The last few weeks I have been suffering from an attack of the MS exhaustion.  I had been doing too much and it finally caught up with me.  I had started walking 3x a week for 10 minutes in order to get more fit so I could build up my endurance--that got dropped.  I found out that it was not a good idea for me to stop using my slicker brush on Mia when there is a lot of summer rain, her fungus in her coat came back and by the time my son noticed it had spread over her croup and loins so I had to resume using the slicker brush on her.  THAT I have to continue, hopefully with Debbie treating it and me using the slicker brush we will get it out of her coat before her winter coat comes in.  I also “got religion” about soaping my entire saddle after every ride with the old-fashioned saddle soap, something I will be doing the rest of my riding life because it makes the surface of the saddle slightly sticky giving me frictional grip.  Soaping the saddles exhausts me, at first I had soaped the bridles after every ride too, but that got dropped as my exhaustion increased.  I was also too exhausted to write my blog.  Of course I kept riding the horses.

I am also adapting to a major schedule change, my son’s schedule got changed so he could no longer take me riding on Friday, so now I am riding Mia on Monday, riding two days in a row, and getting only one day off before my lesson on Wednesday.  This week it took me until today to rest up enough to write my blog, so I will be blogging on Friday instead of Sunday.

My last two rides on Mick I switched from my Corrector pad to my triple fold wool Western saddle blanket.  My first ride was not that good because I had forgotten to put the saddle soap straight from the tin onto the saddle before I rode.  Mick was not too sure about his new pad and my lower legs were not able to stay still so our lesson was sort of spotty.  So this Wednesday I made sure to put the saddle soap on my saddle so I would have the frictional grip I need to stay secure in the saddle and so my lower legs would stay in their proper places. 

So for the second ride with the wool saddle blanket:

The saddle stayed still on Mick’s back.

And Mick responded positively.

I was using a lot less energy to ride with the saddle not constantly shifting under me.  This was very good for me on Wednesday, because Debbie was a little late I groomed Mick completely and I was already tired before I got up on Mick.  I did not wait for Debbie to tell me to trot, when Mick felt ready we trotted, several times, and I even made it all the way around the ring twice!  Though Mick still felt a little uncertain about his woolen pad I decided to see if it made any difference with his sitting trot.  Over the past two years riding Mick I have tried the sitting trot several times, and each time his back became super stiff and even though I kept my seat bones in the saddle I felt like I was being bounced up and down on a block of concrete--BANG, BANG, BANG!  I never made it past two or three strides since I did not want to harm my central nervous system or Mick's back.  But on Wednesday, though Mick’s sitting trot was not perfect, I was able to remain seated for a quarter of the ring before I decided it was a good idea to stop sitting.  Mick’s back was SWINGING, and his sitting trot was no more difficult to ride than Mia’s or Cider’s.  I was very pleased!  All through my ride Mick was giving me little snorts of approval both as we did our normal stuff and after the sitting trot, so I think Mick was pleased too.

My current theory is that due to a combination of the glycerin saddle soap used to clean the panels of the saddle combined with the slipperiness of the cover of my Corrector pad, the rear of the saddle was rubbing across Mick’s loins just enough to trigger a muscle spasm.  Every time he moved, and every time I mounted or dismounted, the rear of the saddle must have moved, not much but enough to trigger muscle spasms which stiffened Mick’s back for our entire ride.  With the combination of cleaning the panels of my saddle with the old-fashioned saddle soap, making the bottom of my saddle slightly sticky, and with the wool saddle blanket which gripped both the stickier panels of my saddle and his back, the saddle stayed stable on his back through mounting (with the girth a hole looser than usual), the whole ride, and dismounting.  Mick was pleased, Debbie was pleased with Mick’s improved movement, and I was very, very pleased to finally have a stable saddle to ride in. 

Before I started exploring frictional grip I used A LOT of my energy riding trying to stay in position and trying to stay in balance with the horse.  Now my seat and legs stay where I put them, the saddle is stable on the horse’s back, and I can used all my energy for riding properly.  Even with the heat and horrible humidity of this summer my riding has improved instead of getting worse.  Each step I’ve taken to increase the frictional grip of the saddle has improved my riding, and now that I have improved the frictional grip of the saddle on Mick’s back I have found the final key to my security in the saddle.  This Wednesday I rode for 20 minutes before I remembered to pick up my RS-tor, I just felt so secure in the saddle that I did not need it until I was exhausted.  I’ve stopped using the neck strap and I took the grab strap off my jumping saddle because I no longer need these things to increase my stability in the saddle.  I feel as secure in the saddle as I did in my twenties, and I am convinced that the knit breeches, the glycerin saddle soap and the non-grippy saddle pads were responsible for a lot of my riding problems as I adjusted to my worsening MS.

I have put my two Wintec saddles (a 250 GP and a Wintec Wide GP) on consignment at my local tack store.  There is no way that I can make the sort-of slippery synthetic fabric give me the frictional grip I need.  The two Wintecs I had did not have the fake suede seats, if they had I might have kept them.  But even then I would not have been able to make the panels of the saddles sticky enough for them to stay put either directly on the horse’s back, on a regular pad, or even on the woolen saddle blanket.  I will probably never buy another synthetic saddle.  I am hoping to get enough for the Wintecs to get a used leather jumping saddle that fits me, Mick and Mia, so I will have something decent to ride in when I finally save up enough money to get the seat of my 43 year old Stubben Siegfried re-padded and the leather of the seat replaced (maybe next year.)  Luckily my local tack store has LOTS of used leather jumping saddles, hopefully one will fit me and the Arabs I ride.

I love, Love, LOVE frictional grip!

Have a great ride!

Jackie Cochran   

 

 

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Comment by Jackie Cochran on September 5, 2013 at 4:22pm

I am using Fiebings saddle soap.  It is in a round tin.  The soap is sort of firm, opaque and yellow.  I found it at Tractor and Supply, I have not seen it in tack stores for years.  This was the type of saddle soap I used when got my first saddle and bridle 43 years ago.

The glycerin bars and sprays were making the leather of my saddles slippery.  These bars are hard soap usually of an amber color and sort of see-through.

Comment by Laurie J Blake on September 5, 2013 at 3:47pm

What do you mean by "old fashioned" saddle soap? I was thinking you were talking about glycerin bars of soap, but then you seem to say that made the saddle slippery ...please clarify! Thanks, Laurie 

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