Day 2

What started out as a crappy, frustrating day turned out to be a little fun and informative.

I decided to put a snaffle bit on Brie. For those who aren't familiar with the Paso Finos, let me explain. Pasos are Spanish horses from Colombia and Puerto Rico. Hence, they use Colombian style bits. (if you really don't know, bits are the metal parts that go in the horse's mouth) Snaffle bits are mainly for English style riding, like dressage and jumping. Based on the knowledge from Dominic, Carmello, and my mother, who are all trained in dressage, I believe it's worth a shot. Because they offer explanations as to how what the trainers are doing wrong, and how a bit of dressage training would be good for these horses, I believe its worth a shot. And because the trainers in Florida are winning and catching onto the snaffle bit "revolution", I believe it's worth a shot.
And anyways, Brie started out with this snaffle bit. It can't hurt to go back to her roots. And hey, if dressage has been working for hundreds of years on all sorts of horses, why wouldn't it work now to help this Spanish breed have more finesse?

Anyways, I worked with Brie on the snaffle bit. She seems okay with it, but slightly shocked at the difference between it and the Colombian bit. I don't know how it'll work out, it's just an experiment.

New problem: getting Brie to willingly accept the bit.

Now with Nina. She's very unhappy. Andre pointed out that Nina has sores, symmetrical sores, on the inside of her mouth. Hmm I wonder why. Not. She's pacing and not in her natural gait. The only good part about that is that Andre gave us a way to fire him. He suggested giving her time off! His situation's complicated and I don't wish to go into it. But we all at the stable think that he's getting ready to quit right before Nationals because of his situation. That'll leave the stable in peril, but not me!

The fun part of my day? After getting really angry at Andre, I decided "well what the hell." I got out my hard hat, took some cones and a long 2x4, and made a small jump. At first Brie was hesitant, but once she got up to it, she jumped right over it! And she liked it! I think I might've found her calling! The smaller jump circuit. I'll keep it up for a while and see how it goes.

And for those who say a Paso Fino can't jump, I say to you this:
A horse is a horse and will do what makes her happy.