This morning's weather was marvelous, just in the 60's F when I rode. No ice vest, no Cool Cap. It felt odd.

After my last ride on Cider two weeks ago I put a lot of thought into how I could improve things. The first thing I did was change from the Wellep Lever Cheek single jointed snaffle to the regular Wellep Full Cheek single jointed snaffle. Since Mia has been allowing me to keep contact throughout the summer with the regular Wellep bit I decided that my initial impression of the Lever Cheek Wellep snaffle was right. My hands just are not good enough to use this bit, especially in the summer and Cider was telling me that. I also took off the straps attaching the bit to the noseband of my Micklem Multibridle and tied up the rings on the noseband so they would not touch her head. Then, after much more thought, I changed my stirrups from the Bow-flex stirrups to Peacock safety stirrups. I love how the Bow-flex stirrups feel and how my heels automatically go down, but the slight offset for the stirrup leather (the new type of off-set--where the eye for the stirrups leathers is at an angle to the rest of the stirrup) meant that the EDGES of the stirrup leathers were rubbing into my shins, destroying the stability of my lower leg, which was really messing up my hands. After looking at every picture I could find in the Dover catalogue of people riding in the Bow-flex stirrups I think that I am not the only one with this lower leg problem. It's just harder to feel wearing high boots.

Cider strided out today like the old times, before I used the Wellep lever cheek snaffle and the Bow-flex stirrups. Like every time I change anything with Cider I had to remind her that my aids are valid and that I expect her to obey them. After a few minutes she remembered her training and reached out confidently for contact, wonderful soft contact. Since it was cool Cider wanted to go a little faster (with constant acceleration), but even at the trot she was instantly rateable, slowing down at the lightest hand aid. With the increased stability of my lower leg my hands were much steadier and Cider was MUCH, MUCH, MUCH happier with me! My feet do not like the Peacock stirrups as much as they like the Bow-flex stirrups but my feet are just going to have to put up with it, the horse's comfort is much more important. Unfortunately the stirrup bar is tight against the dressage saddle, and I have to thread the stirrup leather through, so I do not feel safe in the dressage saddle without safety stirrups. I do not like riding in regular stirrups unless the stirrup leather can easily slide off the stirrup bar if I fall.

Mia was fine this week with my riding, though on Wednesday during my lesson she was sore from being beaten up by a pasture mate. It was getting hot, so it was mostly walk with two very short trots. Luckily her extreme sensitivity to the bit had faded, and I could use my normal strength aids for slowing down and halting. Mia shows me often that she could be ridden with much lighter aids, and it is tempting for me to go ever lighter, just because I can. However I am working on turning Mia into a reliable lesson horse for beginners and the worse thing I could do would be to make her super responsive to light aids. Debbie is good about putting a Nurtural bitless on Mia whenever a beginner rides her, but no beginner needs to be riding a horse that can whirl around with a twitch of a finger and a light touch of the leg. Just because the bitless bridles don't hurt the mouth doesn't mean that the horse can't feel light rein aids! At least when it gets cooler I can wear spurs again which makes my leg aids feel different than when my heel is naked. Debbie does not put spurs on beginners so I hope this is difference enough for this mare.

On Friday Mia was better, more responsive to my leg and moving out smoother. After fifteen minutes a weird thing happened, Mia started to shy at the far end of the ring. I stopped her and counted to 10, a walked her past the shying place, but nothing worked. Mia was READY to whirl around and get out of there fast! Each time I rode her at the fence on the far end of the ring she wasn't paying attention to me. Each time her heart beat faster and faster. Since my seat is not secure enough to ride out a big shy-whirl-run I decided to ride her in the rest of the ring where she wasn't scared. They had mown the tall grass outside of that end of the ring, and the idea came into my mind that there might be a snake going through. Mia HATES anything that snakes around on the ground--hoses, lunge lines, ropes, if it is moving she does not like it. Every other place in the ring Mia paid full attention to me and went around the ring more like an old Western plug than a fiery Arab who can turn on a dime. Thank goodness.

If a horse I'm riding is trying to tell me something I try to listen to the horse. Often it takes me a while to understand what the horse is telling me. Until I show the horse that I understand what the horse is saying the horse tends to get more and more upset with me. Then, when I finally hear what the horse is saying, if I do not immediately fix what is bothering the horse the horse continues to misbehave. Uncomfortable tack will trigger this type of reaction. When my seat gets less secure the horses tell me that my riding is no longer acceptable. When my hands deteriorate they will refuse to keep contact. The great thing about this is when I finally fix what is bothering the horses they immediately go back to being cooperative, obedient horsies who I enjoy riding. If only all of life's problems were so easy to resolve!

Have a great ride.