Baucher….or not to Boucher? Is that really a question?

Let me give you some background here…Anty and I have been “partners” since the end of July, 2010.  I LOVE him.  He was the first horse I rode when I started taking lessons again…and has been my right hand man ever since.  He isn’t an “easy” ride…but once you learn how to ride him…I believe he sets you up for “ANTY-thing” that comes along…(yeah – that was my attempt at humor today…lol).

Anty is trained through 2^nd Level dressage with a bit of Piaffe and Passage thrown in for fun.  Getting him to DO the movements – well – that is the fun of riding him.  He decides on HOW you are going to have him do it.  One day it could be text book…the next – he will throw every single curve ball into the mix so that you have to go down your mental checklist to get him to do one simple thing. 

Another “quip” of dear ole’ Antarius….keeping him COLLECTED!  It’s not an easy accomplishment.  However, once you get him there….while you can’t necessarily keep him there constantly – he gets relaxed enough that you can get it back pretty quickly.  The unfortunate of this…he is very heavy in my hands.  Specifically the right hand.  We started with a basic snaffle and graduated to a French link loose ring in October of last year.  That is when I started to understand collection and actually trying to ride through.  The weight, however, has been getting worse.  I did a clinic with him and the clinician told me to NOT sponge the reins…to hold constant and only release when he came into the contact…then hold again.  Unfortunately – that doesn’t work with Anty.  So then my trainer thought that a running martingale might work.  We put it on him and could immediately see him bracing against it.  It worked.  He started using his rear-end and riding through instead of bracing so much against my hands.  At the same time, it gave me a break with the weight.

Well – you can’t show in a running martingale.  We took it off right before a show and he started the hanging and bracing again.  I did some research and talked to a sales lady at one of the local tack shops, along with my trainer…and decided to buy a Baucher (Boucher) bit.  The premise behind the Boucher bit is to inflict poll pressure upon pulling back on the reins.  This would then assist him in bringing his head down and stopping the bracing.  I found conflicting information, actually.  Some say it has poll pressure – others say it does not.  I put it out to some of the ladies of a forum I am part of, along with one of the ladies I ride with at the barn.  Since she knows Anty personally…her recommendation was to try a Pelham…then switch to the Boucher.

Why the Pelham – well – it isn’t just the bracing for Anty….he has NO TOP LINE!  Mr. Goober needs to build some muscle!  I live in Florida…there are no hills – unfortunately…so that counts those exercises out.  I switched out the French link snaffle for the Pelham last week.  I have a few words….

WOW!  I have a HORSE!

Literally 3 or 4 sponges with the curb rein and Anty was using himself and tucking his back end…his hocks were engaged and I felt a “jump” every stride of the canter.  Transitions were EFFORTLESS and felt like I was on a cloud!  I was able to drop the contact on the curb completely…just using the snaffle part during the rest of our lesson.  He was really engaged…using what God gave him…and looked really prettyJ  He was off of my hand…I could feel my fingers and we could ride!

BUT…yeah – there’s always a BUTT, isn’t there?  I can’t use the Pelham in competition.  It isn’t legal.  BUT – the Boucher is.  What am I thinking here?  I am going to continue to ride him in the Pelham – only using the curb rein at the beginning of our ride if it even warrants it.  We are going to work on a TON of transitions – walk to trot to walk to halt to canter to walk to halt….you get the idea.  We are going to BUILD his top line…make him strong.  I’m deducing that if he gains the muscle in the top – he will be able to carry himself easier…thus making it unnecessary to hang on my hands anymore and it won’t matter AT ALL what bit I put in his mouth.  I am hoping this works.  If it doesn’t…then it will be back to the drawing board again.  Next show is April 16^th – Schooling.  We will be doing Training Level 1 and 2.