Trying to Get Riding Fit with MS at the Speed of a Snail

[Jackie_Cochran]

Shannon came by and I got to ride my HH, for 20 minutes. I did not pick up the stirrups or the reins because I was doing a little experiment. Since MJ was so kind as to accept contact with me wearing my far-infrared radiation Fenwick gear I decided to do the acid test–try to wear some on the HH.

I wore my Fenwick neck gaiter since my neck hurt the most this morning.

And it seemed like my balance was BETTER, both side-to-side and front-to-back.

I can wear my Fenwick stuff riding!!!

I did my usual, walking, 2-point and posting, and my balance stayed good.

I do not know why my BOT stuff messes my body up enough that the horses really do not want to give me good contact. Sure, I can fake it so someone on the ground (including my riding teacher) thinks my contact is fine but the horse’s tongue refuses to participate. Since to me right now, with all my problems, contact, good contact, is one of the top sources of pleasure in my life I notice stuff like this even if no one else “sees” the problem (well the horse notices it for sure.)

Otherwise we talked about my new horse muscle mania, the multifidus thoracis. This is really interesting muscle complex, and apart from the ligaments between the vertebrae it is the basic layer of the spinal muscles holding the spine together from the sacrum up to the 2nd cervical vertebra (all the other back muscles are nearer to the surface.) I look at these muscles and I wonder if these muscles are the ones that express the horse’s true opinion about what the rider does. They are pretty well protected from the rider’s actions by some really thick and strong muscles that grow over them.

I also wonder what role the multifidus thoracis muscles have with “kissing spines”. These muscles are set up so the further back on the spine you go the more they influence the spinous processes of the spine. Could an injury/muscle strain of these muscles lead to spinous processes rubbing against each other? (My apologies if I am using terms sort of wrong.)

Recently I have discovered that in some conditions some of my muscles just don’t work, it is like the muscle is still “asleep” when all my other muscles are awake. This lead to my last fall when I was walking in my house. Could it be that one or more of these multifidus thoracis muscles, for some reason, just don’t work resulting in the spinous processes rubbing against each other? In this case there does not have to be muscle pain, it is just that the normal nerve signals just do not get through to the muscle, leaving the muscle inert. The pain would come later with the injuries from the rubbing spinous processes.

Searching through some of my horse anatomy books I ran into a GOOD, DETAILED drawing of a multifidus thoracis muscle in “The Topographical Anatomy of the Thorax and Abdomen of the Horse” by O. Charnock Bradley, with the drawings by James T. Murray on page 6. It looked sort of like a feather, a central spine with branching of muscle fibers to the front and diagonally to the side. It sure looks to me like this muscle works not just to help hold the vertebrae together but also to give really, really subtle tiny movements and to pick up ALL the movements of each vertebra.

Since my ribs still hurt some it will take me some time to go through all my other horse anatomy books to look at the pictures of these muscles (carrying a stack of horse anatomy books gives me good weight bearing exercise but strains my hurt rib cage,) but my brain does not seem to remember another picture of equivalent detail for this muscle.

I got really tired and had to take a nap, and I am still tired, but I DID get into a saddle today.

[3PonyFarm]

Sounds like you had a good workout! I hope you can have a lesson this week. Rest Up!

[Jackie_Cochran]

I woke up this morning to rain, so I did not get a lesson. If it had just been drizzling I would have tried if Debbie were up to it.

So my husband helped me on my Home Horse. I did not last for long, almost 9 minutes and I was too tired to continue. I posted, 2-pointed and walked. Since my body was aching when I woke up I wore some of my Fenwick stuff, which is part of the reason I did not last for long.

I voted yesterday. Since I live in a deep, deep red area I want to make SURE that my vote is counted and the only way to be totally sure is to vote in person. Besides, I love going around to all the election workers I see there to thank them for working so that I can vote.

But it made me TIRED, and is another reason I did not last as long as usual on my HH today.

But at least I got into a saddle today even though it was raining. Life could be worse.

