Last July Debbie (my riding teacher) asked me to ride an Arab mare called Mia who had been abandoned at her stable. She (Mia) suffers from arthritis, and back then nobody was riding her, and as her arthritis got more painful she moved less and less. Debbie figured that I would be more patient with Mia than other riders, and being handicapped myself, that I would have more sympathy for her. Debbie just wanted to get the mare moving again, with a hope of working her up to a lesson horse. Debbie set a goal for Mia being usable for lessons at riding camp this July.

When I first saw Mia I saw an Arab mare that was not very muscled up, in fact she looked like a Bedouin war-mare that had just finished a real hard journey. When I first rode her I was struck by her great weakness, at the walk she just wanted to shuffle along, and at the trot she felt like she was starting to literally fall apart, with a pronounced head bob indicating a hind-leg lameness. In spite of all these problems Mia showed great heart, always trying to do what I asked. I rode her gently for several weeks, until about the third time I rode her I felt a movement at the trot that indicated that she would be gaitable. With Debbie's permission I gaited her into a fox-trot. It was interesting, at the trot she did a big head bob each stride, at the fox-trot her head stayed mostly steady (one head bob every six strides or so). I used the fox-trot to work on her endurance and to strengthen her back. For a few months I worked mainly on extending Mia's walk, fox-trotting a good bit and trotting a little until Debbie got tired of seeing her neck being under-slung (often happens with gaited horses--see Icelandic horses at a tolt) at the trot as well as the fox-trot. All this time I was trying to get Mia to move.her leg joints through a bigger range of motion. I decided that the mare needed 5 weeks of JUST walking to work at getting her to carry her head down lower. Debbie also at this time asked me to work the mare twice a week for a while to help get her stronger.

This started the five week walk, just walking during my lessons on Wednesday, emphasizing having her head down and extended, and working on extending her walk. My son helped me on Fridays, catching Mia, grooming her, and since Mia was still so weak that I decided that she needed to be walked in hand, my son would hand walk Mia for half an hour since I did not have the evergy to do so. During my lessons I noticed that this extra work was really helping her get stronger. After four weeks Mia started asking to trot, and I would let her trot for a little bit. Mia's head bob was much better, and she was carrying her head much better at the trot. After 5 weeks I started to trot Mia every lesson, gradually working up to going around the ring 1 1/2 times (my limit, I get real tired), and I started riding her, with my son's help, on Fridays also. I worked Mia twice a week until mid-May when my son could no longer help me.

Late September I also started trimming Mia's hooves every week, on the theory that if I could keep her hoof angle stable her arthritic leg joints (hock and fetlock) would stabilze and start healing better. Since I am too weak to safely hold the horse's hoof between my legs, I had to do this every week or I would get too tired to finish. I continued trimming her hooves once or twice a week until late May when it got too hot for me. This was a lot of hard work for me, but the results made it worth while.

Gradually Mia stopped bobbing her head at the trot, except when turning sharply to the right. Gradually Mia started extending her walk smoothly. Gradually Mia started looking at Debbie and me with much friendlier eyes. And, at the beginning of June, Mia started trotting strongly and boldly, occasionally asking to canter on the left lead. She got so much stronger that Debbie confidently used her as a lesson horse at her summer camp for one week, AND Mia even cantered during that week, her first canter under saddle for over two years! The next week I got to canter Mia, the first time I've cantered in over a year.

Of course that canter showed up more weakness. These next few months I will have to work on strengthening Mia's loin muscles so she has some hope of cantering connectedly. Fortunately I use the Corrector pad, so I can safely strengthen her under-used back muscles by altering the shims. We are going to work even more at the three speeds at the walk, as well as starting to work at the three speeds of the trot, as well a working on hind-leg engagement during turns. I am not going to try and canter her again until I feel that her loin muscles are strong on both sides of her back, so that she can safely canter on the right lead as well as her left lead. Building muscle takes time, but the rewards I get after spending the time make it worth while.

Hopefully Debbie will be able to use Mia more for lessons. I've worked on this mare for a year now, and have shown progress, but we still have a ways to go. Our goal is to get Mia usable at all three gaits, with a little jumping over LOW fences, and maybe an occasional show. It will take time, but we have successfully achieved the first step toward that goal.