Summer weather has arrived down here in NC with a vengeance.  Highs in the upper 90’s F, lows in the mid 70’s F, the sweat pours off of me, the horses come in from the paddocks with sweat matted coats, the insects are super active, the cows in the neighboring pasture congregate in the pond, and we appreciate any breeze.  We wish for cooler weather in vain, the coolest high for the next ten days will be 93 F, and we may get several days at 100 F or higher.  It is far too hot for…

It is almost summer, and down here in the sunny South the hot, muggy, and insect infested summer weather has arrived.  On Wednesday it was cool enough to wear my Fits Techtread summer weight breeches and my Ovation Cool Rider long sleeve shirt and I handled the heat fine, but on Friday it was a few degrees warmer and a lot more humid so I put my coolest clothes on, my Kerrits Flow Rise Performance tights and FITS Fanfaire long sleeve shirt, and I still sweated a…

What a change a little bit of equipment can make with a horse!  For the last 2 ½ months we have been riding Tercel with the blinkers, and riding Tercel has changed from a heart-stopping 30 minutes of stress to a sleep-inducing 30 minutes of more or less boredom.  Believe me, right now I prefer the boring rides!  Tercel was not ridden regularly during this time, and for three weeks he was not ridden at all, so this welcome boredom was not caused by working Tercel…

My apologies for not posting last week, my internet connection was giving me fits.  All fixed now.

Why did I decide to change Tercel from the Spirit bitless bridle to a bit?  The last two times I rode Tercel in the bitless bridle I repeatedly got the feeling that Tercel was not getting the whole message from my aids.  Once I fixed his bolting problem with the D’yon blinkers I finally could truly feel how Tercel was reacting to my aids.  He has a pretty decent…

Debbie finally got back and I got to ride Tercel again.  It had been six weeks since I got up on his back and I was curious/anxious/excited to see how the long break would affect our relationship, especially since I was planning on introducing him to my ear bonnet and fly whisk.  Tercel is super happy to have Debbie back.  Wednesday the weather was wonderful, spring mornings are simply marvelous here in North Carolina, it was cool enough so I could wear my more secure full…

I love spring.  As I sit in my bed typing this, a cool breeze is wafting, bringing in the wonderful, sweet honeysuckle scent from the over exuberant vegetation outside my bedroom window.  The dawn chorus of bird song has replaced the nighttime toad/frog and insect chorus, right now it is in the high 60s F, but it will be in the low 80’s F, the heat and humidity is starting to come back here. 

For my birthday my husband gave me enough money for a technical fabric…

I am greatly encouraged by my physical progress now.  Knock on wood; I seem to finally be recovering from my 16 month old MS exacerbation.  I had been recovering last summer, but then I got appendicitis 9 months ago and that really set me back, but now I seem to be making progress each week, miniscule progress each week but it adds up over the months!  My walking is stronger though I still have a tendency to stagger, I have been able to do a LITTLE house work (hey, a…

I did not get to ride Cider last week, it rained.

So on Tuesday I called up Debbie to see who I would be riding for my lesson on Wednesday, and I found out she was still up at her mother’s and I would not get my lesson.  At least I found out before I got to the stable with the wrong tack.

I just got to ride Mia this week.  Luckily both rides were with ideal spring weather, sort of cool in the mornings (upper 40’s F), sunny, and rapidly warming.   On…

During my two rides this week I worked on my gripping muscles. Of course, before I work on my gripping muscles, I have to make sure that I do not end up squeezing myself out of the saddle. Concentrating on keeping my heels and my knees down, I did succeed at practicing gripping with my calf without ruining the basic security of my seat.

