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 my lower legs, the side of the spur touches the horse's sides first which serves as a warning that at any moment all I have to do is move my toes out to lightly touch the horse's sides with the spur ends.

It is so wonderful not to have to push-push-push with my legs! Cider reacted so well to the new spurs that I asked Shannon what she thought was the reason. She told me that Cider seems to get confused if given too many cues at once, and ventured that Cider might understand the touch of the spur better than a larger and more spread out pressure from my leg. It is like that Cider finally is getting the whole picture of my leg aids, and is finally accepting them as valid signals.

On both days I rode her Mia was still working out her new stiffness, but she seemed pretty well recovered from her experience as a lesson horse. It still took around 10 minutes of warm-up before I felt like I could realistically demand more movement from her and start asking her to lengthen the stride of her walk, and another 10 to 15 minutes of warming up before I felt like I could ask her to start MOVING. She was extending out her walk with only light touches of the spurs, and I had to repeat my aids only when she started slowing down instead of having to use my legs each stride. At the end of the 20-25 minutes Mia surprised me both days. Asking for the final trot of the session, Mia actually gave me a trot that not only had suspension, but also had IMPULSE (and no, I did not use the spurs.) Finally the mare shows me that she can move like an Arab instead of a plug!

I was so tired by the time she gave me the trot with impulse that I had some trouble riding it, I felt like she was trotting me out of my stirrups. This is good, it prevented me from asking too much from Mia, trying to get her to give me more movement than she could comfortably handle. I much rather get just 4 to 6 strides of a good trot full of impulsion and quit on that good note than to keep on asking until the trot just falls apart. Meanwhile I can spend her warm-up getting my legs better situated so I do not feel like she is launching me into space! I used to be able to ride a super-impulsive trot back in the days before my MS got too bad, and I hope at some point my body will remember how to do it well.

Today Cider was SOOO much more cooperative about moving correctly. After our warm-up I started asking Cider to lengthen her walk, and for the first time since I started riding her she lengthened her stride instead of moving her feet faster! This is an enormous improvement for this somewhat short-strided pony. It felt so good when she reached out for the bit and started striding out. Plus she was moving sooo much straighter, even when I had difficulties keeping her on even contact (her pasture buddies were having an impromptu race outside of the ring.)

Gone are the days of her barrel pushing out against my restraining leg when I felt like I was trying to ride a pretzel. At one time the movement was so good that I just broke out in a smile, and Shannon told me that when I smiled Cider started licking her lips and relaxing into her lengthened walk. What a wonderful thing it is when both horse and rider are happy!

Unfortunately, shortly after, when walking downhill Cider started shortening her stride, and when I asked Cider for another trot she refused to trot properly, I almost felt like I was on a gaited horse. I asked Shannon about it but she did not see any limping. I asked for another trot in the opposite direction and it was a better trot but one foot did not seem right. I asked Shannon to look at it, and she finally found a little rock (less than 1/4" wide) stuck in where the hoof wall and sole meet, that Cider had picked up during the lesson. Shannon went and got her hoof pick and dug the little stone out. I tried one more trot but Cider still did not seem totally happy with her foot, so I ended the lesson with some good long striding walks on good contact that Cider cheerfully produced for me.

So if, during a ride, your horse becomes a little less cheerful about striding out, do not assume that everything is all right just because your horse isn't limping--yet. This is the second time in three years that a horse I rode picked up a TINY stone in their foot, and both times the quality of the horse's gaits suffered even though my instructors saw no evidence of limping. It is so much better to catch something like this before it causes bruising or other harm in the hoof, and it only takes a minute or two to stop and check it out.

All in all a good week of riding. I am so excited to finally get a trot with impulse from Mia!

Have a great ride.