We Stabilized My Pegasus Butterfly Saddle on Cider’s Back    

Last Sunday I got to try my new Pegasus Butterfly saddle on Cider again.  I found my only string girth, washed it, and I prayed it would fit Cider.  When I got to Shannon’s farm we both put the Pegasus pad on Cider’s back, I explained how we wanted the top part of the pad (the part right under the panels of the saddle) to be sort of flat, and we ended up putting all four shims in the second and third pockets on…

My New Pegasus Butterfly Saddle Gets Baptized in the Rain    

I did not get to ride Cider last Sunday so I did not get to see if putting the shims in the Pegasus pad was the answer to our problems during our last ride. 

On Wednesday morning, as we drove out to Debbie’s stable, it started drizzling with some bigger drops of rain.  I decided that hey, I’m tough, I ride hunt seat, and foxhunters often ride in the rain. Luckily for me, Debbie agrees that a light rain is really no…

My Pegasus Butterfly Saddle

First of all, my condolences to Ronnie, who sold me my Pegasus Butterfly saddle, his mother-in-law died and he was at her funeral the day I first used my new saddle.  I chose not to interrupt him during that difficult day, so my challenges with my new saddle are not his fault, or the fault of the saddle.  At least he went ahead and sent me the saddle when he said he would, so I got to ride in it this week.  He also told me last week that to “break in” the…

Bingo Was Not Behaving

Last Sunday, while I was riding Cider at Shannon’s farm, I decided not to use my upper thighs to influence Cider’s spine.  Instead I concentrated my attention on keeping my heels down, thus making my seat more secure.

Well, Cider was quite good.  My work with my upper thighs the last few weeks certainly pain off!  At no time during my ride did Cider scrunch herself up into a pretzel, and while we were not quite as straight she cheerfully accepted contact…

Debbie Tells Me to GET MY HEELS DOWN

On Wednesday, when I got to the stable, Debbie had already groomed Bingo.  She told me how MUCH she liked having her own pair of the HandsOn grooming gloves since she could go ahead and groom Bingo for my ride.  She really appreciates being able to get down and scrub the horse’s skin, especially his back and cannon bones where crud tends to accumulate.  Using these grooming gloves really seems to prevent the accumulation of fungus in the horse’s…

I Get to SEE the Results of My Work with Bingo

Since Debbie had a summer camp last week, I had a week off from riding Bingo.  She used him some during the camp, and Bingo did not behave perfectly.  Nothing exciting, just Bingo suddenly deciding he had enough and making a beeline to either the gate or the center of the ring.  Since Bingo has such a thick throatlatch, there is not much a beginning child rider can do to change his path.  It could have been much worse, Bingo did…

Bingo Responds Favorably to the Guidance of my Thighs

Bingo, at 22 years of age and having a lot of bad riding in his life, has strengthened the muscles that help him ignore/disobey/and actively resist all rein aids. His upper neck is THICK, vertically and horizontally, with all the muscles he has built up to resist improper rein aids. If I am not very, very careful I can trigger a super…

I Try to Make My Thighs a Corridor for the Horses’ Spines

The heat has arrived.  Day after day of highs above 95 F with lows above 75 F, and by the time I get the horse ready I am already drinking lots of water and feeling HOT.

On Sunday I got to ride Cider and try out my new thigh strategy in getting her to move straighter.  My grandson Will was getting to ride Magic the second time and he looked a lot more confident!  While Shannon concentrated on teaching Will to…

Gee, I have Written 300 Blogs so far on Barnmice!

A little over seven years ago, I started writing blogs on Barnmice.  I appreciate my readers (though a little more feedback would be appreciated) for continuing to read about my boring rides, stuck in the riding ring, proceeding mostly at a walk.  I do hope that you, the reader, have been inspired by my writings to listen to your horse!

Last Sunday Shannon figured out how to put my new Amigo Fly Rider flysheet on the…

I Finally Got My Grandson Up On a Horse!

During the decades that I owned horses, I had a fantasy of horses in my grandkids lives.  However real life interfered long before my grandson appeared on the scene.  Since I no longer have horses  my grandson did not get to meet horses, and I could not just pop him up on a trusted horse.

