The past few weeks I have been suffering from a head cold, serious business for someone with MS.  Last Wednesday, since I had not ridden in twelve days, I dragged myself out to Debbie’s stable though I was still weak and unsteady on my legs.  I wanted to ride more in my new treeless saddle!  By the time Mick was brought in, groomed, and tacked up I was wondering if it was a good idea but since he was all ready, the sun was shining, and because we had to evaluate how I had…

First, as an introduction, I want to relate my ideas on riding in treeless saddles.  Several decades ago, stuck riding in just a few pastures and facing a long, hot, boring summer, I decided to ride bareback all summer.  Luckily for my horse I had read “Stable Management and Exercise” by M. Horace Hayes.  On page 342 he writes “A groom should not…

Today I got to ride a horse I’ve never been up on before in my life.  Finally, a different horse!

Magic is a teenaged Tennessee Walking Horse mare, black (really brown) with a star on her face.  Still furry with her winter coat she looks sort of thin and rangy.  She stood peacefully for grooming and then I got to see if the saddle I picked fit at all.  I spent around two hours this weekend cleaning, larding and putting stirrups on my old…

Yesterday, when I called Shannon about riding today, she gave me some sad, sad news.  Bobby died as a result of severe impaction colic on Thursday, after hours of vet care, IV for rehydration and all. 

I am very sad.

No, I did not own Bobby, but I was riding him and finally starting to make some progress.  I was hoping that the EZ-fit treeless saddle I ordered last week would be more comfortable on his back than the Wintec Wide saddle I’ve been using, but,…

So I did not get to ride today.  I sort of have mixed feelings about it, I want to ride all I can but I am sort of relieved that I won’t be struggling with Bobby today, but on the other hand there is the thought that maybe, just maybe, today would have been the wondrous day that Bobby finally decided to cooperate with me.  I know, that fantasy is highly unrealistic but, hey, I ride horses and I live in constant hope that THIS day will be the day we finally dance…

First of all, I want to extend my sympathy and awe of all of you horsepeople trudging out in the deep, deep snow to take care of your horses.  I’ve done it in the past, I know how hard it is to carry water, hay, and grain out to the critters.  You all have my admiration.  Good work, keeping your horses and other animals going through the bad weather!  We have been fortunate down here in NC in the weather department.  This week we got rain on a day that I did not ride and we…

The past few weeks, ever since Mick’s little girl switched to the Nurtural Bitless bridle for jumping, Mick has been somewhat hard to bridle--he’s just been telling people that for right now he prefers the bitless options.  Mick has a right to his opinion and I decided to honor it because I had been able to ride with a bit all summer, in fact for most of last year.  Mick had been somewhat entertained with all my experimenting with my saddles but now that I’ve settled on my…

THIS is the way most horse training goes.

Wednesday there was a cold, cold wind blowing when I took my lesson even though my lesson was 2 ½ hours later than usual (it was in the low 20s F at dawn.)  I got to the stable and Debbie did not look like she felt very well, her sinuses were acting up.  I had brought my Anxiety and Nervousness homeopathic combination remedy and lent it to Debbie, and she chose to give him a dose before we started grooming.  I did my Ttouch…

After last week’s balmy spring like weather in the 70’s we have had 2.2” of rain, a trace of snow, and I won’t be able to have my lesson next Wednesday because it will go down to 17° F.  I remember when I was young that winter got cold after the fall and generally STAYED cold until springtime.  No longer, and it is hard for me to adapt to all the temperature changes.

Wednesday I made the type of progress with Mick that a person does not…

On Tuesday evening I fell in my house (NOT off a horse) and I ended up with two scraped and bruised knees, a scraped foot, a scrape down my right arm, and shaken confidence about my walking.  I had been practicing holding my head up when I walked so I would form a good habit for my riding instead of  what I really needed to do, looking down to where my feet go.  Since my fall I am putting practicing good riding posture while I walk into the failed experiment column.  When I…

This week, since I haven’t gotten the girth billets on my Stubben fixed, I was riding in my Wintec 250 GP saddle for both my lesson with Mick and for my ride on Mia.  I had put the rear shims back in my Corrector pad but this week I did not feel as secure as I had before when I used them, I guess something in my body changed yet again. 

