This week it has been HOT and muggy down here in N.C..  My body is having some trouble adjusting to the heat this year, nothing major, but the heat came on so quickly!  I have really needed my canes to walk this week.  At least I can still ride at a walk! 

 

This all worked out good with Mia.  When I got to the stable Debbie's husband brought Mia up like he usually does, and after watching her walk up and down the stable aisle and checking her hoof for heat Debbie decided, since I was going to only walk, that it would be OK to ride her.  Debbie has been soaking Mia's right front hoof to help the sole bruise to resolve itself and Mia had been walking sounder when out in the field.  I had brought out my next widest saddle (my 40 year old Stubben Siegfried) because I thought I would be riding Amira, but we checked it out on Mia's back without a pad and it looked workable with my Corrector pad system.  We tacked up with the new (for Mia) saddle with my old adjustable girth.  I gave Debbie my anatomic girth as a long term loan saying that it might be good for a horse with a girth sore, but two out of the three horses I had tried it on did not like it and I was going back to my old girths.  If I ever need it again I can get it back, but Debbie, with around 40 horses at her stable, is much more likely to need it sometime than I am! 

 

I mostly walked Mia during my lesson on Wednesday.  I had forgotten my ice vest so I got pretty hot, sweaty, and uncoordinated.  Mia and I trotted some, and she trotted sound on long sides of the ring but limped a little turning to the right so we went back to just walking in the deep sand, though I noticed if I supported her with my right leg at the turns her gait was smoother.  Since Mia is still slightly lame I did not try anything major at the walk, I did about six steps of the counted walk (no collection), and when I asked Mia to extend her walk I let her decide how much she could do.  It was not much though Mia did lengthen her stride a little.  I praised Mia to the skies because at least she tried.  But then that is Mia for you, if I ride correctly AND tell Mia it is up to her how much she can deliver, Mia will TRY to give me what I want.  Since she is old and arthritic I am impressed that she is still trying.  Since I will accept what she offers me, I know I am not pushing her beyond what she can do comfortably.  Us creaky old ladies still can help each other so long as we are patient, cooperative, and willing to work within our limited capabilities.

 

Friday my husband brought me out to the stable, my son's school schedule means he can't help me on Fridays this summer.  Debbie was there, and she was so kind, bringing Mia in and doing most of the grooming and tacking up before I rode even though I was not having a lesson.  Debbie warned me that she would be grading the other ring while I rode since she was putting on a show this weekend.  The first few minutes of my ride were in perfect peace, then two riding lawn movers started reving up and whooshing around outside the ring.  Mia was fine with this, and when I stopped her for a few moments she watched both lawnmowers with great interest, no fear, just wondering what they were doing.  We went back to walking around and then Debbie got up on their BIG red tractor with all its attachments and roared past the ring.  I stopped Mia and let her have a good look at the new fire-breathing dragon, and went back to my ride with the two riding lawn mowers and the big tractor whooshing around with a lot of noise.  Mia did not care, since I had let her have a good look she was good to go.  No flinching, no shying, no signs of fear, Mia just went on plodding around the ring just as if this chaos happened every day.  Mia, she has become my rock of Gibraltar, and boy do I love riding that mare!

 

I got to ride Cider today.  We had an inch and a half of rain last night, but since I am only up to a walk this week Shannon figured we would not tear up her turf ring.  It has been so dry lately that I've been getting worried about the corn crops, but last night they got the rain they needed.  The ground was so dry that it soaked all the rain up.  Cider continues happy that I have changed back to her old girth and moved forward willingly, and at the same time consented to stay at a walk even when I was urging her to extend.  Cider was not quite as prompt or exact in her obedience to my aids as usual, but that is probably because my body has not yet adapted to the heat.  I'm not going to get after the horse when I know that the problems are MY fault.  As I adapt to the heat I will give my aids better, and then she will obey me promptly and willingly.  I was able to get some straight strides a few times, and we practiced a few turns on the hindquarters and on the forehand.  Cider extended her walk for me but did not get into a full extended walk, and we got down real slow at the walk for some strides.   She did not seem to like the real slow walk as much today, but that was probably due to my incoordination, but then she backed up willingly waiting for my signals for each step.  Everything went fine until thirty minutes were up, then it was--HEY, LOOK AT YOUR WATCH DUMMY, MY TIME IS UP!!!!! when she turned into an uncooperative pony.  So I rode her a little more, insisting on obedience and suggesting straightness until she settled down, strode out, and listened to my aids.  THEN she got her reward, I got off her back while Shannon was telling her she was a good girl to keep on going after my time was up. 

