It’s been several weeks since the car accident. I’ve been cleared for riding for a while. I’ve ridden a little during the weekends, usually only for 20-30 minutes at a time. I’m mostly healed from the neck injury, but there are lingering issues I’ve been working on with a physical therapist. Periodic neck pain and soreness on the coccyx (alleviated immediately by moving or standing up) have lingered. Seems like the last 5%...
Continue reading...Horses
Rainrot season again
Not specifically rain rot, it’s more like the creeping fungus infection that the horses get on their feet when it’s been rainy and muddy. Rajiyyah has it pretty bad on her legs. I picked up her feet to clean then out and the underside of her back leg fetlocks felt crusty. It felt at first like she had a cut back there but it wasn’t a cut. She had nasty scabs that were...
Continue reading...Riding Rajiyyah today
I rode Rajiyyah today for the first time in several weeks. She was surprisingly good. Last time I rode her, the barn owner suggested that I needed to either keep constant contact with her mouth or ride on a very loose rein. After doing some ground work, we tacked up. We started on a loose rein and walked around the arena. She relaxed and seemed to enjoy herself. Her neck was loose and...
Continue reading...Free lunging Kasane
When Kasane and I do serpentines free-lunging, I usually only have my carrot stick (4′ stick used for cues with a six foot lash). You are right in that most of the cues she is working from are body language and voice commands (walk, trot, reverse, etc.). You know how you can feel when your horse is hooked on when free lunging? It’s like that, except we are in the big arena and...
Continue reading...Visiting the mares
On the drive out to the barn, my headache of two days went from mild to bad to worse. I get sinus headaches with migraine-like symptoms (light and sound sensitivity especially). My head was way too sensitive to go riding. I still went out to the barn since I hadn’t been out all week and it was driving me crazy not seeing my girls. I walked into Kasane’s field and out to her....
Continue reading...Dealing with resistance when riding
It is easy to feel frustrated because I don’t know what to do when Kasane says “no I don’t want to do this.” I know how I used to ride: I’d insist that she do something. With Isis, if I insisted and she wasn’t clear on what I was asking (or more likely I wasn’t sure of how to ask her to do what I wanted), it would end up escalating. Where escalating...
Continue reading...Adventures when riding with contact
I usually ride English so I’m riding in a loose ring snaffle bit. Kasane has a Herm Sprenger KK Ultra 4 3/4″ snaffle with small losenge like piece in the middle of the snaffle. Rajiyyah’s bit is a similar design, except it has a copper mouth piece. When I ride Kasane, we usually ride with light contact so there is a direct line from my arm to her mouth. The connection is made...
Continue reading...Redemption: Old Eyes Tell Tales
The barn where I board is full of wise old eyes: half of the horses are over 20. My old girl, Prize, is 28 and still teaches people (myself included) about riding and jumping. She’s a bright bay Arabian mare with three white socks, a snip, and a blaze. She’s not typey for an Arabian (most people think she’s part Quarter Horse), but she is fearless and enthusiastic. The riding instructor at the...
Continue reading...Trail ride report
On Sunday morning, Tara invited me to come with her on a trail ride around the farm. The trail ride was fun and enlightening. Kasane was pulled out of the stall, saddled, and away we went (instead of working her in the ring first). Tara rode Rooster (Friesian/Paint cross), Carmen lead Geronimo (standardbred/QH cross), and I was on Kasane. We headed out down the road and past the pastures, and then along the...
Continue reading...Saddle fitting in the morning
Tomorrow morning we’re taking Kasane to have her saddles fitted. It’s been over a year since I purchased the Prestige Venus K monoflap saddle. It was fitted to her when she was butt high and she is now level (even slightly up hill). Because the saddles aren’t quite adjusted properly for her new physique, my lower back hurts when I ride in the saddles. The all purpose is especially hard for me, so...
Continue reading...Saddle fitting
Kasane had her saddle fitting yesterday and there were some pretty big surprises. First off, instead of being butt high, she’s leveled out. When the saddle fitter saw her, he said “Oh my!” at how much she has changed since the last time he saw her. At the saddle fitting last summer, her right side was a saddle width narrower than her left and her rump was considerably higher. This time Kasane turned...
Continue reading...Helping a horse find joy
When Rajiyyah first came to my barn in March, she felt odd to ride. Instead of having her legs underneath her, she felt like her legs were scattered. This feeling was very similar to riding a green horse who feels braced and ready to flee. Her back was dropped and her head was up. She was defensive. With some contact and encouragement with seat and hands, she would eventually come down and ride...
Continue reading...And Kasane said WHEE!
I spent this evening at the barn after an intensely stressful week of deadlines and conflicting priorities. So I went out and played with my girl. She was still in the barn when I got there. She yelled when she saw me. It’s been in the mid-70s, so beautiful weather and 20 degrees cooler than last week. She was up when I lead her out to the arena. I let her go when...
Continue reading...Dealing with a horse who trips
One of Isis’ scariest symptoms was her near-constant tripping. I tried various methods to help her: chiropractic treatment, acupuncture, massage, riding techniques, and other things. Before she was diagnosed with EPM, I spent years trying to figure out what was causing the tripping. Where there consistent factors in where or how we rode that contributed? Was the tripping more prevalent on one side or the other? Was there a connection with time of...
Continue reading...We Are Equestrians
Found this posted on Facebook. The video is amazing. I did some searching and found the original artist, sophianinam on YouTube, who created this video: Related Images:
Continue reading...