[3PonyFarm]

it is great you got out to vote! Very important!
it is so hard to get motivated when it is rainy but at least you got a workout in!

[Jackie_Cochran]

Shannon came by. I lasted 24 minutes on my Home Horse!

My body wanted to post a lot today, I’d post for a little while (usually over 20 posts each session), collapse to rest a while, then my body wanted to post again. I also spent some time in two point, and I picked up the reins to “walk” to keep on reminding my elbows that they are supposed to open and close when I ride.

Shannon told me today that she usually does not get really picky until I have been in the saddle for 5 minutes, and that after the 5 minutes I usually stay in balance. It would help if my body gave me accurate feedback, today when Shannon said I was in balance from side-to-side I actually felt centered, usually I feel like I am leaning to the right. I hope my nervous system continues to improve this way, so when I am in balance I actually FEEL like I’m in balance instead of leaning off the edge of a cliff to the right.

The last few days I have been reading “Understanding the Horse’s Back” by Sara Wyche. This seems to be a really good book, she is a veterinarian and it shows! One really interesting think I read was that lameness often causes changes in the feel of the horse’s back for the rider before the head bobbing and limping show up, and usually it is the lumbar part of the spine that is effected. A LOT of the lesson horses I’ve ridden in the last decade or so feel really off to me right behind the saddle, the lumbar spine.

So if your horse’s back feels NQR it might be an early sign of lameness. If I was looking at a horse to buy and I felt the NQR feeling behind the saddle I would only buy the horse if it was a REALLY superior horse, one worth spending a good bit of money for vet bills and imaging. Just remember when your horse’s back starts feeling “off” it might be a signal that something is starting to go wrong in the hooves or legs of the horse, which if not treated by better farriery or medically could well end up affecting the back of the horse really badly as the horse contorts its body to avoid the pain in its feet.

Like my current 30 year old lesson horse, he has navicular disease (treated by good shoeing based on X-rays of his feet and no jumping) whose back is as stiff as a beam of concrete. This horse will swing his back after he is warmed up, but when I try to sit the trot I am afraid that I will cause further damage to my brain and spinal cord because it feels like I am trying to ride a jackhammer. I ride him mostly in 2-point for the first several minutes, then usually his back does start to swing, but it never gets as good when I try to sit the trot as the majority of the horses I’ve sat the trot on. Man, that horse has a HARD trot!

I think that this book is worth getting for people who ride horses. I for sure am learning a lot from it. Even if you only take lessons on other people’s horses you might get brownie points for pointing out that the horse may be going lame before anybody can see it.

[3PonyFarm]

Sounds like you had a good workout! Thanks for the info on the book, I will have to check it out!

[Jackie_Cochran]

I got my lesson today.

I have BIG troubles adjusting to the time changes, especially the spring one when I lose an hour of sleep. It can take me weeks on end to recover, some years I do not recover until after the time change in the fall.

AND MJ was not feeling too great today. His achy joints were obviously achy, the ring really needed to be dragged, and I had no energy with which to inspire him to move out. So we slogged around the ring, with me trying to find the smoothest path in the sand. Maybe both MJ and I are serving as long range forecasters for rain–which is due on Friday. One of the great “joys” of getting old.

I told Debbie what I had read, in “Understanding the Horse’s Back” by Sara Wyche, on how lameness can affect the horse’s back before the horse starts bobbing his head. After I said that she took one look at MJ and concluded, from looking at his back, that his feet were definitely bothering him. Since we did not trot we could not know for sure, but his feet and his KNEES definitely felt like he was not comfortable.

I had to spend some time in 2-point at first, then his back improved a little bit. I did not try anything really fancy, the one time I did a sort of sharp turn on his hind end it was flinch, flinch, flinch, so I did not repeat this. He DID NOT want to back up from my leg and rein aids, so I dropped contact, got up into 2-point again, sort of thought it would be nice if he backed up, and he gave me a few steps back. He just went back to the last aids after I got my seatbones out of the saddle, and obeyed them then. Delayed obedience is better than no obedience.

