Pacha - september 25, 2009

It has been a month since I last rode. Very happy to come back. Riding is an addictive need to me..
Nice weather, small outdoor arena. Pacha looks in good shape. I am told that he has been ridden with a Pessoa, leather rod bit, and that he comes easier on the bit - I am not overly thrilled by this news, since he long had the tendency to give a false placer, with no connection with the hind quarters. I decided to put his former steel, light, broken snaffle and draw reins.
We were alone in the arena, together with F. riding Milha. I was pleased to see that in a few minutes Pacha extended his neck, on horizontal placer, with a good walk pace. Incidentally, draw reins remained loose during the whole session. The 'fixed hand'with legs close, down and behind were sufficient to get poll yield and neck extensions. We spent 15' at walk, with circles, spirals, leg yield with outside bend. Pacha was calm and listening.He was not disturbed by Milha and F. who exercised in a different way, at trot and canter. Lateral flexions were easily accepted, and jaw relaxation came nicely. My concerns were going away. We carefully worked the corners 'a small piece of shoulder-ins' as Nuno Oliveira said. Pacha gave a good bend without leaning on the leg. We moved on to trot, sitting first as customary with him. Calmness and cadence were there, with telescoped neck. Progressively, with LY and SI he offered more collection, with higher head carriage. We did the same programme as for walk, with halts, transitions to and from walk. We spent 20' on this session, then moved on to posting trot, in order to store up stronger impulsion in a gentle way. Pacha reached a good working trot with long strides. I did not pushed further towards real extended trot. Instead, we came back to walk on small circles in corners ending up with SI at both hands on the large side. When I felt him ready, I asked him canter strike off at both leads, leaning slightly on the stirrups to offload his loins as I explained before. The strike-offs were smooth and followed by a fairly round, slow canter which pleased me much. On this good result we ended the session at walk and went back to stables,the four of us content and happy.
As for the bit choice,I was pleased to see that the simple broken snaffle was still operating well. Pessoa bit may not be a bad choice for jumping, but I always believe that selection of special bits is not a critical parameter for good result in dressage. As Baucher said at the end of his life 'Le bridon, c'est si beau'!, meaning that there is nothing more beautiful than a simple snaffle.