Cider Ignored the Gap

Last Sunday I got to ride Cider for the first time in a month. It was good to see her again!

The night before there had been a wind storm with gusts strong enough to move the livestock panels that make up the ring. Shannon and Nancy had gotten the panels fixed except for the gate panel which had been sort of rotated to the side into the barnyard. Since Shannon had to pick me up Nancy had groomed Cider and she was ready to be tacked up and arrayed with all of her “I really hope this makes you feel better” Fenwick and BOT exercise sheets, head caps and front leg pastern wraps and exercise boots. Then Shannon finished tacking up and I got to ride!

The month off did Cider good, she barely flinched at the start of our walking and she rapidly improved so I did not feel any flinching. Fortunately for both of us Cider decided that the lack of the livestock panel where the gate usually is was no big deal. I had no problems getting her past this gaping hole and she acted like it was not there at all. Good girl!

Cider did not want to extend her walk until we had warmed up several minutes. She was good, kept excellent contact, and obeyed all my other aids even when passing the gaping gate hole. I was not ambitious, whatever Cider decided to give me at that moment was fine since she had a valid reason, old horses get stiff just like we old people get stiff. It is no big deal as long as there is improvement during the ride. Since she did all her turns fine, walked past Shannon with only a momentary look at her, and after several minutes she started stretching out her stride in response to my leg aids.

All in all I had a much better ride than I expected at first.

I was not able to get my lesson at Debbie's barn until Friday at 10:00 AM. When we got there Debbie was teaching a group lesson (the reason my lesson was an hour later) so her husband put MJ into the wash stall. MJ had been in a stall eating his own personal flat of the timothy hay, and he seemed peeved that we had let him finish the whole thing. I had to groom him, and when I went into the office to get some of his gear from Debbie's cupboard I heard a shod horse having a fit in the wash stall. MJ was not happy, the wind was blowing, my husband was bringing my tack into the barn on my wheeled walker, it was getting colder, and MJ though this was all just too much to bear. I closed the barn door, told him to behave (ha, ha), got the stuff from the office and started to groom him.

The curry comb, ah, if I wanted him to stand still I had to use it LIGHTLY, he was just too pissed off at the world to stand anything stronger. The Haas Military brush was accepted only a little bit better, and the Haas Cavaliere brush likewise. When it came time for the “body brush” I decided to use the pig bristle Haas Country brush which is not supposed to cause static or scratch his skin, and MJ finally settled down a little bit. Then MJ started to give me looks. Being groomed with the Diva lambswool brush was fine but he kept LOOKING at me until I realized he wanted me to use the Schimmel brush on his mane and forelock. God forbid that I use the Schimmel on anything but caked on mud and grooming his mane, forelock and tail, but for those things this is the only brush MJ finds acceptable. Horses, picky, picky, picky horses who have preferences when they know there are alternatives.

After I had brushed MJ Debbie finished giving her lesson and came to help me finish grooming and tacking MJ up. I was so glad, MJ is not the most peaceable horse to pick out hooves with, especially since it takes time to clean out under his front bar shoes for navicular. I told Debbie that and she agreed, except when there is no one else around she preferred me not cleaning MJ's hooves. If I was steady on my feet it would be fine, but I am not steady on my feet and it is better for me to be safe.

Except for the ring still being super sloppy from the rain of the previous night my ride was fine. MJ yet again had a mildly interesting lesson with plenty of practice doing smooth turns around the jumps and puddles. Debbie had used the other ring for the previous lesson and she told me she preferred that ring after the rains, somehow the ring that only had loads and loads of sand put directly on the base dirt did better than the ring with the recommended footing beneath the sand. She appreciated me taking care of her messy ring so that she could save the other ring for the people (everyone else) who wanted to do more than just walk.

MJ was not terribly stiff and both Debbie and I forgot to do the super slow walk at first and that affected my whole ride. After a while of MJ plodding around Debbie asked me to get him into a “marching walk”, a walk that looks like MJ is going somewhere. I was tired from grooming MJ, and my leg aids were a little bit stronger than usual, and MJ gave me a QH type of easy gait, a little faster than the walk, at the edge of transitioning from a walk to the trot, and quite pleasant to ride. Since MJ had obeyed me by going faster while mostly keeping the walking sequence of footfalls I let it go on for a little while. Debbie was NOT pleased and told me to try again. The next time I was able to moderate my legs enough and twitch a rein or two at the proper time and MJ gave me the desired “marching walk.”

Other than a little demonstration at the gate where MJ hoped that the gate would magically open up for him the rest of my ride was fine. MJ did have a valid reason for his reluctance to be ridden, the weather was changing during my ride from a warm southwest breeze to a much colder and stronger wind from the north. Debbie had to put on her hoodie since the temperature was dropping. Since MJ is almost 30 this affects him more than it does the younger horses.

Back at the stable I gave Debbie the Eqclusive Shining Pack I had bought to give her, a Haas gentle curry comb and 6 different Haas brushes, for all colors of horses and all types of coats. She asked me if I had labeled them like I had my brushes from my Shining Pack and I said no, these were HER brushes and I lent her my different color Sharpies so she could label them as she desired (my handwriting is not very steady.) When she asked if I wanted the brushes that I had lent her and her horse Tercel back I told her to distribute them to the lesson horses that she though would like the brushes. Now that she has the instructions that come with the Shining Pack from Eqclusive she can make more educated decisions about which brushes are needed by which horse. I also gave her the Eqclusive “Brush for Brushes”, a double sided slicker type brush with long prongs. She was glad to get it, telling me how MUCH loose hair her Haas brushes were picking up when she groomed her horse. She definitely needed a new tool to deal with all that loose hair gunking up the brushes.

Right now only MJ, Tercel and Tilly get groomed with the Haas brushes. Gradually I hope that all of Debbie's lesson horses end up with the Haas brushes, I will buy more of them as Debbie ascertains which horse prefers which brushes. Debbie's lesson horses DESERVE good brushes, without lesson horses the whole horse industry would collapse as people stop learning how to ride horses properly.

Lesson horses RULE!

Have a great ride!

Jackie Cochran