This has been a horrible week for riding down here in sunny NC. Temperatures up to 101 F (ca. 38 C), high humidity, and all the smog from the big Northern cities flowing down to make the air a blackish yellow soup. Definitely walking weather. Why wear out the lungs?

When I first started riding Mia she was a timid mare, and she shied gently at the most inconsequential things, both in and out of the ring. I knew that part of the…

Forty years ago today I got my first horse. My father had inherited a little money from his mother, and decided that I needed a horse, finally. We had trail ridden in South America for four years while I was in grade school, I did not learn much about how to ride properly back then, just posting and using the reins clumsily to turn and stop. I never stopped hanging onto the pommel when cantering. Of course I thought I knew how to ride until I started reading…

A year or so back I was searching the Web for unusual horsie sites and I ran into horsetrainingresources.com, run by Charlie Hicks. Though most of the stuff on this site is for the Western rider (reining emphasis) and is based on older American horse training, I signed up for his e-mails since I am willing to learn from any source. I am VERY GLAD I did so.…

I just got to ride once this week, and I am having to get used to getting up a half-hour earlier so I can escape the worst effects of the heat. It isn't too easy for me to change what I do, and getting up earlier is among the things that I find hard to adjust too, but anything to escape the heat.

My ride went pretty well, Mia seems to like the Wellep bit fine, even with my hands deteriorating in the heat. No contact or light…

Today Shannon asked me to come out early, 8:00 AM because today it is HOT and HUMID. I am so glad she did as it was in the upper 70's F when I got to the farm. Later on today it will be in the mid 90's F, and the humidity is about 90%. A real North Carolina summer. At least we are getting rain this year, lovely thunderstorms that have driven away the danger of going back into our years long drought.

I had gotten the Wellep…

This week I got to try the Wellep single jointed snaffle bit on Mia. I brought both Mia's bridle with the JP Dr. Bristol and the bridle I used on Cider last week with the Wellep bit so that Debbie could make a choice. After listening to how Cider reacted to the bit Debbie decided it would be worthwhile to try the Wellep bit on Mia. Debbie had a little trouble getting the bit into her mouth, Mia saw it and did not know what to think of it, just that it was a…

The first part of this month I read Elwyn Hartley Edwards "Complete Book of Bits and Bitting". On page 50 I read about a bit I had never seen or read about before, the Wellep bit. Mr. Edwards called it the first new method of making bits since 400 BC. I was intrigued, I am always looking for stuff that makes the horses I ride more comfortable and for bits that help make up for the limitations of my hands. Going to the web I found the site…

An absolutely wonderful thing happened on Wednesday when I rode Mia.

After our usual warm-up of two speeds of the walk and threading our way between and around the jumps I prepared for a trot, shortening the reins, getting my heels down, and then I politely asked Mia to trot. To my utter amazement, Mia trotted off the first time I asked her to! After 18 months of urge, urge, urge before she would shuffle off in a slow trot, she…

Ah, summer is coming, and this week we got a foretaste of what is coming in a month or so. It has been so muggy that in the morning it almost looks like it is raining, and the heat just adds to the misery. This weather is not doing my MS symptoms much good, my left hand started to drop things and my fingers started working against each other instead of cooperating. I was sort of worried about riding in the heat (I go through this each year), but once I got up on…

Both mares I ride have been showing their approval of my change to the smooth rowel spurs. While I still irritate them sometimes as I put the spurs on my internal "body-map", I am getting much better responses to my legs even when I do not apply the spurs. I do not know if this is just from the presence of the spurs, as my toes have stopped going to east and west and are now staying nicely at a 30 degree angle or less to the horse's sides. This way, when I close…

Luckily, last week when I made it to the tack shop again they had gotten new spurs in, including a short shanked smooth rowel spur. On Wednesday I showed them to Debbie, and this time she liked my new spurs. This was good, Mia had gotten irritated the one time I had tried the POW spurs, and I was sort of prepared for further irritation as my smooth rowel spurs are as long as my POW spurs, but Debbie was right. Everything worked well, Mia showed absolutely no…

Last week, with visions of rowel spurs in my head, I went to my "local" tack shop--a 60 mile round trip, and discovered they did not have what I was looking for. There was ONE set of smooth rowel spurs, with the extra long neck, made of zinc of all things but only $10 US so I got them anyway for future experiments if needed. I also found this weird looking set of slip-on spurs, with the "spur" interface being a series of rounded metal curves. This set looked…

I finally got to ride three times this week, and I am VERY tired, but it was worth it. The weather has been wonderful down here in NC, 60 to 80 F, nice breezes, and sunny. Well, it is nice if you don't have hayfever, luckily I don't. The horses are shedding gobs of hair, I spend as much time getting the brushes and curry combs clean of hair as I spend brushing the horse. I do not know if I could handle it physically if I had to do all the grooming myself, I am…

Finally Spring is blooming all over, and Shannon's ring FINALLY dried out, so I have been able to ride Cider again. I like Cider, she has plenty of get up and go, so much that I never have to carry a crop, which makes me happy because the more things I have to mess with in my hands the harder it is on me.

Last week when I rode Cider she did not seem completely pleased with her bridle any more. Nothing nasty, slightly less…

I got a request a few weeks ago to discuss manners, or rather getting a horse to act politely. I had to think a lot, it has been over a decade since I had to work with a misbehaving horse on the ground. My MS makes it hard for me to keep my balance at all times, and when I got diagnosed I figured that my days of effectively training a young horse were over, for it REALLY helps in disciplining a horse if you can stand your ground. However,…

After all the confusion with the new foal, Mia had gotten sore, I think she aggravated her arthritis some. It took a while to get Mia moving these past few weeks, and my legs have been getting sore a little from all the leg aids I had to use just to keep Mia moving faster than a slow crawl.

Last week when I finally got a good forward striding walk with Mia I got a big surprise when I asked her to halt, she actually leaned on my…

It seems that no matter how old I get and how much experience I have, I still have more to learn. I started learning how to train with my first horse, who was just green-broke when I got him. I did not have enough money to get him trained and I had to learn training from reading books, trying stuff out on my horse, scratching my head and trying again. Fortunately my green-broke horse was cooperative, intelligent, quick to pick up new knowledge, and willing to…

This was an interesting week. Early on Sunday morning the black TB mare Cricket had a foal! Cute little filly, they've named her Glory for now. Since her sire is a Section A Welsh pony she is nowhere as tall as a TB foal. I find it truly amazing the amount of nurturing instincts that a new foal raise in humans, including me. Every human at the stable is oohing and aahing as if this little equine was their first grandchild.

And…

Riding Mia this week was sort of an exercise in boredom. The ring was soaking wet on Wednesday, so I could do very little trotting, and the bitter cold North wind was blowing. Mia sort of put her head down and plodded around. She was NOT going to waste her precious energy by reacting to the wind.

When I first met the Arab mare Mia 18 months ago her beautiful brown eyes looked out at the world with suspicion and apprehension.…

After last week's rides I suffered from new pains in my back, the result of trying to change my riding posture. My new way of getting my shoulders in the right place works very well, but I got sore muscles in places that I did not realize I had muscles. Not only my back, but my hips and all of the muscles in front and to the outside of my thighs. After a few days of hobbling around I realized that I was being totally unrealistic about my physical fitness and my body's ability to…