On Wednesday I woke up to rain, and Debbie called and we rescheduled for Thursday.  So I was out bright and early on Thursday, and…

In between the rains!  Last Wednesday I couldn’t get my lesson because it was raining.  I was disappointed of course, but since we really need the rain it was so nice to get 1.3”, it sort of made up for not riding.  A week ago we were over 10” short for the year so any and all rain is welcome even if it does interfere with my riding.

I got my lesson on Mick on Friday.  Debbie brought Mick to the wash stall and showed me how to take off his turn-out blanket since I…

When I woke up this morning it was at my cut off point--24-25° F, luckily I did not have to get to the stable until 10:00 AM when it was above freezing.  I was fine this morning until I started to get my homemade bit warmer ready, then I stubbed my left little toe hard.  PAIN.  I hurriedly put Arnica cream on it and put my paddock boot on in case it decided to swell up.  Hobbling piteously I finished with my homemade bit warmer (old washrag, soak…

Two weeks ago I gave my 42 year old Stubben Siegfried its yearly deep larding.  When I got to the girth billet straps it became clear to me that I have to make some decisions, however much the horses prefer my Stubben Siegfried it is no longer safe for me to ride in as the front left billet strap could split all the way down the center without warning.  GRUMBLE, I have been avoiding this decision for a year, hoping things would last long enough so I could save up for a…

If you have been following my blogs you know I am riding ruined horses, horses who had lost faith in humans, horses who never really learned to trust the bit or the rider’s hands, horses with deep resistances, just basically horses who have been subjected to bad training, bad riding, and who then were sold to people who did not ride as well as the trainer.  You also know that I have this deep faith in the ability of Forward Riding (Forward Seat, Forward Control, and Forward…

Riding Mick the last two weeks has provided me with an interesting contrast. Last week Mick was really, really, really stiff when I mounted, and when Debbie told me she had taken him on a longer trail ride the day before I understood why. Mick was so stiff that I think he had been sending my subconscious mind “messages” that he was not up to much, because I forgot to switch my RS-tor between saddles. It was truly amazing how much confidence I lost when I could not hold the…

I approached Friday’s ride with eagerness because I had not been able to ride Mia the previous two weeks.  Normally I LOVE riding Mia, but ever since Quizzy entered the picture a month ago Mia has not been the same horse.  Debbie had Quizzy checked over by the vet, including palpating the ovaries, and the vet found nothing wrong with Quizzy and she told Debbie just to feed Quizzy more Regumate to try and cycle her out of her hormone driven manias.  Apparently the previous…

Wednesday was nice, sunny, windy, and cold.  Mick had been out for an hour before being brought back in and even though he wears a warm blanket he was obviously stiff.  I massaged his loins with my roller ball hand massager, he enjoyed it but he was as stiff as always as we headed toward the ring.  When I mounted and we started walking his back did not “swing” and he was not too happy about having to move.

After a minute or two of just walking around I got to work on loosening…

Forty seven years ago when I first read Vladimir Littauer’s “Common Sense Horsemanship” I was first introduced to the mysteries of effective contact.  All of my previous riding, four years of trail riding in Chile and Uruguay, had been done on loose reins, and contact was a deep, deep mystery to me.  I tried to learn all I could from books since I could not ride much until I got my first horse 5 years later.  Then, since I could not afford good lessons, it was me and my…

It has been an exciting week riding.

Debbie has a new mare at her barn, a piebald (black and white pinto) Tennessee Walking horse mare named Quizzy.  Since Quizzy still has hind shoes on, with trailers, Debbie does not want to turn her out in the mare pasture yet, but has been turning her out in the area around the riding rings to run around.  The mare pasture is right next to this turn out area, and Mia, lonely and friendless since her best friend was sold, quickly…