I Just Ride at a Walk Until I Get Heat Sick

The past three weeks I have been sick, again.  My digestive system has decided it does not like food and that it does not particularly want to digest food.  Between constant nausea and diarrhea that will not quit permanently, I have spent most of my time collapsed in my bed.  However, after one week in bed I ended up with horrible back spasms, so I have been trying to ride as much as possible, at a walk since I am so darn weak.  I am hoping this is all just related to me going off the Gilenya two months ago, during this time most of the bad sad effects of the Gilenya have made an appearance even though I stopped taking the drug.  I just hope the Gilenya has not messed up my digestive system permanently, that would be a bummer.

Last week I was so sick that I cancelled my lesson, and I have not ridden Cider for weeks.  After the horrible back spasms I KNEW I had to get back in the saddle, as sometimes riding is the only thing that will relax my muscles when they start cramping up.  So Friday, July 1, I dragged myself out to the stable though I was too weak to do much of anything.  I did groom Mia with my new Hands On Grooming gloves (

http://handsongloves.com) since she LOVES them so much.  As I go over her with them, she sticks her upper lip out and if I stop she turns her head to tell me to get back to grooming her!  I hope to get my husband a pair of these grooming gloves, but until then I have to do it myself.  By the time I went all over her body with the gloves I was exhausted, so I did not even try to rasp Mia’s hooves. 

As it was hot, I did not last as long as usual, just 20 minutes or so.  I did get Mia to trot once for a quarter of the ring, but I stayed in two-point since I was too tired to post.  While Mia’s medicine is helping her cough a lot, she still coughs some when I ride her, and I trotted her to make sure she got a good coughing fit so she could clear the mucus out of her lungs.  Some other riders came into the ring and since I was out of energy, I got my husband to open the gate so I could ride out of the ring.  Once out I was going to dismount but Mia started acting up a little bit.  Debbie came to my aid, laughing quietly because this scruffy 30-year-old mare still had enough pizzazz to act up!

Since this past week Debbie has either been getting ready for or going to a big show, I thought I was supposed to get my lesson on Monday, but Debbie thought it was supposed to be on Tuesday.  So when I got to the stable on Monday I asked Darryl to get Bingo out and we groomed him and tacked him up.  Debbie was giving a lesson for her hunter class kids over jumps, so I went to the second ring where other riders were exercising their horses.  Bingo was pretty good, but since it was the first time I had ridden him in company so I had to remind him that he still had to obey me.  At first he wanted to just wander around, but since there were horses cantering past me I had to keep Bingo on a path at the rail.  Then he wanted to get so close to the rail that my leg would hit the fence posts.  Finally I got Bingo to consent to walk around the ring like a civilized horse, just off the fence enough so my legs were not in danger, and not suddenly turning in the path of another horse.  It was getting hotter and hotter so I got off at 25 minutes and I was dragging on the walk back to the barn, feeling even sicker from the heat.

On Friday there was no one riding at the stable since most of the stable was at the horse show.  We went out and caught Mia, and for once she came up to us EAGER to be caught.  Man, she loves those Hands On Grooming gloves, she never, ever seemed eager to be caught before!  I had just enough energy to groom her with the gloves and to rasp down her front toes.  After my husband finished grooming her, we went out to the ring where we just walked around.  It was hot, it got hotter every minute, it was very humid, and I got heat sick after just 20 minutes at a walk.  Mia was glad to have the ride cut short, I am sure with all the humidity and with the thunder-head clouds growing around us, that Mia was not feeling too sprightly herself.

When we unsaddled her I got an inspiration and used my Hands On grooming gloves where the saddle sweat was for the first time, and Mia was transported into ecstasy.  She stuck her upper lip out, and she shifted under my hands so I would be sure to get each and every itchy spot.  I got the feeling from her that the gloves were doing a better job of getting every itchy spot than rolling could.  These wonderful grooming gloves sure are making Mia a happy lady!

Through all the fly filled summers I have ridden, I have wanted a scrim flysheet made for use while riding.  Well, one finally came out, the Amigo Fly Rider sheet, and I finally saved up enough money to get two, one for each stable.  I hope they come soon, fly spray can get expensive and I hope I will save money by not having to use as much fly spray.  I particularly wanted one for the horses at Debbie’s stable since neither Mia nor Bingo like my flywhisk at all.  Now I won’t have to feel as guilty when the buzz-bomber flies come out later this summer.

Have a great ride!

Jackie Cochran