It is almost summer, and down here in the sunny South the hot, muggy, and insect infested summer weather has arrived.  On Wednesday it was cool enough to wear my Fits Techtread summer weight breeches and my Ovation Cool Rider long sleeve shirt and I handled the heat fine, but on Friday it was a few degrees warmer and a lot more humid so I put my coolest clothes on, my Kerrits Flow Rise Performance tights and FITS Fanfaire long sleeve shirt, and I still sweated a lot.  Since I started folding up a paper towel and putting it under my riding helmet in front at least sweat does not run into my eyes, a great improvement.  I remember riding before I could afford the new technical fabric riding clothes wishing that I had a portable air-conditioner so I could at least breathe cool air.  Now that I have the technical fabric breeches and shirts I no longer feel so oppressed by the heat, and if I can stop where there is a breeze I can cool down even if I am in the sunlight.  Since heat intolerance is a symptom of Multiple Sclerosis I am very happy that modern fabric technology keeps me cooler when I ride, and I no longer spend my summer rides wishing for that non-existent portable air conditioner.

When we were grooming Tercel I was working on grooming his head.  He was a bit more sensitive about his ears; he absolutely refused to let me to use my jelly scrubber on his ears, something he had been enjoying.  So after I went over the rest of his head with the jelly scrubber I got my little face brush out and I had absolutely no problems with his ears, he let me brush inside and outside, and he let me hold his ears so I could get further into his ears with the brush.  Funny horse, he still hates having his ears handled but once he feels the little brush on them I can do what I want with them as long as I move slowly.

As I wrote last week, riding Tercel now is rather peaceful.  This week, when he started looking the other way as we turned, I worked on reestablishing contact with the outside rein by using my outside leg as my hip went down.  This asks the horse to bring his outside hind further under him, which lengthens the stride of his outside legs, and each time Tercel responded to my leg he reestablished contact with the outside rein.  As our ride progressed he stopped fixating as much on stuff outside the ring and started paying more attention to my aids, voluntarily reaching out to the bit and giving my good, even contact whether we were going straight or on curves.  The first time I stopped I first twitched my little finger as my seat bone went down on that side, alternating twice without increasing the strength of my hand aid (unlike last week) since I got the feeling that he noticed my hand aids, but he still was not really sure about what they meant.  So I went to both hands at the same time and he started to slow down, and after a few repetitions he stopped.  Good boy!  The next time I asked for the halt he slowed down for the alternate twitching of my little fingers, but he kept on creeping forward because we were headed towards Debbie though we did get to a full halt around 10 feet away from Debbie.  The third time I gave him the alternating twitching of my little fingers he started slowing down the first time, I repeated using the same strength of aid, and in a few strides he halted without my having to use any other type of hand, seat or leg aid.  He got praised to the skies!  He is beginning to understand that when I twitch my fingers I am “speaking” to him.

Debbie wanted me to trot him for a little bit.  Boing, boing, boing, Tercel blithely sprang from one diagonal to the next, upsetting my seat, and leaving me determined to lengthen my stirrups before I ride him again!  He started speeding up, I asked him to slow down and he did slow down, but he kept in his springy trot and I asked for the walk.  Tercel’s springy trot is SO BEAUTIFUL to look at, he is graceful, balanced, and looks like gravity has no hold on him.  Debbie has no problem riding his springy trot, but until I lengthen my stirrup leathers it tends to unbalance me.  I go from feeling that my weight is well down into my saddle and legs to feeling like I am teetering on the tip of a bouncing pyramid because he “inflates” his rib cage under my thighs and knees and elevates his forehand.  I was NOT graceful in the saddle when he trotted this time, and I was really glad that the Wellep bit’s mouthpiece turns into a stable Mullen mouth type of mouthpiece when both reins are pulled harder.  Tercel forgave me the jolt in the mouth he got because I was so unsteady, and he forgave me because I moved my hands forward and softened my fingers as an apology for my clumsiness.  Tercel does have a non-springy trot, I rode it once, but he really does not get “into” it like he does his springy trot where he spurns the ground, and it looks like he will sprout wings and take off flying through the air at any moment now!

Friday I got to ride Mia, along with Debbie on Tercel, and Debbie’s granddaughters, the oldest, Addison, on the TB/Welsh mare Glory Jean (I wrote about her birth on March 14, 2010-

www.barnmice.com/a-glorious-baby), while her younger sister, Shelby, played around riding bareback on an old reliable pony.  Debbie was going around the ring on Tercel exclaiming on how wonderful it was to have a totally boring ride on him!  Debbie has also been taking Tercel out on the trail some, and he has become more civilized on the trail as well as in the ring, and Debbie is happy with how Tercel is finally progressing and getting better with every ride.  Debbie was wearing high boots and her boots and my EZ-Fit treeless saddle did not work well together so she went ahead and lengthened the stirrup leathers.  That helped her some, but nothing will ever make a saddle that is patterned more like a Western saddle feel like an English saddle with its nice long stable flap.     

I practiced my two-point a good bit on Mia, at the walk and at the trot.  I lengthened the stirrups on my jumping saddle to get my legs used to being longer.  I don’t have any trouble riding Mia’s trot, if she ever had a springy trot under saddle it disappeared decades ago.  I also spent time on my reaching exercises, poll, point of shoulder, as far down my leg as I can reach without shifting my seat, point of the hip, and croup, when sitting and when I was in two-point.  This seems to help me get my lower leg more secure since I have to be good and sure that I don’t accidentally poke her ribs as my upper body moves around.

Weather permitting I will get to practice riding in my EZ-Fit saddle with the longer stirrup leathers on Cider, who had a nice, normal large pony trot.  I will be asking Shannon to yell at me if my lower leg looses its stability. 

I HAVE to practice getting my leg longer so that when Tercel elevates his forehand and inflates his upper rib cage, my calves end up below the widest part of his body.  Once I get my legs there reliably I will have a lot fewer problems riding Tercel’s springy trot.  I will be able to keep reliable contact with Tercel’s mouth, I will be able to influence his trot--speed, impulse, and length of stride, and I will be able to fool myself into thinking I am an effective rider after all.

Have a great ride!

Jackie Cochran