I had the arena to myself for my ride with Cole, last night.  He was in a particularly good mood—I think it was the chilly weather.  We started with just trotting around to warm up, but it didn’t take long before I started our latest project—leg yield at a trot.  He used to do it at a walk, but it turned into the most perfect side pass.  Cole now loves to side pass all the time.  About a month ago, we spent a week or so on turn on the haunches, and he loves that, too.  Consequently, he is…

It was really chilly last night.  The temperature in the indoor arena was below freezing.  Of course, that is not too cold to ride, but last year, I would have had to lounge Cole before riding on a night like last night.  He would have been awful, too, with much rearing and bucking.  I decided to just ride him and see how he did.

I am happy to report that he behaved beautifully.  There was no spooking, bucking or bolting.  Yes, we have come a long way.  He didn’t perform very…

Last Great Ride of the Year

I had the Monday after Christmas off from work.  The weather gods were looking down kindly at us, and furnished the best sort of weather for a winter ride.  It was sunny and about 40 degrees F.  Bliss…  We had ridden the last 3 days on the hill because the river was too high, but even that cooperated with us and was low enough by Monday.  We were going on a Christmas trail ride.

Unfortunately, my sister had to go into work.  She…

Cruiser is Who He was Meant to Be

Way back when I bought Cruiser, I was given his papers.  He is not registered as a Morab, but as a Half Arabian.  I don’t even have proof that his mother was a Morgan.  I just took the word of his previous owners.  Quite honestly, they could have told me he was half St. Bernard, and I wouldn’t of cared.  I fell in love with him, so none of it…

I found out that I can’t post Cole at all in the arena.  I tried and tried.  I felt like I never did it in my life.  I would go a couple strides and fall into the saddle with a boom.  Poor Cole would immediately halt in confusion.  I had to give up because I felt I was torturing him.

So, then I tried it with Cruiser.  He simply didn’t give me enough oompf to get off the saddle.  I gave up with him, too.

I post both horses all the time on the trail quite…

Sorry everyone.  I haven’t been blogging because I have been busy.  Not with riding, but with work.  Hopefully, we are finally breaking out of this bad economy.  I am a printing estimator, and in the world of printing, if the estimators get busy, everyone else will be getting busy in a few weeks.

Of course, I am still riding.  The weather has been strangely good in the last few weeks.  Sure, we have had rain, and that’s never any fun, but we haven’t had that much snow at…

I’ve been doing a lot of riding in the last week.  I had a 4-day weekend—just using up my sick days since I was quite healthy this year.  Usually the weather is crummy in Cleveland in December, but I was really lucky.  We had dry and sunny days.  I couldn’t cross the high river on Saturday and Sunday, but that was all right.  I got to ride with my sister in the arena and we rode on the hill to the river a few times, too.  Monday, I took Cole on a trail ride with my boyfriend and his horse,…

I am determined to improve my riding in the arena, this winter, so I got out my old Mary Wanless book.  I am reviewing chapter by chapter.  I got to the chapter on breathing and bearing down—and I realized I wasn’t doing it right anymore.  Somewhere during trail riding and breaking in a new horse, I lost it.  I practiced all day at work to prepare for my rides.

I started out with Cruiser, my older horse that I am starting anew.  Guess what—he had his best day of the winter. …

Ranger Tests Us

It’s not often I mention that Ranger is having a problem, and that’s because he is a fairly consistent horse.  Every now and then, he throws in something to keep my sister, Ellen, on her toes.  Well, he did it, again.

One day, back in November, he acted very strange during tacking up.  We…

A Small and Unexpected Miracle

Years ago, I’m not even sure when, I found a lump in Cruiser’s throatlatch area.  It didn’t seem to hurt him, so I waited until the next time the vet came out to ask her what it was.  She said it was a tumor on his thyroid, that there was nothing we could do about it and it wouldn’t do any harm.

 …

It was a chilly night—right around freezing—perfect for riding horses with winter coats.

