It has been rather hot down here, weeks of highs in the mid to upper 90’s F.  In spite of having no air conditioning in my mobile home my MS has not gotten much worse, at least I am not stumbling all over the place and falling, and the horses are still letting me keep contact with the bit.  It has been so hot that most of my painful muscle cramps have gone away and I have been able to stop using the Back on Track things on myself and the horses I ride.  I think the horses appreciate me lessening their heat load even if they do enjoy the gentle heat of the BOT saddle pad and poll cap in the cooler weather.

During my lessons on Tercel I am trying to keep myself from being over-heated while not boring the poor horse to death.  This results in me concentrating on doing turns, a lot of turns, doing different paths around the jumps in the ring and using even sharper turns weaving between trotting poles.  Since Debbie had sprinklers placed around the ring I can also practice walking Tercel through small puddles.  Then as my lesson progresses other people tend to come out to ride while the temperature is still “cool”, and other people come and sit in the judges stand, both of which Tercel is not terribly confident about.  So during my last lesson I was walking around, sort of bored, and after riding him up to the judge’s stand and turning to cross the ring, someone sitting in the judge’s stand accidentally touched a roll of wire which promptly rolled off the table-BAM!-right behind Tercel.

Well Tercel gave me his first “startle-immediate acceleration” in weeks.  As you might remember, Tercel did this often before I put the Dy’on blinkers on his bridle to block him from seeing things directly behind him.  Blinkers do not stop the horse from hearing BAMs!  Since I was already on contact I smoothly tightened my fists, lowered my hands, and froze my hands by touching to saddle, what I call a “hard hold“.  When he slowed the movement of his feet I immediately relaxed my fingers and moved my hands forward, and I only had to repeat it once before he stopped.  Since the Wellep bit acts like a Mullen mouth with a stronger contact, Tercel’s lower jaw was not getting painfully squeezed so he did not get restive.  After a minute of standing with loose reins as his reward (along with praise, of course) I asked him to walk and we proceeded to walk calmly for the rest of my lesson, mostly on contact.  We even walked past the judge’s stand mostly in a straight line!  Please note: to prevent this “hard hold” hurting the horse severely the rider must close the fists gradually and smoothly, the hands MUST NOT MOVE BACK, the hands have to remain down by the saddle, and the rider must immediately release at any sign of cooperation from the horse.  If the rider raises his/her hands and jerks the reins hard--well that is how many runaways start.

I suppose that I could get ear plugs for Tercel, he is letting me handle his ears now so I could get them in.  It is just that I don’t want to add ear plugs until Tercel learns to ENJOY me handling his ears and starts “asking” me to brush their insides out thoroughly like Mia does.  I am not quite there yet with him.  Besides it is good training for him to learn that his rider can stop him just about immediately when he spooks.  It is also my “fault” in that I have not yet given Tercel enough good rides so that he learns to trust me no matter what when something triggers his old spooking patterns of behavior.  This trust is not something I can demand of Tercel, this trust is something that I have to earn through months and years of humane and skillful riding, there are no shortcuts and any attempt of mine to speed up the process is likely to result in a nervous horse (except for the ear plugs.)  Some things just take time, and often old psychological “wounds” are the hardest ones to heal.  I am dealing with equine PTSD here, after all.

At the end of my lesson Debbie decided I needed to work more on my two-point since my lower legs were not very steady.  I find it hard to keep up in two-point in the EZ-Fit saddle since there are no saddle flaps for my calves to grip and no knee rolls to sink into.  After a few minutes of doing two-point to Debbie’s satisfaction I collapsed.  We talked about my problems, and Debbie told me that she’s noticed that with the work we’ve given Tercel and the diet he got put onto, that Tercel’s withers and his back right to the rear of his withers have slimmed down some.  She then suggested that we try using my old Stubben Siegfried/Corrector pad combination that I have used successfully on all the other Arabs I’ve ridden at her stable, but this will have to wait until Debbie gets back from visiting her mother the week after next.  I really hope this works, I feel so much more secure in a proper jumping saddle even if I just ride on the flat.

 

Unfortunately the hot and muggy weather seems to make Mia’s cough a lot worse.  She seemed fine Friday when Darryl brought her in and we gave her the first half of her breakfast, and when I groomed her head and used the slicker brush on her.  It was when my husband picked up her hind feet for cleaning that she started coughing bad and kicking with the leg he was working on.  He got both hind feet cleaned in between the coughs and I moved in to rasp her hooves.  I got to her left hind; she lifted it and immediately started a long, drawn out coughing spell and kicking.  I dropped her hoof, got to her head, and since she had not stopped coughing I unsnapped the cross-ties so she could get her head down.  At one point she was coughing so hard I was afraid she would collapse in the wash stall.  Finally she coughed up a lot of white mucus, and after letting her rest for a few minutes she let me trim her hind legs with no problems and with no coughing.

Worried about her I still decided to ride her, she had never coughed up noticeable mucus before and I wanted to give her more chances to get her lungs clearer.  We offered Mia water two times, in the barn and at the outside watering trough, but Mia did not want to drink.  Keeping to the walk at the speed that Mia desired I had several minutes of cough free riding.  Only when I asked her to back up a little bit did the coughing start again.   Then she would cough if I used my leg too hard, for any sharp turns, and the other time I had to back her up a step.  The last one triggered another long hard coughing bout that made me worry she could collapse, and she seemed to bring up more mucus.  I ended my ride when she stopped coughing, took her back to the barn, and we untacked, groomed, and fed her the rest of her breakfast before turning her out. 

Mia is not “sick”, as in an acute infection.  This cough has been going on for years, she eats eagerly, her coat is shiny, there are no “fever rings” on her hooves, her ears are cool, her breath smells normal, she still plays in the pasture on days she is feeling good, and she constantly takes an interest in what is happening around her.  I do know that we have been getting the type of weather that causes weather alerts for older people and for people with lung problems.  Maybe she is developing heaves???  I am not planning to ride Mia until the weather settles into the lower 80’s F, when the weather alerts for elderly people end.  I am still going to come out once a week with my husband so I can keep her coat in good shape, put the longer lasting fly spray on her, and keep her hooves rasped.  Maybe I will walk her in hand some so she feels like she has “worked” for her grain I give her as a treat before we turn her out.  She is old, and stopping taking care of her would be so totally unfair after all the years she has willingly worked with me so I can keep walking on my own two feet.

I also do not know if Mia can take another hard winter.  After the super cold spells of last winter she seemed “burdened”, as if getting around in the cold was much more taxing on her system than two winters ago.  I have already talked with Debbie about this.  I feel a great debt to that grand old Arab mare, and I hope I keep mobile enough so I can keep on taking care of her once a week until either her cough improves or she gets put down before the brutal parts of next winter, even if it means I give up one of my rides each week.

For over the years Mia has proven to me that Arabian mares ARE the highest form of creation.  I am honored to be able to help her some in her old age.

Have a great ride!

Jackie Cochran            

 

 

 

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