Picture As Promised - The Miracle Strap




-- Sent from my Palm Prē

I told Jeni I'd upload a photo of the strap discussed in yesterday's post. Pretty basic, and now everyone can see my messy barn. My barn is usually neater than my house, but not today (of course this isn't saying much). 

I hold the strap and rein at the same time, with my right hand, to support left turns. It's a huge help. I had no idea something so simple could have such an impact. 
It rained HARD all day, but just before dark it stopped and the ring was dry enough for a soggy walk trot session. After longing I skipped the small circles in the corners that we've been doing for warm up, because it seemed it  might rain again. We just did 20 m walk and trot circles before doing a couple of tests. This didn't work as well. Note to self: do corner circles in warm up!
Then we practiced trailer loading and I was pleasantly surprised. After that sudden bout of excited, wanting to bolt off the trailer behavior he had in July he's back to calm, sweet, amble on and off Rogo. Sprinkler Bandit suggested he could have had ulcers which caused the sudden personality change at that time. I have to research that a bit. Can they come and go without treatment? Hopefully he stays the way he was tonight. 
Dan and Savanah had the day off. 

Comments

Jeni said…
Ahhh a "monkey strap" as my son calls it. I call it the "Oh SHIT!" handle.

I have one but don't have it on my saddle, but what I've been doing when working on keeping my hands in front of me is just holding on to the pommel. The strap sounds like a good idea because it's higher and more of a correct position.

I will have to try that. Thank you so much for the picture and great explanation of how you use it!
Unknown said…
I'm going to try this too. I'm trying to keep my hands in the box but need a reminder to keep it in the right general area (as opposed to three feet to the left)...
Carol said…
I like the 'Oh Shit Handle' :) It may come in handy for more than keeping hands in the right position.
Good luck to both of you. Hope you find it as helpful as I did for kowing where your hands are, and keeping them there.
Anonymous said…
Those saddle straps can be very helpful in all sorts of ways, and glad the trailer loading went so well!
SprinklerBandit said…
I don't know if they can come and go. My experience was that they came and stayed.

Since he doesn't seem to be continuing the behavior, maybe it was just a phase he was going through.

Gotta love the handle! I used a neckstrap on Izzy when I first started riding her. It saved my butt several times.
Carol said…
I should have had a handle or neck strap when starting Rogo. They have many purposes!
I hope Izzy is well very soon. Her new place looks amazing.