Old age is not for sissies. MJ and I definitely creak, shuffle around and groan but we are NOT sissies, we still try to do our best however badly we hobble around and however ungracefully we move.

I did ride 28 minutes today. MJ made his opinion known at that time by finally striding forth headed for Debbie and the gate. He is a good boy, but those achy joints can take the joy out of moving.

Add MJ to the list of her lesson horses, often abandoned at her stable, who we both ride and look at, and mourn that neither of use got to train the horse when it was young because below all the pain, confusion and angst is a really neat riding horse, if only somebody had taken the time to develop and train that horse properly.

[3PonyFarm]

I am with you on the time change. I love that it stays light longer but it takes a while to get used to.

[Jackie_Cochran]

I’m still trying to deal with the time change. I did NOT want to get up this morning.

But Shannon was coming over, so I dragged myself out of bed and got ready.

Shannon said she was not up to riding the Home Horse today. I did ride it, and it made it to 21 minutes. I did at least two sessions of posting for 20 “strides”, two point, walking and balancing. Shannon said I kept my balance well after she got me to get my feet even on the platform.

After my ride we got into the Visible Horse that I was given. Like me she had one in her youth, but it disappeared. Since her father had a hobby shop before he retired Shannon grew up building models from kits. She said she would help me get my Visible Horse together starting next Sunday since now she knows what she needs to bring over. The box claims that this model is anatomically accurate, and unlike the first time I owned one I now have the knowledge to be able to tell if it is anatomically accurate, and the skeleton looks pretty good right now and I am pretty sure the internal organs are also accurate.

I wonder how many horse anatomists got started with the Visible Horse.

She also liked the Thewell book I was given, laughing all the way through it and I could tell she was reluctant to leave it here. I always liked the Thewell books but decades ago every spare penny left over from supporting my horses went to buy books on equitation and basic equine veterinary knowledge. This book will end up at my lesson stable, Debbie has two hairy ponies right now. Maybe her students’ parents can read it while their daughters are getting riding lessons.

And I am sure that it will bring back memories for Debbie, her daughters and her granddaughters, who were all riders of little, tiny hairy ponies when they were younger.

[3PonyFarm]

I still have my visible horse! I have my breyers too. I used to have a stable for them when I was little but now they just set on a shelf.

[3PonyFarm]

Were you able to get a lesson in this week?

[Jackie_Cochran]

Alas, I did not get my lesson. I finally got to see a doctor about a bladder infection today for antibiotics. Bonus, he believed me right away after looking at my urine so I did not have to convince him I needed the medicine.

Hopefully I will be able to see Shannon on Sunday and get a lesson on my Home Horse, as well as playing with the construction of my Visible Horse.

Isn’t it amazing how we horsepeople are so willing to get into the depths of a subject–so long as it is about HORSES. Shannon is the same as me about this though she has educated herself about many subjects just like I have through the decades.

Horses above all! Horses never get boring, my downfall on many other areas of study.

[3PonyFarm]

I hope you feel better soon!

Yes, I love talking about horses. It doesn’t matter how much you learn, there is always something new. I also enjoy watching the really good riders, especially ones who can work with a horse others had trouble with and they are able to figure the problem out so quickly.

[Jackie_Cochran]

Shannon came by today so I got to ride my Home Horse.

I lasted for 27 minutes. I was hoping for 30 minutes but I was just too tired by then. Shannon said my balance was good today, I kept my HH mostly centered even when I was posting. I know MJ will be happy that I have not lost my teeny-tiny sense of balance.

I posted a good bit, 10-12 posts each time. I also did a lot of 2-point. I just kept my feet on the platform and I did not pick up the reins, otherwise I would not have lasted as long as I did. Many hours later I am still TIRED, but I earned it today.

