I’m so glad you got to ride today!
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Shannon came by today. I made it 30 minutes on my Home Horse!
Since Debbie praised my stable lower leg my last lesson I tried to replicate my 5 minute walk alternated with one minute posting two times, which got me tired, of course.
Then I worked on my 2-point since my lower back muscles had been protesting during my lesson, both just balancing and walking.
Then I alternated these things for a while. For the last 10 minutes I picked up my stirrups and walked and 2-pointed, concentrating on trying to keep my lower leg STILL which is hard to do because there is no barrel of a horse to act as a stable resting point. Shannon told me I was keeping my leg mostly still.
I still find it almost impossible to post with my feet in the stirrups on the HH.
At the end I circled the HH on the rim once in each direction. Shannon told me it was the first time she saw me successfully doing a full circle, much less 2 full circles. She is impressed with how much I have improved on the HH since I began using it. She also told me I was mostly in balance all the time as I rode, both side-to-side and front-to-back.
The Home Horse was not cheap (though much cheaper than other riding simulators) but I think it was worth every penny. Even though I have not been able to ride a horse regularly this year I continue to improve my balance, muscle strength and endurance. Without it I doubt that my balance would have improved like it has.
I worked hard on my HH today!
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Hopefully the weather is good and you can have a ride on a real horse too. It would be a good workout this week.
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Guess what.
It was raining this morning, well it was raining at Debbie’s place (very near to the barn) and drizzling here. She said I could come out, but I thought about MJ’s 31 year old joints and how they were probably aching.
I am SO GLAD I have a Home Horse for days like this.
I made it 21 minutes on the HH, and I worked hard. I picked up the reins at the beginning so I got to practice opening and closing my elbow joints. The first 12 minutes or so were alternating 5 minutes or so at the “walk” alternating with a minute or so of posting. When walking I threw in some 2-point work, still walking. Then I picked up the stirrups, alternating walking with “trying to get my darn seat bones out of the saddle” 2-point while still walking.
I was hoping to make it to half an hour but I was just so, so tired at 21 minutes I gave up. It was pretty hard for me to dismount today but I finally got off. My husband told me my balance was not too horrible today during all the movement.
One of the big differences between riding the HH and a live horse is that on a horse, when halted, his back remains STILL and I can rest. On the HH the saddle rarely stops moving as I lose and regain my balance so my muscles do not get to rest in the middle of the session. Yes, it tones up my core muscles more than just sitting still on a non-moving horse but my body misses those short breaks where everything stays STILL.
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So glad you at least got a workout in today. That is a good thing.
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I did NOT ride my Home Horse today.
I am having a colonoscopy tomorrow. I figured I NEEDED to rest today.
Maybe I will be feeling well enough to get my lesson on Wednesday.
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Good luck with the test and hope you can ride Weds.
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I got my lesson today. On the way over it started sprinkling pretty good, luckily Debbie agrees with me that hunt seat riders do not melt in the drizzle (or the rain if it starts to rain harder during the lesson.)
I was not much help grooming. I did use the Posture Prep tool on his back and the top of his croup alternating with the StripHair tool to get the loose hair off of his back. He appreciated it, today I got TWO “sneak” nuzzles as I walked by his head. I call them sneak nuzzles as he mostly does them when I am not facing his head, I just feel his muzzle gently grazing my back. After that I could not do more and Debbie told me to sit down in the chair while she finished grooming him and tacking him up. MJ had not been ridden or groomed for two weeks and he was enjoying his grooming more than usual. I guess all the shedding hair gets itchy. He ended up looking very pleased with all the attention.
I was lucky, it stopped sprinkling. There were cut up portions of the ring (wet sand holds hoof marks and their puddles) I had to avoid but since I just walked MJ I did not have problems avoiding them.
MJ’s back felt stiff, I kept up in 2-point as long as I could and when I had to sit down in the saddle I told MJ that my lower back probably hurt as much as his did. He was not impressed, and I just could not get him to extend his walk at all. This often happens when I am really tired, I just do not have the oomph and energy to inspire him to extend his stride.
