One Day Better, One Day Worse

Last Sunday it started off cold, but then Shannon was late picking me up so it was warmer when I rode Cider.

When we got to Shannon's horses' stable yard Cider was happily standing, untied, with all her Fenwick and BOT neck and rump rugs draped over her. In the confusion of getting everything…

No Spurs, No Sweat

During this week my right ankle was bothering me, to the point of random pains in muscles and tendons and my leg “threatening” to collapse under me. This may be a long term effect of the Covid-19 case I had early 2020, and it is very irritating to me. When I was getting ready to ride on Wednesday I decided that it would be better for my ankle if I did not put my spurs on,…

How I Conduct a Training Session at the Walk    

Since I am now in transition from no medicine for my Multiple Sclerosis to re-starting the only medicine that has ever controlled my MS, my body is changing daily.  This means that there are days when I only walk when I ride a horse.  There were times, when I was younger, when I would have been terribly bored just walking around the ring, keeping on the rail and going around in pointless circles, and accomplishing…

Do you find that when asking your horse for canter, you tend to 'over do' some aspects of your aids?  Perhaps you throw your reins at your horse, or you try to 'push' too much with your seat or upper body...  You are shoving and bumping about in the saddle and when your horse eventually 'strikes' the canter, you are so far from where you want to be position wise, that it takes the first 5 to 10 strides just to get your limbs back listening to you before you can even begin to turn your mind…

I’ve been remembering my first experience in Walk Detention. It was the dark ages and I was a training level rider on a young horse. I was so excited to ride in my first clinic with an Olympian- my enthusiasm sizzled audibly. I handed over a fat check, my horse was spit polished and I was…