Dressage Princess Ponies

This week has been another hectic one! Although it was a tad warm, everyone had regular rests and the horses coped really well.
I met up with lovely Kelly Mewes and her beautiful Dutch New Forest dressage pony Kimmi. I first met Kelly in April when I did a consultation on her lovely boy Cat and she invited me back to fit Kimmi in her first double bits. Kelly is a very keen dressage rider, she competes regularly and strives to train her horses in a very correct way, she also knows when her horses are ready for a change of bit.
We fitted Kimmi with a really kind and comfortable double set, based around the bradoon she had already been using. Kimmi is a forward thinking sassy mare who lets you know when she’s not happy. Kelly was expecting her to be a little opinionated about the change, and also being ridden at a different time of day to usual, however, she was very receptive straight away and was keen to work. Kelly rode her really well and didn’t ask for too much while Kimmi was getting used to the new feeling and action of a curb bit. The change was lovely to see. The videos are of the first ten minutes of Kimmi adapting to the double bridle, she is still forward and not braced against it. She looks a little unsure at times, but this improved as the session went on. Kelly rides with a kind hand and gave Kimmi enough time to adjust her frame so she wasn’t reluctant to respond. We also worked on letting Kimmi know she can still travel forwards, and still have a supple neck. Definitely a partnership to look out for in the future!