Debbie told me that when her grandson rode one of her hairy ponies the pony misbehaved. Her grandson thought it was great fun! I remarked that boys are often much bolder than girls and like the excitement (I have 2 sons and grandsons, I speak from some level of experience.) Debbie was excited about this, he is her first male descendant and she is hoping he will become a rider like all her female descendants. In a few years he should be able to compete without many problems, boldness can often get a horse and rider out of a jam much better than sucking back and being fearful.
I made it 33 minutes today. I was able to mount properly from the mounting block as in my right foot stayed above his croup. I was also able to dismount without calling my husband into the ring, Debbie did have to guide my right foot to the top step of the 3 step mounting block and steady me as I went down the steps, but I got off without dragging my right foot over his croup. When I looked down from his back to the top step of the mounting block it looked SO FAR DOWN, I really needed Debbie guiding my foot.
I had a little interruption from Debbie’s attention when she was reading a thing that one of her granddaughters wrote in response to other girls that seem to be getting jealous of her success. She wrote that if they want their horses to improve they cannot do it just riding twice a week, that she rode EVERY DAY, often on multiple horses and ponies, works hard at the stable, training horses and teaching lessons, and it was her hard work that led to her success.
Debbie’s granddaughter is one of the finest non-adult riders I’ve ever seen. Every time she takes a horse around a course in the ring it is a thing of true beauty. Her mount arrives at the jump at exactly the right place for a good jump, at exactly the right speed, and you never can see the aids she gives the horse, in fact her mount acts like it is all that horse’s idea and the girl is just up on her back, and this is on a lesson horse whose main job is up-and-down lessons. I have told all of them that Addison doing a jumping course is a thing of true beauty. I have never been as good a rider as this girl, and I told her if I had a show hunter I would get down on my knees to beg her to ride my horse in a hunter or jumper class (because I would like my horse to win AND enjoy the class.)
So I had a so-so ride on an elderly lesson horse who basically “told me” that I was just not good enough today to get him to really stride out. I don’t blame the horse, he was just telling me the truth.
I am still tired, but it was WONDERFUL to ride a real live horse!
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Shannon could not come out today so my DH helped me on my Home Horse. I only made it 14 minutes but I worked pretty hard.
Today I discovered if I got to place my hands on certain areas of my HH before my husband uses the same place to put his hands it was so much easier for me to get on and off the HH (the key was to put my hand lightly on the “pommel” of the HH, then pull up some while my left heel is on the floor with the ball of my foot weighing down the left side of the HH platform. That lowers the cantle enough so my right leg can easily clear it.
The first seven minutes I had my feet flat on the platform. I have to look down to make sure that my toes on on the correct place on the platform, which results in the HH yawing a lot and it took me a minute or so to get it to stay relatively stable under me. I walked, both with my seat in the saddle and up in 2-point. Since it greatly disturbs my balance to look at my watch I went back to counting my “strides” at the trot, and I made it up to 25 “strides” posting. Through all of this my DH told me I stayed relatively balanced.
Then I moved my saddle back and picked up my stirrups. More walking both sitting in the saddle and in 2-point with me staying in balance from side-to-side while I was definitely putting too much weight on the forehand. I went back to keeping my balance both sitting and in 2-point. trying to keep my weight centered in the saddle. Then I got truly ambitious, I decided I would never get enough strength in my legs if I neglected posting while using my stirrups, so I tried posting again, trying to keep my weight sort of centered. I just could not get my seat bones completely out of the saddle, but I did get the weight off of my seat bones so they were just touching the saddle lightly. This got me really tired!
I have been too tired from all the doctor office visits and procedures to study Horse Anatomy effectively. I am back to enjoying comparing the different drawings of the equine scapula for a few minutes a day.
Something that is sort of interesting. I had been considering buying some of the Transcend bitless “double” bridles for just-in-case my hands deteriorate too much for keeping contact with the horse. I was excited at first, then my brain kept on putting up scenarios of me plodding around the ring totally bored out of my skull because I could not have my wonderful conversations with the horse’s mouth and tongue.