 

During my lesson with Debbie we were discussing how Amira had morphed into western horse during my lesson on her (under other riders Amira had just said she did not like jumping, no other problems, I think the anatomic girth was my problem.)  I was telling Debbie how shocked I was when I realized that modern western horse trainers seem to consider horses trained our way as only partially broke, and that it seems that they would have considered Hat Tricks, my first horse, who I could ride at an advanced level and then put a complete beginner on him with full security knowing that Hat Tricks would take care of them, as not trained.  Debbie has had horses in for retraining that had run-ins with western trainers, and she said that she considers these horses over-trained, if the rider does not come up with exactly the same aids as it was trained to the horse either ignores the aid or freezes.  Debbie is a good trainer and she manages to convince these horses to accept our way of riding.  I guess we are both so used to the hunt seat horses who will continue to move while trying to figure out what the unfamiliar aid means and who offer responses until they come up with the one we want.  It used to be, 40 years ago when I started riding, that it was rather simple to change a non-specialized western horse to hunt seat, LOTS of hunt seat lesson horses were ex-cow ponies who ended up out East!  Those horses learned hunt seat readily since there was really not that much difference in how the horse moved and the difference in the aids were easy to explain.  But then these horses weren't show horses.  But as it is with today's horses I will happily and securely ride our "partially" trained hunt seat horses, who stride out boldly, obeying even beginners' confusing aids, who take care of me even though I am physically disabled and not always able to give my aids correctly, while I try to avoid horses trained otherwise.  Too bad, some of the western horses are cute.

 

I also talked with Shannon about the modern way of western training.  She learned to ride western in Oregon as a child.  She told me of some of the surprises she got from the western trained horses she got donated to her handicapped riding program, especially backing up.  As a side note Shannon had gone out to Oklahoma, and she got to see some horse artillery people performing, and Shannon said they were riding just like I do (in the old "modern" US Ft. Riley cavalry seat base on the Italian Forward seat combined with the training system of the French cavalry school at Saumar, as developed by Harry Chamberlin.)  I know that horses are fortunately no longer used in war, but I find it sort of reassuring that there are people in the USA who still practice these cavalry/horse artillery skills.  Oil will not last forever, but I am afraid that war is eternal.  No cavalry ends up getting the BEST horses, more like the second and third rate horses, and the horse artillery got the fourth and fifth rate horses.  A lot of cavalry men were not experienced riders and had to learn on the job.  Even so the US cavalry, using the Ft. Riley system, turned out good horses, good riders, and excellent riding instructors who taught GOOD HORSEMANSHIP above all, no matter what seat they taught.  Too bad these men all died, we could use them today. THEIR students were never allowed to ride a horse with its face behind vertical.  Lucky for me Debbie was taught by an old cavalryman when young and she does not let me get away with anything!

 

Next week Debbie has riding camp so Mia will get a week off.  Debbie told me most of the riders will be coming in with their own horses so she will just have to use three of her horses.  This will give Mia another week to resolve her sole bruise.  Maybe the week after she will be sound and I will be better adjusted to this humid heat.

 

Have a great ride!

Jackie Cochran            

 

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Comment by deb pawlyshyn on June 15, 2011 at 4:09pm
Can't get over how much your Debbie is similiar to moi lol. Thank goodness though I do not have 40 horses to be responsible for. Can't go wrong with the name, lol
Comment by Jackie Cochran on June 12, 2011 at 7:00pm

I use one I got around 18 years ago, that company is gone, but there are quite a few other companies that sell ice vests with gel packs that you freeze and put into the vest.  This vest does not drip water so I can use it with my good leather saddles.  Firemen often use this type. 

I tried an evaporation vest but it was HEAVY and got my leather saddle wet, I can only use it with a synthetic saddle.

Comment by Shirley on June 12, 2011 at 5:55pm

HI Jackie, What kind of ice/cooler vest do you use?

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