Due to the frigid weather and the bitter North winds I only got to ride once this week. My teacher, Debbie, is from Pennsylvania, so a little north wind does not bother her! Mia is not quite as tough, she just did not like the cold wind, especially when it blew right into her face. This has been a common "problem" this winter, I am starting to think that I am the first one who has ever bothered to ride Mia when there is a cold wind, or through puddles, or when it was sleeting or raining. People, PLEASE ride your horses when the weather is not perfect. I promise you that your horses won't melt or freeze solid. (I am not talking of wind chill -20 F, unless you have to work cattle of course.)

Debbie has been really encouraged with Mia's progress since I stopped the MSM and went back to using just the hemp powder. Mia continues to show signs of suspension at the trot, even with the bitter North wind blowing. Before Mia would start freezing up in a cold wind, now she reluctantly strides through it. She no longer shows signs of stiffening up from lingering joint pain from the farrier doing her hooves either. Since Mia has suppled her shoulders through doing the turn on the hindquarters at a walk I am starting to work on the turn on the forehand. Due to her arthritis, Mia is very reluctant to pass one hing leg in front of the other, so it is going to take a long time before I get a 180 turn on the forehand. Once I get that I will start on working on backing up. It can be very challenging introducing suppling exercises to a 20+ year old arthritic horse who never was very well trained in the first place.

My teacher was so encouraged she asked me to try the canter, on the left lead. Mia was not too sure about doing this (we WERE headed into the wind after all), started scrambling, and ended offering a stride or two of the canter on the right lead, all the while shaking her head with discomfort. (I was using my Jumping Cavesson bridle with light contact, NOT a bit with heavy contact.) This happened twice. Obviously Mia does not feel confident carrying me at the canter. I interpret her head shaking as coming from discomfort, probably in her loins, as she flexed her back trying to canter (she is a little bit high in the croup), with the additional pain from her arthritic joints in her hind legs (right hock and left pastern.) After my lesson I was sitting around thinking about how I could strengthen Mia's back and hind legs so she could end up cantering comfortably under saddle.

Three solutions popped into my head. First--lungeing. If I were able to lunge Mia even just once a week for a few months I could gradually work on her back and hind end without the added burden of a rider. Then I remembered the last time I lunged a horse (20 years ago?) and how I got tired LONG before the horse did and how I was staggering in the center of the ring with vertigo. Since I am a LOT weaker and more unbalanced than I was back then I decided to ask my husband for his opinion. His immediate response was that I was not strong enough to hold onto the lunge line if the horse acted up. After discussing it for a few minutes I realized that there is no way that I can effectively work a horse from the ground in the traditional English manner.

The next solution that popped up was round pen work, where I would not have to hold on to an exploding horse. A possible solution, only I do not have access to a round pen. I would also have to study how to influence a horse correctly in the round pen to get the results I would be able to get from proper lunge work. I suppose that I could lend Debbie some livestock panels and make up a round pen in a vacant corner of pasture, but then the round pen would not have good footing for the horse. I really believe that outdoor round pens should have an all-weather surface so one can work the horse even if the ground outside the pen is wet and slick. Another good idea bites the dust.

Then up popped my old favorite--hill work. Hill work is almost guaranteed to work on stiff backs and hind legs if it is introduced GRADUALLY. I have used it successfully before, the horse does not get bored in the ring doing gymnastices and so long as I use loose reins and two-point position, the horse is basically in charge of strengthening himself, the horse can decide just how hard to work the stiff joints, and everyone is happy. Just one problem, Debbies farm is on FLAT ground without a hill in sight. There is a possibility of doing a serpentine down a wide drainage ditch, but I really need to wait until the ground had dried out some. It would be much better to have a selection of hills, a gently sloping one for starting on, a medium steep one several hundred yards long to build endurance, a short steep slope for working on strength, and a long steep slope to finish off the conditioning. With Mia I would be on the gently sloping one for months.

That leaves me with one last solution. Lots and lots of additional work at the three speeds of the trot and some more work on the three speeds of the walk, gradually increasing Mia's muscular strength and endurance in between her suppling exercises. Now, if it would just get warmer, say in the upper 30's F, without a bitter North wind, I could really work on this. I must say that I start feeling really mean when I ask Mia to stretch out her gaits when a freezing wind is hitting her. The other problem is that I have to work on MY muscular endurance, right now I can only trot around the ring one and a quarter times before I have to rest. It will take me a lot of time to get strong enough to trot around the ring three times. By the time Mia is fit enough to canter under saddle I will also be fitter, and really, really tired.

If only I were younger, 30 years ago it would have been NO problem lungeing Mia. I would also have had no problems riding Mia's scramble, and I would not have felt as insecure when Mia starts slinging her head in protest to loin pain. I also did not get tired as quick back then.

If only I was not disabled with MS. Then I could hold onto the lungeing line without any problems, and I would not get vertigo while lungeing a horse. I would also have the energy to work Mia every day, and be capable of driving to the stable myself instead of depending on others. I could also train Mia to trail work and then I could find hills.

Gee, if the Universe was ideal, none of us would have any problems with our riding, would we?

Have a great ride (if it ever gets warm enough!)