Sunday was a marvelous day to ride Cider, my only complication is that I accidentally took Mia‘s bridle (with the Wellep bit)…

Last Sunday was a marvelous Spring day—no gnats, sunny, warm, with a delightful breeze, and  Shannon's grass…

Last week was sort of frustrating.  When I called Shannon to ride on Sunday she told me that she and her husband had to finish a job, and since they run their own business I understood, small businesses depend on their reputations.  Good ones get the job done.  Then Debbie called me Tuesday to tell me I could not have my lesson because they were going to give all their horses their spring shots Wednesday morning.  Well, the small Dy’on blinkers I had ordered came quickly and…

Last Sunday, when I was talking to Shannon about my latest problems with riding Tercel, I asked her if she had seen racing blinker hoods for sale nearby.  She hadn’t, but then she remembered that she had an old “made up” driving bridle with blinkers that she had used for training ground driving with a horse she had sold many years ago.  Shannon dug it out of her tack room,…

Spring is here!  The Bradford Pears and Forsythia are blooming, and I can see the leaf buds are starting to swell.  I hope it lasts for a while.

I did not have a very pleasant ride on Tercel.  Grooming him was fine, I had almost no problems brushing his ears or putting the poll cap on.    He was a little antsy when I started my lesson but we walked around the ring and he was not horrible--UNTIL--a rude duck flapped its wings just after we passed it.  All of a sudden…

I rode all three horses this week.  That was good.  But losing an hour of sleep last weekend has made my mobility slightly worse, something that happens to me each Spring time change. 

Cider had obviously enjoyed her three week vacation.  Through the years I’ve ridden her I’ve noticed if Cider got an extended time off I essentially have to retrain her--this means halt, this means turn, this means back up, etc..  Now I know that it takes only three weeks for her to…

The last time I rode was three weeks ago.  The last time I rode Tercel was four weeks ago, though Debbie did ride him three weeks ago.  Today was the first day I could ride in weeks, Debbie’s ring was not too wet, it was above freezing, and it was only misting this morning.  A good day to ride!

When we got out to the barn Debbie had not yet turned out Mia, just in case I felt like I needed to ride her since I had been out of the saddle so long.  I guess she…

Wednesday was a nice sunny day, and more importantly for a quiet ride on Tercel, there was no wind.  When I got to the stable Debbie asked if I wanted to ride her wild man, I shrugged and said “Sure!”  So she went out to get Tercel while I brushed off the saddle pad and girth.  Several minutes later she came in riding him bareback with the lead rope tied make reins with the tale of how Tercel had moved to the remotest part of the paddock when he saw her, instead of coming toward…

It was cold on Wednesday morning, so cold that Debbie called me up to make sure I was coming.  It was down to 25° F, and a light breeze was blowing.  I told her it would really help me to ride since I was not able to ride either Friday or Sunday and my walking was getting worse, but if it was too cold for her it was fine, I could ride on Friday.  She told me to come on out.

When I got out to the stable the ground was frozen hard.  I…

Let me put it this way, I do not think I will have to “train” Tercel to elevate his forehand.

Nothing bad happened, I had a good ride.  But when I got to the stable Debbie was upset from seeing a medical treatment of her mother-in-law.  Fortunately the lady recovered, but she is very old and frail.  Debbie’s husband, as is proper, is at his mother’s side and everyone else has more work mucking, feeding, watering, and turn out, and everyone at the stable is sort of…

First the not so good news.  Mick’s owner changed stables and took Mick with her, so I am no longer riding Mick.

This week I started riding Debbie’s horse Tercel, a dark bay or brown Arab gelding, I think he is in his low teens.  Debbie got this horse a few months after I started riding Mia (around seven years ago), and I’ve been wanting to ride him ever since.  Debbie got him to be HER horse, she had trained him to saddle but his breeder/owner was not mentally…

I apologize to my readers for my lack of production this year, I just get so tired and discouraged that I can’t seem to write. 

At least I kept riding last year, and that seemed to take up all my extra energy.  I even made progress with my riding, Cider no longer reminds me of a pretzel as we walk and trot around Shannon’s small ring.  Thanks to Cider’s refusal to accept anything less than perfection, my body finally seems to have figured out how to keep centered in my…