But now I have a big enough house to have a spare bedroom, so my son, Tally, and grandson, Will, can stay overnight, and since they live just a few…

I Just Ride at a Walk Until I Get Heat Sick

The past three weeks I have been sick, again.  My digestive system has decided it does not like food and that it does not particularly want to digest food.  Between constant nausea and diarrhea that will not quit permanently, I have spent most of my time collapsed in my bed.  However, after one week in bed I ended up with horrible back spasms, so I have been trying to ride as much as possible, at a walk since I am so darn weak.  I am hoping…

Moving Is Exhausting

I apologize for not writing my blog this past month, we have been moving from our old singlewide trailer to our new doublewide trailer, luckily I own both of them outright and they both are on my acreage.  When I say we have been moving I mean that my husband, with some intermittent help from both my sons, has been doing the actual packing and moving, while I am collapsed with exhaustion from the tiny bit of help that I can give them. 

Ever since my now…

Bingo Was Not Too Sure About the Next Experiment

As I wrote in my blog last week

(I Try Three New Things with Bingo,) I tried the Pee Wee bit on Bingo, and Debbie wanted to see if the next size up of the Pee Wee bit would work better with him.  So I dug through all my bits and finally found the medium size Pee Wee bit and put it on my…

I Try Three New Things with Bingo   

Since I had four lessons on Bingo, I figured that it was time that I changed some stuff with his tack for my lesson this week.  My main concerns were his reluctance to accepting a metal bit in his mouth, his reluctance to start moving, and his reluctance to turn.

The first one, the bit, I cleared with Debbie last week when I showed her my Pee Wee bit and asked her permission to try it on Bingo, you can see this bit here:…

Further Adventures with My New Saddle

This week I rode three horses using my new saddle.  Doing so made me appreciate my Corrector saddle pad even more than before!  While my new Crosby looked like it fit the horses’ backs, withers and shoulders much better than my other English saddles, the two horses I used it on without the Corrector shortened their strides at the walk, did not move their backs as much, did “stabbing” trots, and otherwise indicated some…

Bingo Seems to Like My New Saddle!

I have had a saddle quandary over the years, many of the horses I ride have backs that are wider than my ancient saddles can handle.  I got these saddles for my Anglo-Arab way back when Thoroughbreds were THE sport horse breed, and while my Stubben Siegfried and Crosby Wide Front saddles were wide for their era I dare not use them without my Corrector pad on the wider backed horses I ride now.

Several months ago, I learned that years ago…

Bingo Shows Some Signs of Understanding   

Everyone at Debbie’s stable was upset when I arrived Wednesday morning, because the 30 or so year old pony, Lily, could not get up.  For a week or two, with two people pulling and pushing, they had been able to get her to stand, but on Wednesday they could not get her up on her feet at all.  Debbie, of course, was with Lily, waiting for the veterinarian to arrive, all the way back on the other side of the riding ring.  Mia was brought in for…

Bingo

Wednesday I got to ride Bingo, a nineteen-year-old buckskin gelding, who is possibly a Paso Fino/QH cross, around 14 hands high, for my lesson with Debbie.  Bingo had been owned by another MS sufferer who could no longer afford to support a horse.  He had been trail ridden some and ridden in a field.  Recently Debbie has been using him for lessons for two little girls.  Right now he is not very fond of being ridden in the ring.  Since Debbie had doubts about how he would react…

Considering Options

This week I rode both mares, Mia and Cider, and I got three rides in.  Mia’s coughing continues and my rides on her now are mostly in the category of physical therapy, hers and mine.  You all are well aware of how riding horses keeps me walking on my own two feet, and riding Mia now requires me to use a lot of leg to keep her moving out, which means that I strengthen the muscles of my legs every time I ride her.  As for her physical therapy I worry about the mare,…

Spring is Here

Yes, North Carolina in the spring.  This is the best time of year here, the gnats and flies are still mostly absent, even the colder mornings warm up nicely, the birds are tweeting outside the window, and the horses are shedding what is left of their winter coats.  The trees are flowering, the leaves are sprouting, and it is simply gorgeous!

Grooming Mia has been a hairy adventure in more ways than one.  Of course, gobs and gobs of hair fly off her coat and the…