I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! 

My husband gave me some Christmas money, so I went to the tack store yesterday.  I’ve had my eye on a “Korsteel JP copper ball link full cheek” 3-piece snaffle with a small copper ball that rolls around the center link, as well as a “gelcomb” and a small brush so I could groom Mia’s head properly.  I lucked out, the bit was still there and I finally found the head brushes I was looking for.  One of the ladies who worked…

I think I am coming down with something, even though I have been staying mostly at home.  All disease germs must love the Christmas shopping season, there are so many potential victims just waiting around to provide a hospitable home.

Wednesday I got my lesson on Mick.  Poor guy, Debbie thought that it would be warmer on Tuesday night so she just put Mick’s sheet on (he is in a stall at night.)  Well Wednesday morning was cold and there was an even colder wind.  When…

Cold rain.  Cold wind. 

Last Sunday it was a cold rain, so I missed out on riding Cider.

Luckily I got my lesson on Wednesday.  The low that night had been 21° F but when I got up the TV said 25° F so I went out to ride.  I had gotten Mick an extra exercise sheet, this time a Centaur Climate Control Thermo Knit Cut-back Exercise sheet.  Mick takes a 72” blanket so I had to get the horse sized one which is…

My sympathies for all of you in the winter storm.   

I actually rode FOUR times this week!  Yes, I am exhausted, but we are due to get the winter storm  by this weekend, snow and ice are going to try to make it down here on Sunday, Monday it will rain and next week it will be cold again.  My son’s schedule changed so I grabbed the chance to ride today since I obviously will be huddling at home this weekend instead of enjoying horses.

Last Sunday Cider was glad…

It is official, Cider and Mick LIKE having warm butts!

Last Sunday it was cold with a stiff breeze so I was glad I could introduce Cider to the Rambo Competition Sheet exercise rug.  After Shannon groomed her I put it on and off her back and croup a few times and made sure to open and close the Velcro that holds it together at the withers.  Long ago Cider had been evented so she probably was familiar with blankets though she had not seen one in years.  Shannon saddled…

We are on a temperature roller coaster down here in North Carolina.  It is around 75° F today, but on Monday morning they are predicting a low of 19° F, if not lower.

Last Monday, when I rode Mia, it was warm, so warm I put on my technical fabric cool riding shirt, and by the end of my ride I was wishing I’d put on my ice-fill sleeves too since I was sweating.  Two days later when I got to the stables for my…

Because of the mares.

Last Sunday I got to ride Cider.  When I greeted her she gave me a soft blow.  When Shannon groomed her she gave little snorts of approval.  While I rode her around the ring (at a walk) she started rewarding me when I used my aids properly with more little snorts of approval.  Now don’t get me wrong, Cider still insisted that I get myself perfectly centered in the saddle from the start of my ride.  But Cider’s hard work over the past few months is…

Well, it finally all caught up with me, making the wool saddle blanket so I could use it with my Corrector, cleaning my saddles every time I rode, and going up North to take my yearly lesson at North Fork.  I started getting more and more tired, then I entered a fog of exhaustion and it started affecting my riding.

Two weeks ago I started off on a good note.  I had gotten the book “American Dressage” by Chuck Grant, found something in it I could try in my riding, and I…

Not being content with Mick’s trot I made yet another change to my padding system, this week I put the Corrector UNDER the wool saddle blanket I had adapted instead of on top of the saddle blanket.  To recap my experiences so far--with triple fold woolen Western saddle blanket Mick gave me a non-banging sitting trot but he would not move his forehand freely; with a double fold wool blanket with the Corrector between the folds Mick still gave me a sittable sitting…

This was a very tiring week for me, yesterday I just could not get up enough energy to write my blog since it was the first day all week I got some down-time and all I could do was just sit and do nothing.  At least I made some progress with Mick this week!

