Last Sunday was not and miserable, so hot and miserable that the rest of the herd did not come when Shannon caught Cider.  Cider was NOT happy at all, why should she be forced to work when her friends were back in the coolest part of the pasture?  I was not doing too well either, the night before I did not sleep well so I was planning to just walk.  I am glad I was not more ambitious.  When we went into the ring Cider looked around for her buddies and NO ONE WAS AROUND, and no one answered her plaintive neighs.  Feeling deserted Cider kept on neighing once or twice every circuit around the ring until I started talking to Shannon, then she went quiet until I stopped talking then she started neighing again.  So the last 15 minutes of my ride I kept talking, about horses, about riders, about stuff I heard on the news, just anything to keep talking.  As long as I kept talking she did not feel deserted, but when I stopped talking she remembered that her friends had deserted her and she went back to neighing.  They never answered her.  Poor Cider.  At least I know that the next time her buddies refuse to come with her I can keep her from neighing all the time by just running my mouth.  Riding a neighing horse feels like riding an earthquake, it feels like the horse neighs with its whole body.

Monday morning was even more muggy.  By the time I had rasped Mia’s toes down I was dripping sweat and my son kindly just went ahead with the slicker brush where Mia has fungus in her coat while I collapsed in front of the fan.  Since several of Debbie’s boarders were practicing in the main ring I rode in the auxiliary ring which does not have jumps in it, which meant I had to walk further to get to it.  This ring has a dressage “ring” marked off my widely spaced plastic pipes so I worked at trying to stop right at the letters.  Getting bored I started concentrating on getting Mia straight with my seat and legs.  Mia saw no reason why she should go straight just because I was bored and she started getting cranky.  So I switched to doing broad curves but Mia seemed to think it was pointless since we were not doing the curves to get around jumps.  After I backed her up twice she decided that she had cooperated enough and pointedly told me that my hands were not up to her standards.  Dripping sweat I cut my ride short, I just could not see continuing it when we were both so miserable in the heat and humidity.  It isn’t Mia’s fault that my hands deteriorate in the high humidity and I appreciate her telling me that I was not riding up to my usual standards.

Wednesday was MUCH better, still warm but the humidity had gone down.  Debbie was there and she did the grooming and tacking up so I did not get too tired before I got into the saddle.  Mick mostly wanted to just plod around the ring so I got him into the trot early.  I am so glad it was less humid because I trotted Mick a lot during my lesson.  I got the impression from Mick that he appreciates the saddle being more stable when I use the wool blanket, but I think he misses the protection of the Corrector in front.  He was not striding out quite as smoothly at the walk as when I use the Corrector and his trot was poky.  When he got warmed up enough to move a little bit more freely I tried the sitting trot again, he is SO MUCH better at the sitting trot using the wool blanket!  Again I made it a third of the way around the ring easily sitting every stride (easy for me, a beginner would have difficulties.)  After that Mick consented to give me a better posting trot, finally elevating his forehand a little so he felt like he was going to take off flying into the air when he got enough speed!  Debbie was finally pleased with his posting trot so I was able to end the lesson on a good note. 

Since Mick has been reacting so well to the wool saddle blanket I decided to get one for Mia.  I wanted one that I could triple fold so I got a 64” x 32” one, but when it got here I found out that because both ends are turned under I cannot triple fold it without a big lump in front.  Sigh.  This one I will have to use with just one fold which means it will be extending back over her loins.  Since the wool is slightly thicker than my other one I won’t lose much cushioning.  But then I got to thinking and decided that next Monday I will try it with the Corrector in between the blanket, pushed all the way up into the fold in front.  I will have to have the blanket up over her withers a little so that the Corrector is in the right place on her back.  I know that the Corrector is not made to be used with a regular type saddle pad, but I think it will be all right for Mia so long I make good and sure that the blanket is well up into the pommel.  I will see.  If Mia reacts well I will try the same arrangement on Mick with his wool blanket and I will see if he goes better with the non-slip wool pad plus the Corrector.  I want to get his ground covering walk back!

It is a dilemma.  The horses seem to move better when I use the Corrector, fearlessly striding forth with good, ground covering strides.  However, since the Corrector’s pad is not wool the saddle does not stay completely steady on the horse’s back.  Since the saddle moves more my seat is not as stable which irritates the horses.  On Mick the wool pad has stabilized the saddle so I no longer feel it shifting under me, but he seems less comfortable with swinging his leg forward, probably since the top of his shoulder is not protected from the saddle (and yes, I do make sure to slide the saddle back to where it “settles“ on the horse‘s back.)  I sincerely hope my little experiment works because if it does not I will have to buy some sturdy wool cloth, cut it out, and sew it onto the Corrector’s envelope pad on both the top and the bottom of both of the envelope pads (one for Mick and one for Mia), and I really do not enjoy sewing through layers of thick cloth by hand.  Just thinking about it makes me tired.

But then I will do just about anything to make the horses more comfortable.

Have a great ride!

Jackie Cochran