Friends and neighbors, I was VERY surprised when she suggested we try him in a simple single-jointed snaffle with some sort of fixed rings. 

This 5" half cheek snaffle was the only thing I had that fit the bill. It came with Missy's driving harness, so I didn't even pick it out myself. 

I was game to give it a try (especially under her supervision for the next few days), so we popped it on his bridle and away we went! He took 10-15 minutes of riding to get used to the new feeling, but then started offering moments of quiet connection with the bit, much to my astonishment. 

Pyro: "WTF?!"

Could it be?! Is he... reaching out to the bit?? 

Kate guided me through her preferred warm up for any horse:

• Start the ride by picking up the contact in the walk (for more educated horses, in the halt) without asking for anything, observing what they do and what you have to work with that day. 
• Proceed to riding shallow slaloms, flowing the shoulders from one direction to the other. Do this at walk and trot, both directions, asking for:
• True bend to true bend
• True bend to counter bend
• Counter bend to counter bend

Photo courtesy of Jen

• Practice staying in balance through changes of direction with a few 3-loop serpentines at the trot.
• We needed to slow down, making sure to not rush through the changes of bend. Kate noted that balance is critical for him to develop strength.

• Ask for several leg yields at the trot in each direction, going both from 1/4 line to rail AND rail to 1/4 line. (We definitely need more practice at the latter.)

Asking to leg yield away from the rail

Throughout the warm-up, she gave me several general pieces of coaching I found really helpful:

• As a cue to help my upper body/shoulders (which I tend to curl/shrug), she told me to "press [my] elbows down". This metal image REALLY worked for me, although sometimes I had to balance it from going too far by thinking "decompress my spine".

Photo courtesy of Jen

• She wanted me to think about putting a shelf under his nose, keeping him from lowering his head when not asked for it. If his ears dropped, I was to vibrate my hands upward gently, until he at least picked up his head. Ideally, a more schooled horse would pick its entire thoracic up from this cue.

Ears dropped

Photo courtesy of Jen

Ears up where I want them

Photo courtesy of Jen

• Kate asked me to soften my thighs and sit further toward the front of the saddle.

Example of me NOT doing that

Photo courtesy of Jen

• I need to stay responsible for the tempo in my body. I have a bad habit of going with whatever Pyro offers. (Not a new concept, but maybe made some progress on this?)
• Pay attention to Pyro's patterns of crookedness. 
• How does he wiggle when I pick up the reins? 
• When I ask for right bend, he often throws his haunches right.
• When on a circle, don't forget to reach the outside rein forward to allow him to elongate the outside of his body.

Photo courtesy of Jen

• When changing directions during a walk break, I asked him to pivot on his hind end. Kate brought my attention to how he lurched through the pivot, losing his balance when taking too big of a step. When he does that, I'm to halt, then ask for a bit smaller step once his balance is re-established. 

There were many wonky moments of trying to find correct bend with my noodle boy.

Photo courtesy of Jen

• I had a bit of a "lightbulb moment" in the halt:
• To ask him to come onto the bit at the halt, make sure his ears are up.
• If he backs, I'm to tuck my seat, pressing my tailbone down, BEFORE bumping with leg, followed by spur.
• To ask him to further rock his weight back in the halt, the cue is pushing my tailbone down.
• If I intentionally want him to back, I keep a light seat, so my tailbone is pointing more back as opposed to down. 

He can, *gasp*, stand square?!

After the "warm-up", we moved into some canter work, where I wanted to improve our balance. 

Vibrating the inside rein up while giving the outside rein forward, asking him to soften his jaw into true bend.

Photo courtesy of Jen

• As we transition into canter, I need to commit to the bend. He likes to swing his haunches in, especially tracking right, so I need to keep the feeling of shoulder in throughout. 

Transitioning up into canter. I liked how he stepped under himself.

Using the feeling of a little shoulder in

I was fairly oblivious to the little changes in height of his head throughout the lesson. 

• She asked us to counterbend on a circle, spiraling in from 20m to 15m. I was to open my inside rein, allowing the shoulders to come over, and keep our weight over the inside hind. 

Developing counterbend at the canter, which is difficult for both of us.

Photo courtesy of Jen

• As he organized himself better throughout the work, his neck changed shape. I needed to stay aware of that and shorten my reins along the way.

Photo courtesy of Jen

At the end of the canter work, he gave me a lovely, smooth downward transition into MY trot.

This was a big improvement over his typical downward transition, where he likes to hollow and drop his back under me, falling into a rushing trot.

I felt a distinct improvement in his contact (in a single jointed snaffle!) and balance, although we have plenty of homework to make that more consistent. 

Photo courtesy of Jen

I came away with the lesson with an improved feeling of balance and like Pyro was carrying himself by the end. I started to absorb the way Kate was teaching me to communicate with the bit, which helped with my tendency to ride him "backwards".  (More progress was made on this throughout the clinic.) Based on how rideable he was, I was willing to continue to try this snaffle, and curious how he would progress with it over the next few days.

He mouthed it a lot at the start of the ride, but that behavior died out pretty quickly.

I was glad Kate got to see what how we typically work together on the first day. She offered to hop on him herself if I wanted, and *SPOILER ALERT* I jumped on that opportunity for the 2nd day. 

Rest while you can, Pyro!

Bonus: Missy greeting her new neighbors for the weekend, Liz's herd.

Stanley and Missy sharing a squeal while Griffin just wants to be included.

She fancy-pranced off to her hay.