I Developed a New Problem with my Riding    

You would think that with over 45 years experience as a rider, that I would never come up with a new, seemingly unsolvable problem.  However, with my Multiple Sclerosis, plus my horrible misadventure with a new MS drug, that is exactly what happened to me.

I started shifting my whole body to the left.

As you know I bought a new saddle, the Pegasus Butterfly Claudia jumping saddle.  I love this saddle, I can get my seat really forward, completely off the weakest part of the horses’ backs, I can get up into two-point without my crotch crashing into the pommel of the saddle, and the horses‘ shoulders move more freely.  However this saddle does not have a regular pommel over the withers, instead the hinged plates on the sides provide a long cutback so there is no way that the saddle can interfere with the withers, and thus I cannot see how the top front of the saddle lines up with the horses’ spines. 

All of a sudden Debbie, my riding teacher started to get after me for being badly off-center in the saddle, so much so that my left stirrup looked three holes longer than my right stirrup.  To make it worse I learned that I CAN NO LONGER TRUST THE SENSATIONS OF MY BODY IN THE SADDLE, since my left stirrup felt two holes shorter to me and my right stirrup felt two holes too long, the opposite of what was happening to my body on horseback.  Debbie had to take pictures with her phone before I believed what she was saying about how my body looked on horseback, I had no idea it was that bad.  In addition, Debbie pointed out that my right lower leg was several inches further back on the horse’s barrel than my left lower leg.

Thinking back, I was having this problem over the past several years, barely apparent in the treed saddles, and much more apparent in my treeless EZ-Fit saddle.  However, before the Gilenya (the MS drug) I could feel somewhat that my body was off kilter, and, since I could see the pommel of the regular treed saddles, I could easily check on myself and shift the saddle back.  I had this problem worse with Cider, who had a very wide back meaning that my saddles did not “sit” properly on her back.  I used the Corrector pad to make the too narrow saddles feel better on Cider’s back, but they still shifted more to the side than on the other horses I ride.

However, the combination of the Gilenya destroying my proprioceptive sense and my new saddle increased my problem so much that I could no longer make do and ignore it.  My new saddle pointed out a problem that had been simmering for years, and in that way it did me, and the horses I ride a big favor. 

No matter how often Debbie told me I was off center, I just could not feel it myself.  I was starting to despair, faced with the prospect of HAVING TO have a spotter on the ground to correct me every time I got in the saddle even though I had ridden on my own for decades, led me to question if I had any business getting up on a horse.  I decided that I needed a way to check my centering in the saddle myself.

Last week I was looking at my new saddle on the saddle rack.  Then I took a good look at my RS-tor riding aid and realized that since it had a center ring I could make sure that the straps leading back to the stirrup bars were of equal length and long enough so I could bring the center ring over the horse’s withers so I could SEE if I or my saddle were off center.  When I had my lesson on Wednesday it was obvious that I had come up with a solution, since when I held my RS-tor up along the horse’s withers, I could SEE that the saddle was off center and I could shift it back to the middle without someone on the ground having to tell me that my seat was wrong.  It was such a relief to me to be able to come up to Debbie or my husband, ask them if my stirrups looked even, and have them say yes. 

This still left me the problem on my right lower leg being several inches further back than my left lower leg.  Riding Bingo on Friday, I finally noticed that when I really concentrated on having my right lower leg forward that Bingo was MUCH more responsive to my leg aids.  So now I have a way to check how I am doing with my two new problems with my position in the saddle.

I do NOT feel centered when I sit correctly in the saddle.  My new stirrup leathers, on the same hole, still feel horribly uneven.  I did notice on Friday that if I checked often enough with my eyes, that the rest of my body felt more normal, though still uneven when I was centered.  When I bring my right lower leg up to the proper position on the horse’s barrel it feels like it is several inches further forward than my left lower leg. 

I just have to hope that my brain heals from the damage caused by the Gilenya.  I am having brief instances when it feels like my nerves are sensing the real world properly, but then that goes away and I am back to not being able to trust my sensations at all.  The odd thing is that I now find it much easier to walk on my own two feet, the ONLY place I am being fooled by the sensations of my body is up on the back of a horse.  I can now securely walk around 50 feet without my canes or walker, but I cannot walk 50 feet on horseback without my body feeling straight when it is twisted.  I will be very glad when my brain heals enough so I can feel secure walking on my own two feet AND be able to keep myself centered in the saddle.

When I finally conquer this latest problem in my riding, I know my riding will improve greatly.  The horses have patiently telling me about this problem with my balance for years, now I have a chance to fix it since my balance problem is so obvious now. 

Without Debbie’s eagle eyes and her great patience in telling me over and over again about my problems with my position, I would have no hope since I could not FEEL my problems.  Debbie is a wonderful teacher, and she has fully bought into the fact that horseback riding really helps me with my MS.  With her help, and the help of the wonderful horses I ride, I have some hope that I will be able to ride better in the future.

Have a great ride!

Jackie Cochran