It was a rather nice summer day when I came out for my lesson on Wednesday. I was really appreciating the wind helping me cool off since the technical fabrics work so much better when there is a breeze. Debbie and I groomed and tacked Tercel up, and Tercel let me brush his ears out more, he did not enjoy it (sour look on his face) but he did not put up too much of a protest. Tercel even was good as Debbie led him out to the riding ring, tightened his girth, and led him to…

Tercel was SO GOOD this week, though I did not think so at first!

When I got to the stable I told Debbie I wanted to figure out if Tercel could use shims in the Corrector pad. She brought him in, I put the Stubben on his back without the pad and it looked pretty level. Then I put the Corrector pad on first, put…

At least something good happened this week; I got my lesson from Debbie on Tercel!  Her daughter that runs the stable when Debbie is gone, Sam, developed a gall stone and could not give me my lesson on Tilly, so I rode on Thursday since Debbie had come home early to take care of the stable.

Tercel had already gone on a trail ride on Tuesday, and he was not too sure about being ridden two days in a row, the poor horse.  He showed his anxiety/displeasure by becoming ear…

Debbie finally got back and I got my lesson on Tercel on Wednesday!  It had been a whole month since I had a lesson on him, and I think he had not been ridden by Debbie either.  I brought out my 45 year old Stubben Siegfried (plus the Corrector pad and the shims for it) to try on Tercel, and the EZ-Fit saddle just in case the Stubben did not work.  Fortunately my husband did not mind lugging two saddles out to the van, plus two pads and three girths. 

Debbie brought…

Way long ago in ancient days I started riding in Chile, in an old English hunt seat saddle (before knee rolls) and the main English stirrup of the day, now called Prussian sided stirrups (also sold as Polo stirrups and exercise stirrups.)  This was long before those nice rubber pads that we all use, I had naked metal under the sole of my shoes.  The stirrups used in the very few lessons I got before I got my first horse were Prussian sided stirrups, as were the…