Ah, this week everything returned to normal, I got to ride three times this week!  Hurrah!

Since I had not gotten to ride Merlin for two weeks I had a vague hope that Merlin would decide to move.  When I approached him while Shannon was grooming him he greeted me with a nose bump and generally did not seem too upset to see me.  Shannon said that she had no trouble catching him today, so when I mounted him I was full of hope.  We got Merlin through the gate…

A few weeks ago I was in a used bookstore trying to find a horse book I didn’t already have and that might teach me something new.  The only one I could find was one written 30 years ago on race horse conditioning.  I got it, I wanted a new horse book!  When I got home I was looking through it and found a whole chapter on the walk.  If you have been reading my blogs you know that when I ride I walk a lot.  With my MS I just do not have the energy to do much more, usually I…

Luckily for us in NC the weather decided to switch back from early summer to spring, so this week we have cool mornings and the afternoons will be pleasant.  The horses are still shedding so that they are not completely unprotected from the cooler temperatures.  Plus the gnats did not descend upon us until I started my ride.  Yeah for cooler weather!

Merlin was not very cooperative with me today.  I do not know if he is afraid that his…

When I got to ride Merlin today I did not have big hopes since he “got away” with standing for 15 minutes last week.  As usual I waited for Merlin to sigh, and then I did my escalation of my driving aids, WALK, light squeeze with both legs, then a light touch of my spurs.  To my utter surprise Merlin started walking after making me wait only one minute. …