Bingo Slowly Improves

The shedding season is in full force and the bug season is just about to start down here. Bingo hair is all over my saddle pad, my girth, my riding clothes, and tracked into my mini-van and house, Bingo hair is taking over my universe (with some help from Cider.) You'd think after weeks of weekly thorough groomings that the quantity would decrease, that his coat would look…

Learning How to Use My Upper Thigh

Several weeks ago I had run into a quote from Stephen Peters that said that the lower legs do the driving aids and that the thighs do the collecting aids. From what Debbie has told me about how she gives her halting aids I knew that Debbie had already figured this out long ago, even it she had not put the idea forth in a pithy statement. After discussing this…

Bingo's Selective Memory

Due to Debbie's endless list of tasks to get her stable ready for a show today I had to take my lesson on Thursday. I'm just glad that Debbie was able to fit me in!

When I got to the stable I noticed a sign in the wash stall, to NOT shed the horses out in the wash stall because all the hair had…

Bingo's Vacation Ends

Bingo had a 8 month long vacation with nobody riding him at all. He's been fed, his hooves trimmed, and blanketed when needed (he lives outside), more than enough time for his body to heal from any little undetectable injuries. Debbie had started grooming out his winter coat the week before my lesson, getting a lot of hair off outside the barn.…

I Will Be Changing My Lesson Horse

My lesson on Wednesday was the usual. Cinnabar, came in with his usual “you again” sour expression, he did not particularly enjoy the grooming (mostly Debbie), and the overall impression I got from him was that he thinks he is overworked and “underpaid” (he gets fed plenty and has lots of turn-out with his buddies.)…

Riding in the Drizzle

This week I had a choice, I could ride in the drizzle or take my lesson on frozen footing.

I decided that getting damp was better than risking a wrenched fetlock joint.

Sunday I was really hoping that the precipitation would hold off…

At Least I Had a Lesson This Week

I only got to ride on Wednesday this week, at least I got a lesson in!

Cinnabar was my lesson horse again. It was so warm I did not have to use any of my butt blankets. I think I felt a lesser degree of the muscles in his butt moving smoothly because we did not have the BOT butt blanket on.…

Another Week of Not Riding

The weather has been most uncooperative! Last Sunday Shannon's grass ring was just too wet, even for just walking around.

Wednesday I nervously watched the weather radar before my lesson. It showed rain in several places but not over the stable. Debbie called, I told her this, and we agreed to try…

Two Creaky Old Ladies

Yesterday I got to ride Mia. When I got to the stable the stable hands told me the Mia had hung around the barn UNTIL someone asked if I, Jackie, was coming. Mia immediately headed out to the furthest part of the pen she was in, out to the other side of the riding ring. Then they told me she had done the same thing earlier, hanging around the barn until someone mentions my…

I Feel Secure While Trotting

I know that this is an unusual new event for a rider with 45 years of riding. When I learned to post the trot at age 6 I had no problems and until my MS ruined my balance, proprioceptive sense, coordination, etc., I always felt secure trotting. However, for the last 5 years or so I started to feel like my breeches had a surface of slick glass as I started shifting…

Some Added Security in the Saddle

This week I tried something new.

Several weeks ago, on the COTH Forum, when I asked about hip protection, another rider recommended a new product, rubbery pads that self-stick onto the saddle.

Ever since I started riding…

A Change Brings Me Back to Start

Debbie called me earlier in the week asking if I could postpone my lesson until 12:30 P.M. as she wanted to be with her grandson as he got ear-tubes Wednesday morning. Since it was going to be cold early in the day, and it was going to be even colder later in the week I agreed. We had never had a lesson where he had been turned out for hours previously so I was…

Finally I am Riding Again

And it is SO GOOD to get back into the saddle!

I have just been walking because I got so weak while my cracked ribs healed. My entire body has to be brought back “on line” so I can ride safely and without irritating the horses. Right now walking the horse is the best thing I can do to get my body…

Dwyer on Curb Chains

This is probably the last blog I write on Francis Dwyer's book, “On Seats and Saddles, Bits and Bitting,” since I am riding again (YEAH!!!). Since the curb bit, in the past, was named after the curb chain, I will give you what Dwyer wrote about the curb chain so that there are seven blogs I've written about this book. I am sorry if there is some repetition from previous…

Dwyer on Curb Bits—Part III

Now we get to the outside of the curb bit, the upper and lower bars of the curb bit cheek-pieces. Again all quotes come from “Seats and Saddles, Bits and Bitting” by Francis Dwyer, all caps are my emphasis and all parentheses include my clarifications when the meaning is unclear.

From page…

Dwyer on Curb Bits—Part II

This week I quote Dwyer on the inside of the horse's mouth and how that can affect the selection of a proper curb bit. All quotes are from “Seats and Saddles, Bits and Bitting” by Francis Dwyer. Everything in parentheses is my additions, and I put really important things in capital letters.

On…

Dwyer on Curb Bits, Part I

Dwyer writes a lot on curb bits because back then the cavalries used a lot of curbs, either by themselves or as part of the double bridle.  From his experiences with 400 light cavalry horses in the Austrian Imperial cavalry he determined that many, if not most, of the problems that the cavalry troopers had with their horses came from improperly fitted and sited curb bits.

Dwyer (and Oeynhausen) found certain ratios in the horses' heads…

Dwyer on Snaffle and Bridoon Bits

Most of Dwyer's writings on bits concentrate on the curb bit, but he does have some words to say about snaffle bits, fortunately. As before all the quotes are from “On Seats and Saddles, Bits and Bitting” by Francis Dwyer. All the underlining and parentheses are mine.

On page 140 Dwyer lets…

Dwyer's Philosophy of Bitting

The last two weeks, stuck at home, I have been reading, re-reading and digesting the bitting information in Francis Dwyer's “On Seats and Saddles, Bits and Bitting.” I have been questioning all of my old assumptions about bits and riding with bits. While reading and thinking about this information I have wondered if many of the modern fads in riding, which many of…

What I've Learned About Curb Bits

After hurting all weekend I went to my MD on Monday. He ordered X-rays and found two cracked ribs. I am also bruised from my left hip down my thigh, my lower back from the edges of the protective vest, and my left rib cage hurts. I asked the doctor about riding and he said 6 WEEKS not riding, I told him about Mia (32-33, arthritic, freezes instead of bolting so…