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…

I Finally Canter Again

It is getting cooler now in NC, so I am hoping that I will continue to recover from my trip to MD three weeks ago.  Every year it seems to take me longer to recover. 

Wednesday I rode Mick for my lesson with Debbie.  I warmed Mick up for around ten minutes, the poor guy was stiff as usual, and the fact that Debbie’s horses are now spending the night in the stalls  means that he had been standing in his stall for many, many hours.  I had done the circular…

I Get to See Debbie Train

Last week Debbie asked me if I minded her training a horse she had in for training during my lesson.  I told her I did not mind at all.  I LOVE seeing Debbie train a horse, she makes it look easy!  During the weekend Debbie called me saying she wanted me to shim the Corrector pad so the mare would be more comfortable under saddle. 

So on Wednesday not only did I have to shim up the Corrector (since the mare has a rather flat back I used all…

Mia Kindly Shows Me My Current Limitations

I did not get to ride today, just before Shannon was going to pick me up I started to hear rumblings of thunder, and then it started raining.  I was not especially disappointed, my ride on Bobby last week totally exhausted me because I had to use so many of my muscles so often.  After I got home I wrote last week’s blog, went to sleep for three hours, and it took me a few days to recover completely.  Of course in an ideal world today would…

Did 3-Day Eventing Cross-Country Runs Ruin Bobby?

I got to ride three times this week. 

Mia was an angel, since Debbie had a cantering lesson in the main ring I rode in the other ring with two girls exercising their horses.  Mia was so good, she stayed at the walk each and every time the horses galloped (yes, gallop, not a canter) past her, she did not flinch when the horses were galloping towards her.  Her whole attitude was--“I’m in my thirties, I don’t need to run around any…

I Ride, But I Don’t Last Very Long

It is cooler down here this week, instead of the temperatures going up to 105° F they have been only getting up to 99° F.  Next week we will finally cool down to normal, the upper 80’s, a cold front is due to come through.

Wednesday, for my lesson, Mick started off really stiff.  I have been giving him massages with my little hand held roller massager before I ride, he really…

The Dire Birds of Doom

We had a nice spring, until the day before the Solstice, then wham, 90° F or above every day.  No more springtime weather for us down here in the South. 

On Wednesday I told Debbie I would not be able to do much more than a walk.  As usual Mick was stiff right behind the saddle so I did my usual warm-up of gradual turns and the three speeds of the walk.  After 15 minutes Debbie looked at my face and decided what I needed was to…

I Love the Cantle of my Saddle

I had some excitement riding this week.

Wednesday stuff was a bit disorganized at the barn, Debbie had gotten stuck in traffic and would be a few minutes late.  One of her teenage students kindly got, groomed and tacked up Mick for me, and this wonderful girl came out to the ring with me, helped me mount and hung around watching me until Debbie got there.  Mick was pretty stiff, so I just walked around for the first 15 minutes, some…

Merlin, Deep Inside, Wants To Be a Statue

Ah, this week everything returned to normal, I got to ride three times this week!  Hurrah!

Since I had not gotten to ride Merlin for two weeks I had a vague hope that Merlin would decide to move.  When I approached him while Shannon was grooming him he greeted me with a nose bump and generally did not seem too upset to see me.  Shannon said that she had no trouble catching him today, so when I mounted him I was full of…

                       MERLIN IS AFRAID HE GAVE ME TOO MUCH LAST WEEK

Luckily for us in NC the weather decided to switch back from early summer to spring, so this week we have cool mornings and the afternoons will be pleasant.  The horses are still shedding so that they are not completely unprotected from the cooler temperatures.  Plus the gnats did not descend upon us until I started my ride.  Yeah for cooler weather!

Merlin was not very cooperative with me…

                                                         I WILL WALK FOR PRAISE

When I got to ride Merlin today I did not have big hopes since he “got away” with standing for 15 minutes last week.  As usual I waited for Merlin to sigh, and then I did my escalation of my driving aids, WALK, light squeeze with both legs, then a light touch of my spurs.  To my utter surprise Merlin started walking after making me…

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…

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…

All the times I've ridden the new Arab gelding, Mick, Debbie and I have been trying to find out the 12 to 20 problems that came with Mick.  First the saddle, Debbie trailered Mick down to the good tack shop to consult their saddle fitter and they found a saddle for his young rider that fit both horse and rider.  Then Debbie had a problem that Mick's adult riders (he already has a fan base at the stable) could not fit in the…

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…

Aah, such a nice week, I got to ride both Mick, the new Arab gelding, and Mia, the Arab mare I've been riding.  Two Arabs, I haven't gotten to ride two Arabs in one week for decades.  Joy!!!!!!

Yes, I know each and every horse of every breed and type is a wondrous creature, but to me Arabs have that little extra.  That extra sensitivity, 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…