Both mares I ride have been showing their approval of my change to the smooth rowel spurs. While I still irritate them sometimes as I put the spurs on my internal "body-map", I am getting much better responses to my legs even when I do not apply the spurs. I do not know if this is just from the presence of the spurs, as my toes have stopped going to east and west and are now staying nicely at a 30 degree angle or less to the horse's sides. This way, when I close…

Luckily, last week when I made it to the tack shop again they had gotten new spurs in, including a short shanked smooth rowel spur. On Wednesday I showed them to Debbie, and this time she liked my new spurs. This was good, Mia had gotten irritated the one time I had tried the POW spurs, and I was sort of prepared for further irritation as my smooth rowel spurs are as long as my POW spurs, but Debbie was right. Everything worked well, Mia showed absolutely no…

Last week, with visions of rowel spurs in my head, I went to my "local" tack shop--a 60 mile round trip, and discovered they did not have what I was looking for. There was ONE set of smooth rowel spurs, with the extra long neck, made of zinc of all things but only $10 US so I got them anyway for future experiments if needed. I also found this weird looking set of slip-on spurs, with the "spur" interface being a series of rounded metal curves. This set looked…

I finally got to ride three times this week, and I am VERY tired, but it was worth it. The weather has been wonderful down here in NC, 60 to 80 F, nice breezes, and sunny. Well, it is nice if you don't have hayfever, luckily I don't. The horses are shedding gobs of hair, I spend as much time getting the brushes and curry combs clean of hair as I spend brushing the horse. I do not know if I could handle it physically if I had to do all the grooming myself, I am…

Finally Spring is blooming all over, and Shannon's ring FINALLY dried out, so I have been able to ride Cider again. I like Cider, she has plenty of get up and go, so much that I never have to carry a crop, which makes me happy because the more things I have to mess with in my hands the harder it is on me.

Last week when I rode Cider she did not seem completely pleased with her bridle any more. Nothing nasty, slightly less…

I got a request a few weeks ago to discuss manners, or rather getting a horse to act politely. I had to think a lot, it has been over a decade since I had to work with a misbehaving horse on the ground. My MS makes it hard for me to keep my balance at all times, and when I got diagnosed I figured that my days of effectively training a young horse were over, for it REALLY helps in disciplining a horse if you can stand your ground. However,…

After all the confusion with the new foal, Mia had gotten sore, I think she aggravated her arthritis some. It took a while to get Mia moving these past few weeks, and my legs have been getting sore a little from all the leg aids I had to use just to keep Mia moving faster than a slow crawl.

Last week when I finally got a good forward striding walk with Mia I got a big surprise when I asked her to halt, she actually leaned on my…

It seems that no matter how old I get and how much experience I have, I still have more to learn. I started learning how to train with my first horse, who was just green-broke when I got him. I did not have enough money to get him trained and I had to learn training from reading books, trying stuff out on my horse, scratching my head and trying again. Fortunately my green-broke horse was cooperative, intelligent, quick to pick up new knowledge, and willing to…

This was an interesting week. Early on Sunday morning the black TB mare Cricket had a foal! Cute little filly, they've named her Glory for now. Since her sire is a Section A Welsh pony she is nowhere as tall as a TB foal. I find it truly amazing the amount of nurturing instincts that a new foal raise in humans, including me. Every human at the stable is oohing and aahing as if this little equine was their first grandchild.

And…

Riding Mia this week was sort of an exercise in boredom. The ring was soaking wet on Wednesday, so I could do very little trotting, and the bitter cold North wind was blowing. Mia sort of put her head down and plodded around. She was NOT going to waste her precious energy by reacting to the wind.

When I first met the Arab mare Mia 18 months ago her beautiful brown eyes looked out at the world with suspicion and apprehension.…

After last week's rides I suffered from new pains in my back, the result of trying to change my riding posture. My new way of getting my shoulders in the right place works very well, but I got sore muscles in places that I did not realize I had muscles. Not only my back, but my hips and all of the muscles in front and to the outside of my thighs. After a few days of hobbling around I realized that I was being totally unrealistic about my physical fitness and my body's ability to…

This was a glorious week in that I got to ride two times. The sun was shining, the puddles shrank to invisibility, and a warm wind started to blow. I am sooo glad that spring is coming!

During my lesson I told Debbie that I did not think I would be able to get stable enough to start jumping this winter. Her reaction? She slapped my lower leg and said we would work on getting my legs stronger, and also work on getting Mia strong enough to canter so that when I got…

The last several months I have been working hard to improve my position, with probably the vain hope of getting secure enough on horseback to safely jump two foot fences. My legs have improved greatly, I have gotten my seat forward in the saddle, and I feel like I am moving with the horse more. The biggest problem remaining has been my shoulders and back. My spine is mildly curved in two places, with a minor hump, and I had begun to despair about being able to get…

In between all the winter weather I just got to ride once this week. Debbie was worried about the ring being so wet, but since I was stiff from lying around the house I was perfectly happy just to walk. When we had finally groomed all the mud off of Mia, tacked her up and got to the ring I sort of groaned inside, lots and lots of big and bigger puddles. I was expecting having to coax Mia through each one.



I have been trying to get Mia completely comfortable with her…

When I finally got diagnosed with MS back in 1993 I sort of went through an existential crisis about my riding ability. I was SOOOO weak, unsteady and uncoordinated that I despaired of ever being able to start riding again, much less being a good rider. After a few days I finally remembered a tale I had read back in 1970 in the book "Riding Reflections" by Piero Santini (1933), Caprilli's fellow cavalry officer and student, and this story showed me a way forward.



In…

This has been an up and down week. First, on Wednesday it got up to 70 F and it was sunny. Since my riding instructor went to Florida I did not get a lesson. I also had to groomed Mia and got real tired. I rode anyway because it was so beautiful, and I figured if I did anything horribly wrong that I could count on Mia to bring it to my attention. To my surprise I did not ride too badly.



I had been thinking about grooming more because I cannot think of a better warm up…

It FINALLY got warmer this week!



Wednesday morning it still was in the upper 20's F, and when I took my lesson at 1:00 PM the ring was just starting to thaw out. I figured it would barely be warm enough to use the bit (mullen mouth snaffle), though Mia was not too sure about that! I changed back to my jumping saddle because riding in my…

Due to the frigid weather and the bitter North winds I only got to ride once this week. My teacher, Debbie, is from Pennsylvania, so a little north wind does not bother her! Mia is not quite as tough, she just did not like the cold wind, especially when it blew right into her face. This has been a common "problem" this winter, I am starting to think that I am the first one who has ever bothered to ride Mia when there is a cold wind, or through puddles, or when it was sleeting or…

I was very fortunate this week, I got to ride in above freezing temperatures.



The last few times I had ridden Mia (the Arab mare) in a bit something was not quite right. She would willingly advance into contact and keep her tongue relaxed, but she was not completely happy with the experience. So I decided to change to my mildest bit, the Mullen mouth snaffle the next time it was warm enough to ride with a bit. Friday--and it was above freezing!!! I had already changed…

Ah, the last week of the year. Since I won't get to ride this week, I decided to reflect on this past year.



I went to my calender and counted all the horses I rode and all the times I rode this past year. I had a pretty good year, I went over my goal of averaging at least one ride a week, though some weeks I did not ride at all. All together I rode 80 times.



I also achieved my goal of riding more horses, I got up on 6 different horses this year, though on…