Spring has arrived early here in NC.  Today it is supposed to get up to 70 F.  The horses are shedding like crazy, the trees are pumping out pollen, and the fruit farmers are really worried because the flower buds on their trees are preparing to bloom.  Sometime in the next month or two we will probably get another sharp freeze down in the 20's F.  Meanwhile I am enjoying the clement weather.

 …

This was a wonderful week in that I got to ride three times.

However the spirit of revolution that started in Tunisia three weeks ago has finally reached both mares I ride, both Mia and Cider said no more to my most recent experiment using the Myler bits.  Of course the cold I had was quite bad and very weakening, and it really messed up my physical abilities.  Last…

I did not get to ride this week, again it was too cold and I had a miserable cold.  So I drowned my sorrows again by thinking about horses.  I decided to explore controlled kicking.  I first ran into this movement when I read "The Compleat Horseman" by Gervase Markham (1614).  On page 67-68 he writes

"Next to advancing (rearing), you shall teach your Horse to jerk behind (kick), in this manner:  when at any time…

This has been a WET week down here in Stanly County, N.C., we got 2 1/2 inches of rain!  Bad for riding, but still wonderful news because we just got put in the extreme drought category.  Again.  The years long drought is predicted to continue this year, so I am grateful for every drop of rain that falls.

It had rained around an inch Tuesday night, so I expected lots of…