My Stubben Siegfried is Fixed, Hurray!  

Last Tuesday I went down to the tack store to pick up my Stubben, all ready to ride with new front billet straps.  It did not take very long for the local tack specialist to replace the billets and it just cost me $87.00 USD.  Now I do not have to worry anymore about a billet strap breaking and I can relax and enjoy riding in my ancient 43 year old saddle.  When I got it home I put on stirrups and stirrup leathers, my sheepskin seat…

When I went out to Debbie's stable Wednesday I had my notes about the low release for jumping in my pocket.  While Debbie was finishing a stall I read them to her and asked her to help me during the lesson.  Last week during my non-lesson ride, when I tried the low release on Mia I "heard" Mia ask me what in the world I was doing (Mia is a horse who tends to halt whenever she does not understand anything new.)  I obviously needed eyes on the ground!

After we got out…

When I got up this morning the rain clouds were on the other side of Charlotte and slowly moving toward us.  Hearing only the occasional drop on the roof I got ready to ride and made it out to Shannon's farm.  And my luck held, the rain decided to wait and I got to ride Cider.  Cider was happier with me than last week because this week I did the proper thing, dragged the heavy (for me) mounting block over and I MADE SURE the saddle and pad were in exactly the right place, centered…

I just lost the blog I wrote, let me try again.  I really hate it when I hit the wrong key and EVERYTHING disappears, and this is almost happening to me every week now.  Rant over.

I got my lesson in on Wendesday with Debbie.  Mick was really stiff when he came out of the stall so I spent the first few minutes of my ride gently walking him around until he moved more freely.  Then I started some gentle trotting, again…

I had fun riding this week.  I didn't think I'd get my lesson in on Mick on Wednesday because there was rain all around, and it started sprinkling when we tacked up, but then it stopped and did not start again until my lesson was over!  Then it poured.  And it was warm, 65 F at dawn, with a warm wind, and I ended up riding in my shirt sleeves, in December no less.  I don't ever remember riding in December and working up a sweat!

Mick went well, which was good since Debbie…

It has been a pretty good week.

Wednesday, for my lesson on Mick, I faced a super-saturated ring since we had 2 inches of rain earlier in the week.  I could not practice extending Mick's trot, if I had tried I would have torn up the ring and everybody would have been splattered with wet sand.  So it was mostly the walk with some sitting trot, nothing exciting at all.  During…

I am so fortunate, I am getting to ride three horses a week now regularly!  The last time I got to ride three (well at one time it was five) horses in a week was back decades ago and I owned all the horses.  On the good days, when it is cool and the sun shines, I miss feeding and taking care of my horses, but when it is bitter, windy, and cold or super hot and muggy I am so grateful I no longer have to get out there to take…

Last week, riding on three horses, I tried out the new (for me) technique for turning described in Jean Luc Cornille's blog "Lateral Bending and Transversal Rotation Part 2." 

When riding Forward Seat turning is rather simple, the rider uses the inside leading rein for gradual turns, the inside rein of direct opposition for a sharper turn, always advancing the outside rein, and using…

All week I have been dragging around, getting over the cold I had.  Tired, tired, tired!  Even so I tried to ride.  On Wednesday morning, after 2 1/2 inches of rain on Tuesday, Debbie called just before I put my boots on saying it was still raining at the stable.  I re-scheduled my lesson for Thursday, and on Thursday morning the weather broadcast looked like I could get a ride in, but when we got a mile from the stable the heavens opened up.  We went on to the…

I'm sort of tired, but I wanted to write this before I forgot! 

First, I finally got Cider's saddle to stay centered on her back.  As I've written before I had bought a Wintec Wide saddle to use on Cider.  At first I could not keep the saddle centered, and since my balance is not good I had to repeatedly re-center my saddle on her back.  Finally Shannon and I figured out something that…

This week I got to ride Debbie's new Arab, Mick, twice.  Such a nice horse, so pretty, nice shoulder, good neck, well trained, obedient, and with a good attitude.  Still he is not perfect.  Riding him I feel less power under me than I do with Mia and Cider.  Part of the reason for this is however well trained Mick is, somehow the previous trainers and riders did not do the gymnastic work necessary to strenthen Mick's hind end, and when I look past his sheer beauty I…

 August is turning out to be an eventful month!  First, my sympathy to all those on the East Coast who are suffering from Irene.  Over here in Stanly County we were very fortunate, we just got clouds, some wind gusts and a tiny bit of rain.  I feel sorry for all the people and domestic animals trying to deal with the enormous rainfall from this storm.  May your houses, barns, paddocks and pastures drain off soon!  How did the horses react to the earthquake in Virginia?  We…

I finally got out of the ring this week!  Debbie's stable is part of a much bigger farm, and last week the farm owner redid some of his fences since his cows were escaping.  When he did this he gave Debbie's riders a gate into a few acres of his woods and the woods already have trails.  Halfway through my lesson she suggested going into the woods, and I was all for it.  The sun was hot and I was already melting.  So Debbie walked ahead and Mia and I…

After all this time my new, new saddle fits both Cider and I.  Cider needed the widest of the gullet plates for my new Wintec Wide and I needed the saddle to have the full 18" seat (thank you Caitlan and Donna!)  The extra half inch of seat made all the difference for my comfort.  I had put the stirrup leathers on too short and since the stirrup bars are so tight on the saddle I could not lengthen them while I rode.  Even so the extra length in the seat meant that…

This week I changed things with my tack yet again.  I wanted to see how the mares did in the jumping cavesson bridle without the running martingle after all those weeks using the Spirit Bridle.  When I got to the stable on Wednesday it was already hot at 8:00 AM, and I got even hotter trimming Mia's toes.  With the hot weather Mia's hooves are growing really fast, and since I cut back my riding on Fridays because of the heat I had a lot of rasping to do! …

Hot, humid, bad air quality, smog.  Yep, that says it all about the weather in the summertime in the sunny, sunny South.  At least WE are used to this type of weather, I feel so, so sorry for you people further North who are discovering what people living in the South have known all along.  Summers can be as brutal as winters. 

Last week both mares told me that I was not…

And what can I write about this week?  For my lesson on Wednesday it was HOT and muggy.  Then it cooled down on Friday, when I could not ride, it didn't even get up to 70 F, nice, cool and breezy.  Now the heat is coming back in, this morning when I rode it was not too bad but the weathermen are predicting brutal heat by Wednesday.  It was nice to have a break in the heat. 

My riding…

I finally got the reins fixed on my Spirit bridle so I could use them without getting distracted.  Since Debbie is off showing at the NC State Fair this week I did not get a lesson, I could not even go out on Wednesday to ride since everybody was leaving early, right when I ride.  So Friday I cheerfully got out to the stable, my son was with me so he could do most of the work!  I got to trim Mia's hooves and for once she was not too kicky with her hind legs.  So we…

Since I finally found a tack repair guy willing to make the reins of my Spirit bridle shorter I could not use my Spirit bridle this week.  Deprived of my new tack I sat looking at all my other bitless options and I remembered the sort of dead feeling contact with them.  I decided to see if I was right with my hypothesis that the feel of the Spirit bridle was so much like that of a bit that I would have no problems switching back to a bit.  So I sat looking at my…

I just got to ride once this week, this morning.  I missed some glorious low humidity and cooler riding weather this week because Debbie had her camp.  Now the heat and humidity are back.  At least my ice vest helps. 

As usual when I cannot ride I drowned my sorrows by reading a horse book.  This time it was "Equitation Science" by Greely & McLean, a book about the science behind…