Then Shannon and I got to the Visible Horse kit, and alas some pieces were missing. We went online and Shannon looked really close at the photographs of the contents of the kits and found one that looked like it had the pieces we were missing and I gave her the money to order it. That kit had lost its instructions so it was a bit cheaper than the other ones on Ebay, no problem, my kit still has the instructions. So between the two old kits we should be able to get one Visible Horse, which is nice since it is no longer made, and I will have “anatomically accurate” extra pieces I can play with and use as a rather small 3-D example of the bone surfaces.

And if I wanted to spend over a thousand dollars and had the space I could order an articulated skeleton, but right now I have better uses for that much money, getting the stuff that will help the real, live horses I ride get more comfortable with their lives.

[3PonyFarm]

Sounds like you had a good workout today. Good job!

[Jackie_Cochran]

I woke up this morning after a night of rain. Debbie called me pretty early to cancel my lesson.

DH helped me on my Home Horse. I only lasted 10 minutes. I walked, posted, 2-pointed, and “cantered” on both leads. I also picked up the reins early and worked on opening and closing my elbows as I walked and posted.

At least with my HH I can get into a saddle on bad weather days.

I was hoping to last longer but I had a hard time getting to sleep last night. I think I was sort of still asleep when I rode the HH.

After hearing of all the wildfires around the country I accept that rain is GOOD to have even if it interferes with my riding.

[3PonyFarm]

So sorry you didn’t have a lesson. I am happy Spring is here but I don’t like the cold, wet muddy season.

[Jackie_Cochran]

Shannon came by today to help me on my Home Horse. Since it is supposed to be raining on Wednesday AGAIN I went all out (for me) on my HH.

I started with 5 full minutes of “walking” with my feet flat on the platform and no reins, both with my seat in the saddle and in 2-point… Then I posted for one full minute, a lot longer that my 20 posts at a time previously. Then I repeated this, and got tired.

So I rested a minute just balancing (which continues to improve, yeah!) and then I picked up my stirrups and reins. I “walked” again for a minute or so, then I went into 2-point with some sort of weak posting interspersed with the walk. Then I did 2-point in the stirrups for another minute or two at the walk, and all the time I was in 2-point I made good and sure to keep on opening and closing my elbows.

Then I dropped my stirrups to rest and I noticed that the rear of the platform was against the floor, so I did two circles, one in each direction. I did not keep the rim of the platform against the floor all through these circles but at least I made the effort.

Today I lasted 20 minutes altogether. I did more than I had done before on the HH as far as exercising my legs. I am TRYING to keep my riding muscles fit, I do wish this would not make me so darn tired.

[3PonyFarm]

Good job on the workout! I hope you can get some rest and recover now.

[Jackie_Cochran]

I got my riding lesson today on MJ!

It had rained most of the night with some thunder and lightning, but the rain stopped around the time I woke up. I looked outside and it looked SOGGY. I kept on waiting for Debbie to call to cancel but that call never came. So I called her before I started to get dressed for my lesson and she told me to come on out. Of course it helps that I am content to just walk if the ring is too wet for faster work.

She had me mount outside the ring since it was so soggy. We walked around a little bit and then she told me we were going to the other ring which drains a little bit better. I walked and walked some more, with some turns on the hindquarters to break the boredom.

My last ride on my Home Horse really paid off today. Those two minutes I spent posting on the Home Horse had toned up my leg muscles enough that I was keeping my legs in their proper places after I did a “rider’s sit-up” or two. Unfortunately I did not do enough 2-point because I found it hard to keep my seat off the saddle and my lower back started hurting, so I know what I will be working on during my Sunday Home Horse ride.

I gave Debbie the copy of the Thewell book “A Leg at Each Corner”, telling her that it would bring back memories of her childhood. I also suggested that she let the parents that watch their children’s lessons to read the Thewell book too. The key to learning to ride is to get back on when you fall off, developing courage and boldness. Of course it is a lot less traumatic to fall off a small hairy pony than off a bigger horse. The little girl in the this book just keeps on getting back on her pony, thus setting a really good example for young riders.