I got my lesson in on Wendesday with Debbie.  Mick was really stiff when he came out of the stall so I spent the first few minutes of my ride gently walking him around until he moved more freely.  Then I started some gentle trotting, again until he was moving freely again, and then I had to rest.  Then the next time I trotted Debbie asked me to extend him some, and for some reason I had the fortunate urge to lighten my aids, and Mick immediately sprang into a better trot, not quite into extension, but full of impulse and spring.  Taking my usual breaks for just walking around, I asked Mick to extend out at the trot with my lighter aids a few more times, until the last time, when I made my aids even lighter, and Mick went into a good, springy trot with impulsion, and willingly kept to this trot without me needing to give him another aid.  Stabilization with impulse!  I was not expecting this, luckily my body noticed what was happening and stopped giving the aids.  So I ended up with a good trot without any effort on my part, this is one of the things I have been working toward, and it was SO NICE to be able to be inactive while Mick happily trotted around the ring with impulse instead of having to urge him with my legs every stride.  Mick is such a good ride, I am so lucky to be able to ride him!

Friday it was so warm when I got up that I got my summer weight jodhpurs out again.  When I started riding I was down to my hoodie and a vest, after ten minutes I was down to my short sleeved shirt and I started to sweat.  Mid December in the USA, no coat, no sweater, and sweating!  I made sure to give Mia plenty of breaks to cool down since she has a decent winter coat on her and I did not want to bring her in wet.  She was also sort of stiff starting out, but after several minutes of walking she got loose and started to move out when I asked her to extend at the walk.  Since she is so old I do not know if I will ever be able to get a full extended walk from her, so I am grateful when she tries.  Then I started trotting, and Mia has gotten a lot better about going into an inversion when she trots, usually after a few strides of me asking her to lower her head she responds now, and it takes longer for her to try the inversion again.  Greatly encouraged I asked her to extend her trot moving on her good side, and she gave me the two strides I asked for and did not sling her head at all though I then kept her at her regular trot.  Then we turned around and I asked for extension of the trot on her stiffer side, she gave me the two steps I asked for but slung her head once, just once!  I kept my light contact, followed her head through the single sling, then Mia put her head down and nose out to the front and kept her head still all the way around the ring.  PROGRESS, last week she slung her head around 12 or 15 times, this week she just slung it once!  I guess I did the right thing last week, following every movement of her head with light contact.  I just got the impression last week that Mia had a crick in her neck and that she HAD to sling her head around to readjust her neck.  I am so glad that I did not punish her for the head slinging, she was SO MUCH BETTER this week.  If I had punished her head slinging she would not have gotten that crick out of her neck and she would have gotten worse.

Cider was all ready to tack up when I got to Shannon's farm this morning.  I made sure the saddle was back off of her shoulders, Cider's shoulders slope so much that the saddle interferes with the top of the shoulders when the saddle finds the lowest part of her back.  Now that she is wearing the wide saddle and since the saddle is not over the top of her scapulae, Cider is getting much more willing to extend her stride.  Of course she is still putting her head down more than is ideal for extension, just like a green horse will.  Cider is a real nice pony, I do not think she had ever really been in a wide enough saddle before, but Cider, instead of balking, bucking, or running away because of the discomfort, shortened her strides and sped up the motion of her legs when asked to go faster.  So even though Cider is not a green horse in other movements she has never been comfortable enough to learn how to extend properly, thus she moves like a green broke horse.  So after a lot of walking I started to trot Cider, getting her usual pony trot, chugging away under me.  Each time I asked her to extend she would speed up her foot-falls at first, but after some coaxing she started extending her stride, staying at the same speed but moving her legs less quickly.  I am pleased with Cider's progress, I know it will take a while before Cider builds up the correct muscles to do a good extended trot, but she is trying to please me and obey my aids.  It may take us a few months, but I suspect that Cider has a SUPER extended trot in her.  All I have to do is to ride correctly and be patient, it will come.

My riding is getting so much better riding three horses a week.  Adapting to the different conformations, training, and resistances my feel is starting to come back.  The horses are good at pointing out every fault in my riding, but in return they are equally good at performing well when I get everything right!  With Debbie keeping me up to speed with my position, hands and legs, I am getting results I only dreamed of decades ago when I first got serious about my riding.  Even with my MS.  Besides, I think that the riding is the best physical therapy I can get for my MS.  And it sure is a lot more fun than regular physical therapy!

Have a great ride!

Jackie Cochran