New boots happy happy!

I have been riding Taffy every chance I get, even twice in a day- early morning and at dusk. She is smoothing out and we are communicating better every ride. With her new boots (size OO) for riding and the O boots with pads for when we arent' riding, life is great! On my to-do list: another Cl O2 soak. She's back to gimping on the hard ground. The videos were of her on yielding footing, where she is the most comfortable. I am going to ride her more in the wash where she is comfortable without the boots.

Western is going great- nice slow walk and jog, beautiful balanced turns and pivots, quiet in the mouth with a medium port sweet iron curb. I figured out that for a nice turn on the haunches (aka horsemanship turn) I should stretch tall in the saddle before I cue her over with the reins and leg, only adding a heel tap if she doesn't keep going. Easier to the right than the left so far. (Left fore is the less comfortable hoof, so it makes sense)

We tried English once so far. My legs are OUT of shape! We borrowed a tongue relief non-leverage bit (Thank you Pepper's Mom!) and Taffy does seem to prefer it to the french link, but still chomps and gapes when I ask for contact. She is used to working off the seat and legs, not a dressage hand... I don't want to change that, just have to figure out how to get a nice headset for hunt seat (if we're going to try English Pleasure haha.) Perhaps one of those Myler tongue relief snaffles with the "hooks" for a curb chain, to add a small amount of leverage. Seems like cheating to me, as a snaffle is designed for lateral flexion without leverage. Perhaps it's a way to get the Western trained horses to look right in English classes. Hmmmph. If ya can't beat 'em join 'em ?!?!? In any case, it is an adventure learning to work with Taffy and try not to UNdo her awesome foundation.

Going to let her hoof wall grow to about 1/8 inch above the sole now, she has a full inch of well connected wall on the fores, from the coronet down. I leveled off the heels to sole a couple days ago, relieved the quarters and rolled the toes back to waterline. Dorsal wall is the place I have to be most aware of, since she slightly flares there more than anywhere else. Avoiding peripheral loading is habitual for me, but I get a little too excited sometimes and take the walls too short. I am pleased with the width of the heels, but the depth at the tip of the frog needs to increase.

Take a peek