Jackie Cochran's Page

I don't believe it, I wrote my blog and published it and it all disappeared except for the title.  I feel like crying, this has happened to me about five times in the last few months.  Well, here is trying again.

I was supposed to get a lesson on Mick on Wednesday but Debbie called me earlier in the week saying she would have to go pick up a horse in Maryland.  I asked if I could just ride Mia and Debbie said…

Horses have opinions about how their people handle and ride them.

Unfortunately many people think that horses have absolutely no RIGHT to have an opinion about anything a human does.  Whenever a horse has the courage (or sheer desperation) to protest its treatment people talk about resistances, stubborness, balkiness, bad attitudes, etc., etc., etc..  Since horses are obviously "inferior" to humans in wisdom and knowledge, horse were never granted the right to…

When I got up this morning the rain clouds were on the other side of Charlotte and slowly moving toward us.  Hearing only the occasional drop on the roof I got ready to ride and made it out to Shannon's farm.  And my luck held, the rain decided to wait and I got to ride Cider.  Cider was happier with me than last week because this week I did the proper thing, dragged the heavy (for me) mounting block over and I MADE SURE the saddle and pad were in exactly the right place, centered…

As I got back into riding years ago I knew that my horses had started objecting to my hands years before as my undiagnosed Multiple Sclerosis got worse.  Once diagnosed I finally understood why, it was because my hands had gotten too bad to keep contact like I used to.  I decided then that the only way I would ever be able to ride with contact again was to listen to the horses, and to find areas where we both could agree that riding with contact could be pleasant for both of us. …

First, Merry Christmas everyone!

As my body changes due to my Multiple Sclerosis I often loose the "feel" in my hands.  I usually don't pick up on it immediately since everything feels normal to me, but the horses do!  First the horses try to adapt, raising their heads a little, just enough to turn the steady contact into intermittent contact.  Often this is enough to make everyone happy for a while, but if my hands deteriorate further the horses get more emphatic, either…