I rode both horses in the arena last night.  My ride with Cole wasn’t consistent, and I just couldn’t seem to get my body in sync with his at the trot.  Remember, he has a huge and impulsive trot which can be tough to sit and I consider impossible to post.  I have found that you need to plug into the side-to-side motion while keeping the movement slightly forward, too.  This gets the best…

I worked both horses in the arena, last night. Cruiser is being consistent and each ride he’s improving slightly. At this rate, he will be 30 years old by the time I get him where I want him. We worked mostly on straightness. He has been bending to the right when going to the left. This never used to be so prominent, so I think that some of it might be the stiffness of old age. If Cole had the same problem, I would know it was more me than Cruiser. We added small circles to the right to our…

The Best Trail Riding Month of the Summer—November



After a record amount of precipitation this year, where we were rained out weekend after weekend, vacation after vacation, we finally had a good month for riding. Usually November is a crummy trail riding month. What a treat it was. Ellen and I even had vacation time that we were able to get out and cross the river.



I was able to put on a lot of miles with Cole. Much of it was with Ranger. He is behaving beautifully with…

In the interest of using my vacation time up before the end of the year, I took another 4-day weekend off with my sister.  We had icy cold weather, very hot weather and weather in between—but what we didn’t have was rain.  We were able to cross the river on all 4 days.  It was great to ride so much.  The horses were good, for the most part.  Cole did get a little funny towards the end of the ride, Sunday, but that is all.  I think he was remembering the day before when his lunch was in his…

Wow, what a storm yesterday evening.  I am sure glad I have an indoor arena to work in when the weather is crummy. 

Cole was uninspired.  I have noticed this happens on very warm days when he has a full winter coat like last night.  Consequently, we changed our plans to a slower ride.  I don’t believe in fighting if I can avoid it.  We perfected Turn on the Haunches in his good direction and improved it quite a bit in his not-quite-as-good direction.  I can’t believe how easy…

It was a lovely weekend here in Ohio.  Friday evening, I rode both my horses in the arena.  Nobody was at the stables, so I didn’t have to share the arena.  Cruiser seemed a little more settled down, and he continues to act normal.  Cole did a perfect turn on the haunches on the first request.  Not bad for never having done it, before.  The other direction didn’t go as well, but that’s how things always are with horses.

Saturday, my niece came out to ride with us.  She rode…

Cruiser in the Arena

I write so much about Cole, I thought it was time to tell everyone my plans with Cruiser over the winter.  First off, he pretty much stays inside in the indoor arena the whole time.  I don’t trust him on ice.  He has always been quick to panic on it, so the smallest amount of ice will keep me away.  Also, he keeps his shoes over the winter for support for his…

My sister and I took Tuesday off to ride, and what a pretty day it was.  The temps were warm and it was sunny.  First, we took Cruise and Ranger out on a 1.5 hour ride with a lot of walking so we could talk and just enjoy the day. 

   When I got back, I took Cole out on the same ride, but as always, when I take Cole out, it is a training ride.  He actually was a little balky at the beginning of the ride, and I had to tap him with the whip to explain that stopping wasn’t an option.  He…

I was riding Cole in the arena the other night, and a really nice boarder at our barn brought her horse in to lounge.  She has a sweet Paint mare, that I have never seen truly misbehave, but her owner is afraid to ride her.  She needs to lounge her a lot before she will ride her, and with her busy work schedule, she usually doesn’t have the time to both lounge and ride.  As we all know, fear isn’t logical, and it certainly isn’t in this case. 

I thought that demonstration of…

What a perfectly pretty November weekend in northeast Ohio.  Of course, you could find me out on the trail with my Morabs.  I love this weather.

 Friday, I took my very last evening trail ride of the year.  The time changed this weekend, and I no longer have the daylight to ride on the trail.  Anyway, Cruiser made it a good one.  He was energetic and silly.  What else would I expect from him on a cool evening…?  I rode Cole in the arena, and he wasn’t too keen on working.  Before the…