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The Ever Expanding 'Moochie'! by Michelle Guillot
I attended my first BALANCE Saddle Fitting Clinic in February of 2001.
Two months before I had got a new horse the 5-year old Dutch Warmblood, Nebuchadnezzar (aka Moochie). He had just been imported from a well-known dressage barn in the Netherlands. Working around him on the ground he seemed like the perfect amateur’s horse: people loving, well mannered and outgoing. I named him Moochie because the first thing he did when we met was unzip the pockets of my down vest looking for treats.
Riding him was another matter. While I’d ridden my share of powerful warmbloods none had the spectacular gaits and impulsion of my new boy. He’d also been trained in the "deep and round" method and reacted with tension (curling and speeding up) when one touched the reins. Basically he was a very talented powder keg and I was often the spark that set him off.
When we met Carol, Moochie and I were still in the get-acquainted stage. At that point he was a gangly 16.3. Those huge, bouncy gaits constantly threw me out of the saddle, and the word Rhythm was definitely not in our vocabulary. My saddle at that time, was an Albion SL that Carol and I both felt was getting too tight on him. We tried a BALANCE Zenith and his gaits got even bigger, so big in fact that Carol said I shouldn’t consider buying a saddle from her at that point. She felt that I needed to get used to him first in a saddle that allowed progress in a way that we could both handle!
There I was, check in hand, all set to buy a new saddle and I’m told this wouldn’t be right for me and my horse. First time that’s ever happened at a saddling clinic!
What Carol did suggest was that I get a Wintec with adjustable gullet plates. She instructed me how to fit it using a thick PolyPad and a folded towel at the withers to ensure it stayed level. In this way, we were temporarily able to use the Wintec in a way that is in line with the BALANCE Saddling System approach. The next week I bought a Wintec Isabel and found that using the wide gullet plate with padding allowed Moochie to move freely but not launch me out of the tack. Within a couple of months we needed to move up to the extra wide gullet plate. All was going well and Moochie and I were becoming more of a team, but I still didn’t feel I was ready for a BALANCE. I liked the Wintec Isabel so well that I decided to buy the leather version by Bates, but before long I had to start using thinner pads because my boy was growing both up and out. His wither area had filled in 3 inches. He was also now 17.2+ and 1700 pounds! By the summer of 2002 he’d outgrown the Bates and it was time for a BALANCE.
I was thrilled that we were ready to step up, but I was concerned about riding in a relatively flat saddle with a wide twist. I’m fairly small (5’4", 115 lbs.) and had always ridden in narrow twist, deep-seated saddles with huge knee rolls. I was accustomed to being held in place by the saddle and I feared I would be totally at sea up there. However this proved not to be a problem at all. After trying the various BALANCE styles of saddle which have different trees and different features to give horses a choice (Zenith, Free Spirit and Matrix); Moochie and I both chose the Matrix.
While this allowed him maximum freedom in his shoulders and allowed his gaits to be even bigger, the fact that he could round his back gave me a lovely place to sit. And I found I didn’t need all that padding to keep me in the saddle (I even removed the knee blocks). And since the Matrix has no points below the level of the stirrup bars I had to learn how to keep myself much better balanced. Moochie approved.
While we were getting to know each other I realised I needed to make some major changes in how Moochie carried himself. Even on a loose rein he would curl up like a shrimp in front. At first I thought this was because he needed his teeth floated (which he did), but even after that issue was addressed, he still carried his neck with the 3rd vertebra as the highest point instead of the poll, though he would now sustain a contact. It was as though he’d been taught that he should never under any circumstances stretch forward and down. Of course he was fairly easy to ride this way and because he had such good gaits, he still looked fairly spectacular. But I knew that continuing to ride him in an incorrect frame would have negative consequences down the road. When I mentioned this to my trainer (since replaced), she said that many Olympic champions rode their horses this way, so it should be good enough for me!
Not being an experienced rider I decided to address the problem from the ground by longeing, but even working in a bridle without side-reins Moochie still refused to relax and stretch. This is when I decided to try clicker training. We started at the walk with just a halter. The instant he offered to lower his head even an inch, he got a click and a treat. Being highly food-motivated, hence his name, and very bright, Moochie soon learned what I was trying to communicate and started to stretch lower and lower, but when we moved on to trot we had to start all over again. The same with canter, although he got the idea much more quickly. Once confirmed in the stretching with the halter, we moved on to working in a longeing caveson, but it was over six months before I could attach side-reins, and then only loosely. Otherwise he would revert to his old way of going.
Toward the end of this retraining period I started to notice a pronounced difference in how Moochie was carrying himself. Instead of curling up, he was now too high in front. Giraffe would be a good description, but a relaxed giraffe. He was no longer afraid of contact and discovered he could even pull on me a bit. This was such an improvement from his previous way of going that I didn’t mind. It was also at this time that I finally got my Matrix. It took me about two weeks to become accustomed to the wider twist and learn to be responsible for my own balance instead of relying on the saddle to keep me centred, but from day one I noticed a change in Moochie. He was much softer in the bridle with a wonderful lift in his back. And wonder of wonders, I could actually stay with those big gaits. No more flopping around like a flounder. And because of the position of the stirrup bars on the Matrix I was able to get my legs properly under me for the first time (I thought I’d been cursed with a terminal case of chair seat).
It took me the better part of two years to undo the effects of Moochie’s early training and get him to the point where he is confident in the bridle and using himself correctly. He is a joy to ride and a happy, willing partner, amazingly light to the aids and, now that he’s finally stopped growing, very well balanced. I know that a more experienced rider with regular access to training would have been able to accomplish all this in a much shorter period, but I don’t begrudge the time we spent. I have a valued partnership with a horse of a lifetime, who seems to read my mind. Now that the basics are solid we are starting to make amazing progress on our journey.
In September of last year I organised another clinic with Carol. To say that Carol was amazed at our progress is an understatement. She admitted that when she’d first seem me ride Moochie nearly 3 years before, she had doubts that I would ever be able to ride him. He seemed to be just too much horse for my skill level. Though I’m sure she was being generous, Carol said I now ride like a professional (!) and both Moochie and I are definitely on the right path.
I can’t say enough good things about the BALANCE people and their products. Not only are they possessed of tremendous knowledge but also they are so generous in their willingness to share it. At last September’s clinic we had less than ten auditors from disciplines as diverse as western pleasure, hunters and dressage, but all questions were answered thoughtfully and thoroughly. In fact Carol went way over the allotted lecture time to insure that everyone understood the information she was presenting.
Buying a BALANCE saddle isn’t just getting a new piece of tack. It’s being exposed to a more humane philosophy of working with our horses, which takes into consideration not just their physical needs, but those that are emotional and spiritual as well. It is about creating and nurturing a harmonious partnership, i.e., happy horses, equal happy riders.
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