After almost a year, my hip is good enough to swing over the cantle again. Likely, I'll have this soreness for the rest of my life, but at least physio has  got me back into the saddle.

For the better part of the year, I've been doing once, and sometimes twice, a week ground work. That is, as I've said before, something that most riders never learn, but I think it is far more important than most people ever grasp. Groundwork is not just running a horse around in circles, but there are…

What I'll Look For

When I got up on MJ for my lesson this week I told Debbie I was NOT going to be doing the sitting trot for a while. Ten days after I tried to sit MJ's trot I still hurt, mainly my upper back between my shoulder blades. It hurts, it creaks, and I have decided that until MJ gives me a really clear signal that his back feels good enough for me to sit his trot, good enough so his…

From Toes to Heels

I had an exciting week. I got a homework ride in! Yeah, the ride itself, 30 minutes at a walk on a horse “saying”--”this should be a day off for me”--isn't that exciting, it is that for the first time in months I got to ride twice a week! Hurrah!!!!! I also discovered that if I did some more grooming—curry comb and dandy brush, that my back did not hurt between my shoulders…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Caroline Akervik

Website: http://carolineakervik.blogspot.com/

Twitter: @CAkervik  

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HorseNamedViking/

WISCONSIN AUTHOR…

The month of March was one of... winter is over... not it's not... yes, finally.... no, it's back.... now it's clear... no, still more snow...make up your mind!!

So annoying.

Eager plans to get busy training were stopped cold (yeah, pun intended) by the vagaries of weather. Kind of hard to work on a rope when confronted with freezing whiteout conditions and whipping winds. Of course, on the days I wasn't planning to train, because of my day job, the weather was warm and…

I'm excited to show off my beautiful new mare, Tessa! 

Babying MJ Along

This week was frustrating as far as riding goes. It had rained throughout Saturday night and it was too wet for me to ride in Shannon's grass ring on Sunday, so I was really looking forward to my lesson on Wednesday.

We got to the stable and Darryl told me that MJ was sort of lame, and Debbie said I could…

Ottawa, ON, March 9, 2022 – The Equestrian Canada (EC) Board approved a resolution today condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the breaking of the Olympic Truce, and Belarus’ support of the attacks. EC joins the International Olympic Committee (IOC), International Paralympic Committee (IPC), Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC) in banning Russian and Belarusian athletes, horses and officials from sport…

Winter Gloominess

Since I have not been able to ride as much as I need to (riding is physical therapy for me) I have had a lot of time to read on-line and think about horse stuff.

I think we, in North America and the rest of the Western world, have come to the end of the time in which non-wealthy people can afford to support…

Winter

This year we are getting a REAL winter down here in the mid-southern part of NC.

It snowed last night, over an inch. The lows have been in the lower 20sF to the upper teens, with maybe one night a week approaching the freezing mark. Luckily for me that one night was Tuesday night this week, and that one night will be…

Another year, another hiatus until Spring.

This time, it's my hip. Last summer, the hip which has always been a little 'off' got very sore, so I went to a physio yet again, but this time the treatment has vastly improved things.

What I noticed was that when I did the treatment, the pain lessened, but when I got astride a horse, the pain came back with a vengeance. It's a pretty quick realization that if I want the hip to heal more, I'd best give riding a break, so no being on…

Happy New Year!

May this year be much better than the last two years for all of us.

Sorry for the break the last few weeks, my sons and their families visited for the holidays. I did get to ride, weather permitting, and I got all my riding lessons in.

Not…

Musing About Grooming

Fortunately we had rain this week and today, we have been in drought status so we need every drop of rain that falls. Of course it messes up my riding but we NEED this rain.

Lately I have been exploring the Haas brushes, researching all the descriptive blurbs the saddlers attach to their listings,…

Sold at auction as a yearling, this horse sat in the feedlot until he was three. Luckily for him a loving family happened to drive by and spot him out there. They brought him home with them and he is now living the good life.  The first two pictures are him immediately after leaving the feedlot. The rest are later, after he had time to settle in.

He has a single whorl perfectly centered between the eyes. This only shows us that we don’t see any extremes of temperament from the whorl.…

Tap the little transparent box ➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️⬇️
(By the way this is 7:30ish in the morning not night.)

I have no storage left on my camera which leads me to have to film on my phone for the vlog today. I may or may not film today. I am sorry that the vlog did not get posted yesterday like I promised. The camera data wiped out again and I can’t find any of it! I will film the day in the life vlog very soon!!!

The slightest change in the location of a horse’s whorls can make huge differences in temperament.

No where is that more difficult to figure out than in side by side and diagonal double whorls. These whorls show almost…

Going Down a Rabbit Hole

Last Sunday it was COLD at Shannon's paddocks, when I stuck my head out I thought I would not need my winter jacket, but I was wrong, wrong, wrong.

The wind, sometimes gusting, made the shaded “stable yard” cold. Cider did not look very happy to be there and Shannon and Nancy had draped the various…