#87 - a new saddle and bit added to the collection

I have recently purchased a second hand all-purpose Wintec saddle off ebay from Tassie. The lady who sold it said she had only used it twice and I can honestly say that it looks like its never been used at all! It was a great bargain for something in such good condition and it has an interchangeable gullet so I can use it on pretty much any horse. The gullet in it at the moment is the standard black so I will need to get the red one as it's a bit too big. Until then I have been using my riser and it's fine. It's a nice, comfortable ride and it will work better when practising my balance. And I've saved myself about a grand in the process!

I also bought a pee wee bit to help with Teddy's head tossing issues. I've tried the full cheek snaffle, a hanovarian bridle with a egg butt snaffle, and a tom thumb but they made no difference so I continued my research on bits. It appears that the pee wee has had great success with working and training horses, particularly with Teddy's issues. I thought I would give it a go and I was stunned at the results!

I know it was our first go with it and it's still a trial for me but the improvement was remarkable! Where I was putting up with constant head tossing for the first 30 minutes or so and then it would slow down but not go away; this time I had five tosses at the start then nothing. I couldn't believe it. He wasn't in a hurry to get it out of his mouth like he usually is after a ride and he wasn't backing away, he stood there with his head low, gentle look in his eyes and nuzzling my side! Hopefully this isn't just a matter of a change for a day then back to normal.

The pee wee is a bit that you need to use sensibly as any rough handling could cause a problem but it is considered the gentlest bit on the market. It is to be used with a gentle hand and that is exactly what I am learning with my coaching from Kim. It's also not to be used as a curb as the chin is to be loose and just there to hold the bit in place.

At first I thought it was particularly good marketing but after researching a lot of leisure riders and professional riders comments I thought I should give it a go. People either have remarkable success with it or no success at all, very few have the latter. Even though it hasn't been approved for the dressage ring as yet a lot of dressage people use it for training and that is exactly what Teddy is doing - training to be a calm and relaxed, accepting horse. The pee wee doesn't work for every horse but that is the case with them all or there wouldn't be so many on the market.

Anyway, I'll take it around for Kim to have a look and I will be open minded about the whole thing, but so far so good.