Comment

Comment by vickie lawson on March 16, 2012 at 3:31am

Hey Gayle! Isn't that wonderful!! You must be so pleased to finally follow your dream! Let us know what you're up to in your lessons!!

Comment by Gayle Wilbert-Paoletti on March 16, 2012 at 2:50am

Hi everyone!  

I just wanted to say that I am 66 and am living the dream and taking riding lessons for the first time in my life! My love for all things horse started about 2 years ago following, in a chat room on u-stream) the birth of twin foals in Rancho Santa Fe. After seeing them survive all odds against them, and mom too, I have been smitten ever since. Love reading all your posts from various points of view and plan to check in often here...cause I can relate!

Comment by Carol Bradley on February 22, 2012 at 8:13pm

Thank you Barbara - see what you mean but wish you could be here on the ground as it would be easier if someone in the "know" could tell me where I´m going wrong! I shall try this tomorrow. 

Thanks so much for taking the trouble to reply, much appreciated.

Comment by Barbara F. on February 20, 2012 at 8:22pm

Hey Carol,

Just think of the whip as an extension of your leg and a little extra help. No need to wack the horse with it (something tells me you're not the type to do that anyway!)

You don't need a lot of hip movement to get the sideways steps. Here's a great way to accomplish them.

Let's say you are going on the left rein. At a walk, turn down centre line and get your horse and yourself nice and straight. Sit squarely in hte middle of the saddle feeling both seat bones as evenly as you can. Now just move your left leg back a little bit and instead of following with your seat straight forward and back, just indicate forward and sideways a LITTLE bit.  Keep the horse straight. The instant you feel the horse respond and move sideways, remove the leg pressure. The goal is to have him take a few steps on his own. Tell him what a good boy he is, then try again.

Just think forward, sideways, forward, little half-halt, sideways - keep playing with those different aids and balances, stay square, release the pressure the nano-second that you get a response and you'll notice you can very quickly have the horse moving sideways with the lightest aid. If the horse leaves his hindquarters behins, or if he doesn't respond to your light aids, touch him with the whip to help him understand what you want. I hope this makes sense. It's hard to put into words!

Comment by Carol Bradley on February 20, 2012 at 7:29pm

I find it difficult achieving sidewards steps with having such bad hips - any tips anyone? Suppose I could use a dressage whip just to give them my message but I hate riding with a whip of any kind.

Comment by Jackie Cochran on February 20, 2012 at 7:11pm

Oh yes, riding can be good for pain!

I often wake up really sore and creaky, by the end of my ride I no longer hurt.  In fact it usually just takes a few minutes to work.

Then I try new stuff and sometimes that hurts, so I do it just a little bit at a time.

Comment by Carol Bradley on February 20, 2012 at 7:06pm

Reading through all the posts yesterday must have inspire me - today I took my smaller horse Cuco out and for the first 15 mins was thinking I should turn back as I was in so much real pain - good job my horse is so well behaved.  Little by little things got a little better and after about half an hour we were managing to canter and rising trot - not easy with my type of cancer which affects the spine a lot. Anyway, we ended up having a lovely ride and it just shows how much our horses do help us - if a physiotherapist had made me do excercises that hurt as much I would have refused but because I knew my boy needed a run out I put up with it!  Nice to talk to you all and hear what you are up to.

Good luck with the finances - suspect a few of us are going to have a few worries in that direction as the years go on - keep your chin up!

Comment by Ellin McGinley Daum on February 20, 2012 at 6:15pm

In my perfect world we could all get together in a place where the weather is temperate all year long.  We would live in a community where horses rule and humans have their choice of houses, condos or apartments with the use of the common facilities.  Maybe 50 years ago this would have been possible financially, but today there are so many obstacles.

Comment by Jackie Cochran on February 20, 2012 at 6:14pm

I thought a lot about this.  Finally I decided that the riding stables needed customers so they could support their horses.  I found a good stable with decent horses and take riding lessons and I can ride on my own too!

Comment by Cindy Jeffery on February 20, 2012 at 6:09pm

Thanks Jackie. Sometimes I wish we could all get together and share in the caring of the horses.  I feel sad for you that you don't have at least one horse to go and hangout with. Especially when there are soooo many that need human friends in Canada and the US.

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