I did not get to ride Cider last week, it rained.

So on Tuesday I called up Debbie to see who I would be riding for my lesson on Wednesday, and I found out she was still up at her mother’s and I would not get my lesson.  At least I found out before I got to the stable with the wrong tack.

I just got to ride Mia this week.  Luckily both rides were with ideal spring weather, sort of cool in the mornings (upper 40’s F), sunny, and rapidly warming.   On Wednesday it was chilly when I got up, I had to use my bit warmer and I took the butt blanket out.  Sam, Debbie’s daughter, is in charge of the stable while Debbie is gone, and after she got Mia for me she told me that she REALLY missed her mother.  They started night turnout when the gnats started, and since the night was cool they had put blankets on some of the horses.  Well, a pony had managed to wiggle out of most of his blanket but had the girth straps wrapped around its hind legs.  Luckily the pony was found and rescued early in the morning, but Sam was busy making sure the pony was not injured.  Everything was fine, whew!

Mia has really gotten into being groomed this shedding season.  Slicker brush, old style rubber curry, toothed plastic curry comb, mane brush, stiff brush, soft brush, head gel curry, and head brush all brought expressions of joy and pleasure as we used them on Mia.  Angling her head and neck so I was sure to get to the really itchy spots, breathing little snorts of pleasure, and slowly licking her lips, Mia looked so SATISFIED that we were grooming her properly!  She even enjoyed it some when I put fly spray on her ears, around her eyes, and all over her head with my applicator glove which gives off this crinkling sound that she usually does not like too much.  My slicker brush was especially enjoyable on her neck, around and between her jowls, around the base of her ears, and under the mane, especially under the mane, that was heaven.

Mia did not kick her hind legs on Wednesday when I rasped them down.  Since the spring grass has appeared, Mia’s hooves are growing FAST so I was holding her legs up longer than usual, but she still did not kick out with her hind legs.  You would think I’d be relieved, but through the years I’ve noticed that when Mia kicks her hind legs (back and forth, not sideways) when I rasp her hind hooves, she is much more supple when I ride her, when she does not kick she moves like her joints are “lubricated” with super-glue.  Since it was warming up rapidly and there was almost no wind, I decided not to use the Back on Track exercise sheet on Wednesday. 

Well, when I finally got up on Mia she was STIFF.  Walking was fine, but she did not want to trot, and when I kept after her all she gave me was this stiff trot with her head high up in the air.  I used our few, short trots practicing limiting my upward motion by using my lowest belly muscles, and quickly found out that this triggered my back muscles over my sacrum into spasm, it hurt, it got worse, and my back muscles between my shoulder blades also started acting up.  So I would trot maybe a quarter of the ring, and when I got Mia to extend her head somewhat down and out I asked her for a walk.  Those same back muscles over my sacrum also acted up when I used my belly muscles when I was in two-point along with the usual back pain I get in two-point that goes up along both sides of my spine.  It is very hard for me to ride correctly when my muscles spasm and send out waves of pain.  It is a good thing I like to ride at a walk.     

The good part of my ride was keeping contact.  Mia did not seem to mind me keeping contact at any part of our ride, at the walk she reached calmly for the bit and voluntarily kept contact while I repeatedly looked down to check my hands to make sure they were not moving too much.  Even at the trot when she inverted she let me keep contact and use my hands (along with my legs, of course) to lead her head down and her nose forward.  I was sort of surprised Mia was willing to keep contact since Mia was so stiff, maybe all that work I put in on brushing her mane out thoroughly paid off, especially when I got under her mane, she was especially itchy there and she rubbed up against the curry comb pretty hard.

Friday it was a little bit warmer, high 40’s F instead of mid 40’s, but there was a decent breeze blowing too.  For my aches and pains I put on my Back on Track neck dickey, long sleeve shirt, boxer shorts, and back brace way down so it covered my sacrum.  For Mia she had her BOT poll cap, saddle blanket, and since it was cool and breezy I put her exercise sheet on too.  We both did much better.  Mia still did not kick her hind legs when I rasped them so I was expecting her to be stiff under saddle, but with the BOT sheet over her butt she was moving out much more freely.  With my BOT back brace over my sacrum my muscles still hurt when I used my lowest belly muscles at the posting trot and two-point, but they did not hurt as badly and I could stay up in two-point much longer.  I worked a lot with gripping with my upper calf while making sure I kept my heels down and my lower legs beneath me.  I am SO GLAD I spent the money to buy the BOT stuff, it helps so much with my pain and the horses’ pain.

The heron has returned, standing by the neighboring pond waiting for its prey.  A duck and her two remaining ducklings were swimming in the pond, and a little later some Canadian geese came in.  Around ten yearling cattle were turned out in a small paddock and they ran around enjoying the cool breeze.  The gnats and flies had not wakened up yet, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, some of the pastured horses were running around, and it was a perfect morning for a ride.  I worked some with keeping Mia walking straight by using mostly my seat, though several times I had to use my legs also.  Her hind legs were still too stiff going over the walking poles the one time I tried, but otherwise she strode forth freely at the walk after I rode her through several gradual curves making sure to go straight before I asked her to turn in the other direction.  At the trot I got some inversion but Mia stretched out willingly when I asked her to.  When my back muscles got too painful I stopped Mia and did some stretches, reaching down to my stirrup, to the point of Mia’s shoulder, to her poll, down to the point of her other shoulder, and then down to my other stirrup, then I did it with my other arm.  That loosened my back up some.  For two old, creaky ladies Mia and I did quite well yesterday during our ride.

And as I sit writing this it is raining, so I do not know if I will get to ride Cider tomorrow.  I hope Debbie will be back next Wednesday for my lesson on Tercel, she said she will be back but she is up in Pennsylvania where her mother is in the hospital after an operation so I am not sure she will make it back in time.  At least, if it is not raining, I will be able to ride Mia.  Even at 30 or so years old, arthritic and creaky, Mia is an Arab mare, to me the apex of creation, the one living being that reaches perfection--if I can ride her well enough and her creaky joints get warmed up enough.

Have a great ride!

Jackie Cochran