Mia and I Start Off by Staggering Around


And that is what twelve days of winter weather can do to us pathetic little old ladies!

I was stuck inside because of the winter storm. Between the rain making Shannon’s riding arena too wet, and an inch and a half of snow, sleet, freezing rain, temperatures below 20 F and days where it barely got above freezing, I was stuck inside. My long driveway had ice, my steps had ice, and it was just not worth the risk of falling for me to go outside. Fortunately, I had power at my place and we kept our water running through the bitterly cold nights. As in the past few winters, I was SO GLAD that I no longer had to feed and water horses; carrying water, heavier feed buckets and the extra hay would have been hard on me. Yes, I got “cabin fever”, but at least I was confident that other people were taking care of the wonderful horses I ride.

On Wednesday morning, the weather finally cooperated with me and I got to ride. Everywhere was super sloppy from the melting snow and ice. Debbie called me early to make sure I was coming out since there were spotty rain showers. I had to get out and ride even if it was sprinkling, a few days earlier I had started to stagger walking in the house, something that is only curable by riding a horse! Mia was not staggering, but when she walked in she was very, very stiff. My husband and I got to grooming Mia while Debbie got her horse Tercel ready to ride. I flubbed up a bit, I think it was the first time in my life I had removed a turnout blanket from a horse, and I forgot to undo the hind leg straps. Mia was super patient with us as we fumbled with the unfamiliar snaps and finally got the blanket off. Since her coat had not gotten as wet as usual, her coat fungus was not terrible, but she is still shedding and gobs of hair came out when I used my fingernails to get all the little clumps of fungus out of her coat. As I was scratching her back, Mia was going yes! Yes! YES!!! I guess when Mia wears a blanket she does not get to scratch her back when rolling since the blanket lining is smooth and slippery.

By the time we finished grooming Mia it was warm enough so I just put the BOT exercise sheet on her. The ring was sopping wet, puddles large and small dotted the ring and if we had trotted we would have torn up the footing even more. That was fine with me, my long forced hiatus had really wrecked my coordination and my proprioceptive sense, and I was not totally sure where my hands and my feet were in relation to the horse or the rest of my body. Mia silently grumbled at me about making her slog through the wet sand when she was so stiff. Our whole ride was a warm up! After about ten minutes of her resisting every turn and curve she finally loosened up a bit. Then I asked her to back up by just holding my hands still and advancing my waist and she backed up promptly and graciously. I think she prefers this combination as the aid for backing up to the usual alternation of leg and bit, it took her a while to figure it out but every time I use it now she obeys me promptly without muttering under her breath about my conflicting aids. Debbie got after me for slouching and for my lower legs.

All during this Debbie was riding Tercel around the ring at a walk. It was the first time I had seen her ride him in the Wellep Lever Cheek snaffle. They had several “discussions” about a few scary spots in the ring but Tercel did not have a melt down. The fact that the Wellep bit’s mouthpiece becomes so very mobile when rein tension is released seems to distract Tercel from acting out. Instead of getting hotter and hotter, and more and more upset, he rolls the mouthpiece with his tongue and relaxes somewhat and he listens to Debbie’s next aid in a state of calmness (well, relative calmness,) instead of a state of frenzy. Neither Debbie or I are in favor of “gadgets” or the never-ending escalation of stronger head control, but with the Dy’on blinkers and the Wellep Lever Cheek bit we seem to have found a combination that allows Tercel to quiet down enough so his level of terror and anxiety at anything strange does not constantly escalate. In other words, Debbie can get several minutes of a calm ride on loose reins and she can actually school him instead of fighting him every step of the way. I am convinced that, from what Debbie has told me of Tercel’s past, he is suffering from PTSD, and I’d much rather that Tercel calm down from two unusual pieces of tack that in no way hurt him or restrict his movement, than by giving him a “calming” supplement or tranquilizer.

Friday the wind was colder so I used both exercise sheets on Mia. She was still really stiff, and she had some problems keeping stable when I rasped her right hind hoof. This time we remembered to undo every strap on her blanket before we took it off. When I backed her up I experimented with having the reins sagging instead of doing contact (I was still keeping my hands in one place,) and Mia backed up three strides without any other aids. Old horses CAN learn new things! It took just eight rides to get her from “whatever are you doing?” to, “yes, of course, I know this new aid and I like it.” Too bad that advancing my waist gets my back muscles hurting, since Mia does not like standing in the cold wind it was hard for me to get my back muscles stretched out again. It is worth it though; I do not need to go through a “discussion” every time I asked her to back up now. We also trotted a little, but Mia was just too stiff to enjoy it. Cold wet weather can do that to the joints of older horses, they start hurting when moving so they try not to move much at all, and their joints just get stiffer and stiffer.

I hope I get to ride Cider tomorrow. It has been 5 weeks since I last rode her, and I miss her!

Have a great ride!
Jackie Cochran