First, I am NOT a natural rider. 

I have heard about or read about natural riders since I started riding in Chile some 54 years ago.  I was told by my parents that they had been told that there were these people who could just get up on a horse and ride perfectly from the very first time.  Perfect seat, perfect hands, perfect timing, perfect from the very start.  My…

Ever since I started reading books on riding I have been trying to puzzle out what the horsemen actually MEANT.  When I got my first horse I had the comforting illusion that I knew at least a little bit about riding (I had 4 years of trail riding as a young kid).  My first horse, a 5 year old just gelded green broke Anglo-Arab gelding quickly taught me that I did not know much at all.  Fortunately a few months after I got him I ran into and quickly…

All week I have been dragging around, getting over the cold I had.  Tired, tired, tired!  Even so I tried to ride.  On Wednesday morning, after 2 1/2 inches of rain on Tuesday, Debbie called just before I put my boots on saying it was still raining at the stable.  I re-scheduled my lesson for Thursday, and on Thursday morning the weather broadcast looked like I could get a ride in, but when we got a mile from the stable the heavens opened up.  We went…

This week was not too great for me.  My son had brought home a cold from his university and I had been fighting that pesky virus all week.  Colds can be crippling diseases for people with MS, triggering devastating exacerbations of the MS.  Luckily mine got no worse than stumbling and dropping things and I altered my supplements, but I could not ride today because I finally came down with this cold.  Bummer. …

First, I finally got Cider's saddle to stay centered on her back.  As I've written before I had bought a Wintec Wide saddle to use on Cider.  At first I could not keep the saddle centered, and since my balance is not good I had to repeatedly re-center my saddle on her back.  Finally Shannon and I figured out something that works--a double fleece GP saddle pad.  The top layer of…