The Final Cold Morning of the Season

This Wednesday morning it was quite crisp, 45°F with a brisk breeze at dawn and it did not warm up much in time for my lesson. I had to put my cold weather breeches back on and I could wear my BOT back brace without getting too hot. I even used my home-made bit warmer on the bits.…

Winter Comes Back to Stay

Fortunately, since I am in the South, it is not a terribly severe winter.  So far, all the precipitation has been liquid.  Even with several killing frosts, some flies appear when it gets warm, and then another killing frost hammers them.  Nights in the 20s F eventually get those nasty flies out of the picture.

Talking about flies, I have noticed something this year.  In 2014, I noticed that the population of the “buzz bomber” flies was miniscule, and…

Last Tuesday I went down to the tack store to pick up my Stubben, all ready to ride with new front billet straps.  It did not take very long for the local tack specialist to replace the billets and it just cost me $87.00 USD.  Now I do not have to worry anymore about a billet strap breaking and I can relax and enjoy riding in my ancient 43 year old saddle.  When I got it home I put on stirrups and stirrup leathers, my sheepskin seat saver and my…

I actually got to ride on the mini trail twice this week, and both time I was riding an Arabian!

Wednesday morning Debbie called me saying they were going to be fixing the footing on her ring, big equipment, lost of noise, etc..  Since I was still suffering the effects of a head cold (BAD NEWS for us with MS) I was willing to wait a day.  So I got my lesson on Thursday on the Arab gelding Mick.  The fence on the far end of the riding ring was completely down, and the…

Last week I finally got my leather snaffle.  Since I re-started riding Bobby I have been thinking hard about what might be irritating his mouth.  I read the ad about those super pricey titanium bits and I was looking for an alternative that I could afford that also was temperature neutral and did not have any electric currents or magnetism going through the bit.  I was really excited to get my leather snaffle, at least until I measured the mouthpiece, 2 centimeters wide and…