The heat has come back to NC.  Both my teachers have already started murmuring about me coming out an hour earlier to ride.  My wonderful half chaps have come off--they are too hot.  Fortunately my new support stockings are tight enough so my lower leg has some idea of where it is.  Soon I will have to start riding in my ice vest, though I am delaying this as long as I can since the ice can trigger muscle spasms if I use it when the weather is still…

Normally at this time of year I am happily riding in a bit, but with the horrible cold I had two months ago my hands are not currently good enough to ride with a bit.  I was not looking forward to riding bitless because, face it, riding bitless in all the different types of bitless systems I've used, I NEVER got the type of results that I expect with a bit.  The obedience was fine, but I was missing the subtlety of the bit, the ability to make all those…

Fatigue is the worst symptom of my Multiple Sclerosis.  Not only does it affect my riding, my fatigue makes it extremely hard to take care of horses.  If it was not for the fatigue the rest of my symptoms would not matter as much, but everytime I ride or handle horses I tire quickly, and as I tire all the rest of my symptoms rapidly get worse.  ANYTHING I do before I ride tires me, getting up, eating, riding in the car to the stable, and then walking…

I have had problems with my balance my whole life.  My faulty balance is part of the reason that I never really learned how to jump well.  It is probably also the reason why I never managed to get the results I wanted when I tried to use my seat aids to subtly influence the horse.  When I learned I had MS I finally realized why I was unsuccessful in attaining the highest levels of horsemanship.  They all require perfect balance.  This lack of balance is…