One reason I was so tired is that I spent days cutting down one of my wool Western saddle blankets and adapting it to use it with the Corrector.  I sewed, and sewed some more, tried it on Mia (at least she did not…

So I could wear my FITS deerskin paneled breeches.  This was good because I totally gave up on using double fold Western saddle blankets with the Stubben Siegfried.  So I put my Corrector back in its “sock”, apologized to the horses for any anxiety caused by the saddle blankets, and I suffered an immediate deterioration of my lower leg.  Now is the time for Arts and Crafts with Mia‘s saddle blanket!

Sunday I rode Cider in the EZ-Fit treeless saddle, and since I could…

Last weekend my husband and I went up to Maryland and I got my yearly lesson from Karen Fenwick at North Fork School of Equitation in Jefferson, Md.  I found this long trip (around 1,000 miles round trip) totally exhausting.  By the time I got to North Fork I had been traveling for three days and I was not in top shape physically because I was very tired.  But autumn has finally come, North Fork is in the foothills, and it was cool enough so I could wear my deerskin…

I did not get to ride Sunday because Shannon had hurt her shoulder.  Then on Sunday my son cut a gash across one of his knuckles (2 stitches) so he could not help me with Mia on Monday.  My husband was home so he kindly took me out to ride Mia, but he had strained his hand so I had to do all of the currying, brushing, hoof rasping, tacking up and applying fly spray.  My husband did manage to clean out the hooves and put in the thrush medicine.  By the time I got to the ring…

This week I experimented with my Western woolen saddle blankets on the Arabs I ride.  The previous three weeks I rode Mick with just my triple-fold woolen Western saddle blanket.  While he showed great improvement with relaxing the muscles in back of the saddle he was not too sure about the front of the saddle, and he just was not moving as freely as he did when I just used the Corrector pad.  I came up with the idea of putting the Corrector in between the top and bottom of…

Last Sunday was not and miserable, so hot and miserable that the rest of the herd did not come when Shannon caught Cider.  Cider was NOT happy at all, why should she be forced to work when her friends were back in the coolest part of the pasture?  I was not doing too well either, the night before I did not sleep well so I was planning to just walk.  I am glad I was not more ambitious.  When we went into the ring Cider looked around for her buddies and NO ONE WAS AROUND, and…

The last few weeks I have been suffering from an attack of the MS exhaustion.  I had been doing too much and it finally caught up with me.  I had started walking 3x a week for 10 minutes in order to get more fit so I could build up my endurance--that got dropped.  I found out that it was not a good idea for me to stop using my slicker brush on Mia when there is a lot of summer rain, her fungus in her coat came back and by the time my son noticed it had spread over her croup…

This week, while musing over my new found security in the saddle I suddenly thought, what about the frictional grip of the saddle to the horse?

When I started riding pads were not considered necessary for English hunt seat or saddle seat saddles.  I was told (and read) that a properly fitted saddle made of vegetable tanned leather with wool padding did not NEED a saddle pad if the bottom of the saddle was cleaned with saddle soap after each ride with occasional…

As my readers know I have been seeking security in the saddle for years.  I have Multiple Sclerosis and I was blaming all of my riding security problems on my MS, my lack of balance, my great weakness, my exhaustion from the least physical activity, my lack of a proprioceptive sense and my general lack of coordination.  I figured that there was NO WAY I would ever feel as secure in the saddle as I did when I was younger.  As it turns out I was blaming the wrong thing (my…

I have been thinking lately a lot about how hard it can be for middle-aged and older women to either get back to their long interrupted riding or to start riding.  It is not easy.

We know we can get hurt.  Many of us have osteoporosis and many more have arthritis.  Our youthful figures have gone away, our once athletic bodies have dissolved, and we just do not feel as sprightly as we did when we were younger.  Medical issues pile up, kids and families threaten all of…

Gee, this is my 200^th blog!  When I started blogging here on Barnmice over four years ago I never imagined that I could find enough to write about to make it to 200 blogs.  I want to thank all of my readers for reading my blogs each week.

Last week I had decided that feelings of security were more important than feeling cool.  That idea just lasted one ride.  Debbie could not give me my regular lesson…