Pacha - november 16, 2010

Today, I had planned to try the double-bridle for the first time with Pacha. No particular problem when fitting it in his mouth, which I did with much precautions in the stall, knowing how sensitive and easily frightened he is in front of anything new. We went quietly to the large indoor arena, him chewing this strange metallic system he felt in his mouth. We started with a long period at walk, long reins and it went fairly well. However, when I began to ask him to get into an horizontal neck position, and to close a little bit his poll, things went more difficult. He began to raise his head high, and to resist by tilting his head sideways. I had taken care of not fitting the curb chain tight neither the noseband, but he did not accept even very tiny signals, even on the snaffle rein. Following Baucher's golden rule, I stopped him at halt for several minutes, so as to 'erase the bad impression', and tried a few jaw yields, first on the snaffle, then on the curb - with limited success. We started again at walk, long reins for a while. I felt him not really forward, and reluctant to walk straight. I could see no other option than trying to put him forward at posting trot, hoping to regain some head steadiness - which worked reasonbly well. On circles, I put my hands low, especially the inside one, at each attempt to raise and tilt his head. A little firmness with an uncompromising fixed hand proves useful too. After several such sequences interspersed with halts, long reins, and walk, I tried a few canter strikes which, somewhat surprisingly, turned to be the best (or the least bad) part of the hour. I could achieve large circles and even a few rounds on the track, but I was unable to get the nice and steady roundness that he has been giving me since summer.
Overall, I was disappointed to realise how fragile the recent progresses were, which could be jeopardized in such a way by the mere change of bit. Also, I remembered with some bitterness how mellow, soft and gentle Eole's mouth was in double-bridle.
We ended this session with mixed feelings on my part, brooding a little and pondering on a very pertinent quote by Georges Fizet in his recently published (excellent)book :
'Training a horse is a source of problems, worries, hopes, failures and mistakes which put the passionate horseman's morale under a dangerously  heavy strain'!
Well, this is one of these days - and to see that so much work remains in front of us will for sure boost our morale some time!