Finding the right bit?

 So ever since Chrome had a bad day I've been researching reasons for his attitude.  During that research I started studying fitting a bit properly.  I made a list of criteria and went to study Chrome's mouth in detail I've never studied it before.  For starters I've been using a 5 inch bit and his mouth actually measures 5.5 inches!!  Oops!!  It honestly didn't look that small on him.  Also I've been reading about the difference between a regular snaffle and a double jointed snaffle.  A regular snaffle can have a nutcracker effect which might explain why he slams on the brakes and throws his head when I correct him for bucking.  Oops again!!  Also he has a HUGE tongue!!!!!  One website said to look at their mouth with it closed to see if the tongue sticks out the sides and boy does his!!  There is some tongue overflow.  His tongue needs to go on a diet LOL!  So that means he needs a thinner bit.  He does have a moderately arched palate though so that helps and later on if he needs a ported bit he can have a small port for tongue relief.  I don't know what kinds of bits have ports or how to shop for them, so I decided to start with a  french link eggbutt snaffle in 5.5in to see how much of a difference that makes.  If we have to explore further from there we will.  :)

Here are some random pictures of him wearing his d-ring single jointed snaffle.

This might also explain why he's becoming resistant to being bridled.  I feel bad for guesstimating on the size and I will never do that again.  So my next question is... does anyone have a 5.5" French link Eggbutt snaffle bit I could buy used?  They are between $20 to $30 bucks online new with another $10 on top of that for shipping... I kind of don't want to spend that much in case it doesn't work out.  That sounds so cheap!!  If you guys don't have any bits to spare I'll go ahead and buy one.  I don't want to use a too small bit on him now that I know it is.  Thanks guys!!

Ride 83 - Bareback, Bridleless, Rollbacks and more. :D

I had plans to ride out on the road today, but I got held up at work and then when I got home we had to put out a bale of hay, so it got too late.  The cold drained the tractor battery so while I was waiting on hubby to jump it I crawled up on the fence and climbed on Chrome's back with no saddle, bridle or halter.  :D

He was awesome.  I didn't have any steering, so I couldn't control where we went, but we walked around for a while and I did a lot of ducking under tree limbs LOL!!

 Is the tractor ready yet??

I had to get off and open gates when the tractor finally started.  I let Chrome out in the yard so he would be out of the way while we moved hay.  He walked out in the yard, grazed for a minute and then bronco bucked in place for a second and went right back to grazing... oooookay!!  I'm so glad he waited to do that until I was off of him.  I have no idea what set that off.  So after doing hay and a few other chores I went out in full darkness and put a halter on Chrome to finish up our ride bareback.  I started riding in the pasture, but he was super energetic compared to earlier.  Like seriously I was having visions of the bronco bucking in my head, so I took him out into the front yard.

He was snotty for a few minutes because he wanted to go back out to his fresh bale of hay that he knew the donkey and goats were eating without him, but he settled down when I insisted.  I rode him through the trees in the circle again and we even did some walking pole bending.  It was fun hehe.  At one point I finally took him up the driveway to the gate because he was looking for the neighbor horses.  He got really hesitant.  Then he spotted his own shadow on the gate (our light pole was behind us) and froze, his head in the air.  I finally asked him to turn around and he literally planted one hind foot and did a full 180 rollback.  I have never felt him spin on his haunches like that with me on his back.  It caught me off guard because I was bareback but I didn't fall off hehe.  We walked back down the driveway as calm as could be.  :)  I did a little trotting, but not much.  I guess that's all.  Both rides combined was about 25 minutes.

Ride 82 - Checking Things Off - Video

I didn't have time to ride until right before dark so I just goofed off doing some of the stuff from the list I posted yesterday.  Hubby was kind and took some video for you guys.  It's really long, but it's pretty funny.  I did some of the things I had already done, but didn't have on video just so you could see them.  I got video of catching and tacking him up without a halter, mounting from the opposite side, opening and closing the gate and riding in his pasture.  I got pictures of checking the mail and touching his ears.  The new things I did from the list include around the world, using the horse trailer to get on, dismounting without using my hands, taking off and putting on my jacket and finding five ways to mount (from the left, from the right, from the horse trailer, plus one you just have to watch the video to see; the fifth was mounting bareback, but it was too dark to show up on video).  I also attempted standing on his back but he was moving too much and I have horrible balance.  It's in the video though and it's pretty funny.  I'll try again another day without my shoes so I can stand in the saddle instead of on his butt.

Here is the video.


I definitely need to teach him to back up in the halter (I don't think I've ever asked him to back with just a halter from his back, only from the ground).  Here are the pictures.

Checking the mail.

 Sticking my arm all the way in the mailbox.  He's too tall lol.

 Touching my toes.  He wasn't impressed!  

Actually he was listening for the neighbor horses behind us.

For touching his ears I curled them together to pretend like he's a Marwari horse, but due to the angle it just looks like I'm picking my nose with his ears LOL!!

Well that's all for today.  I wanted to do more, but it got too dark.  The ride was a total of 35 minutes approx.  I can't wait to check more off of the list!