Then Fager came out with leather bits. Oh me, oh my, another possible solution to my problems. Since now I am using a Weymouth curb wider than the bridoon (following advice from Fager) I am going to try to use the “fixed cheek” Fager 125 mm leather bit with my 135 mm Fager Victoria Weymouth curb on my double bridle as my bridoon. If I continue with this will be completely up to MJ, if he does not like it as a bridoon I can always use it by itself on my snaffle bridle.
I had decided to use my present bridoon, the Fager Alicia (sp?) because I wanted to inspire MJ to use his tongue more. MJ is now talking to me with his tongue so I want to see if I can also encourage him to reach out more to take contact with the bridoon. I am getting the impression from MJ that he might consider my present bridoon as too “busy” in his mouth. I had considered a mullen mouth bridoon but I just could not get excited over that idea.
May my leather bit be the one that MJ likes for a bridoon.
On the Fager site I found another bit I had been considering for a while, the multi-link mouthpiece Wilma with Baucher cheeks on sale! I bought it too.
I am EXCITED thinking about using these bits. I never got really excited about using the bitless double bridle after the first 10 minutes of reading about it.
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I like how you think through the process of how the bits would work and if they would be good for the horse. I hope these bits work well for you!
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I got my lesson today on MJ. I mostly walked, the one time Debbie asked me to trot I could only go maybe 3 strides because all the muscles in my lower back started spasming painfully.
When I asked MJ to go back to the walk he was fine with it. I think he had problems over his lumbar vertebrae and sacrum too today.
When I was telling Debbie the latest from the Forum here she told me that she looked forward to my lessons because I often tell her interesting stuff she can use for her other riders. I told her I KNEW she was too busy to read the equitation books and when she gets on the computer she is busy answering e-mail–no time to come on here!
My “job” is to read the equitation books and the Forum here and pick out the knowledge that I think that she can use to help her students become better riders.
So both of us humans enjoy my lessons. I don’t know if MJ or the other horses actually “enjoy” my rides but they do appreciate my properly timed aids, my refusal to block the action of the muscles on their backs and my kind hand with their mouths.
I did make it 30 minutes today.
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Glad you got to ride!
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My lower back spasms continue.
I am so thankful I invested in the far infra-red clothes for myself.
With the Incrediwear body sleeve, the BOT back brace and the Fenwick shorts that cover my lower back I can get around pretty well and I don’t hurt too much.
Hopefully Shannon can come by tomorrow. There will be no way that I can ride my Home Horse without all this stuff on to help my back. EVERY horse I’ve ridden with any of this type of stuff on has “told” me to just forget about having good contact, the horses’ tongues just do not want to participate, and all the feeling I get is the horse sucking back. So I obviously need to practice on the HH to see if I can find my balance.
I have a feeling that I will be wearing this stuff for my next lesson on MJ. I am so glad that I train the horses to listen to me even when they are on loose reins, because with the double bridle we will get experience next week on how to interpret aids when I am very imperfect and unable to keep a steady hand for contact. Yep, sagging reins will be the way to go, with hopefully well timed tweaks of my fingers.
My back being so bad is from the drunk driver, slumped on the floor, losing control of his car so it crashed into mine. I was unable to ride for years because of how it made my lower back hurt so, so bad. I did not know about the BOT type stuff back then, and it took years of me wearing my BOT back brace everyday at home before my lower back stopped bothering me all the time.
Now it is from all the medical stuff I’ve been through lately, the cataract surgeries, the root canals, and the last on, the colonoscopy, plus having to ride in the car for hours for each procedure, all adding together until my back muscles went into spasm when I moved wrong. Lying flat on my back for hours is NOT GOOD for my back.
And of course this is happening just as the summer heat arrives.
It will be “interesting” for me and the horse.
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Back problems are awful! I hope you feel better soon!
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Shannon could not come out today, she is on medicine for something and did not want to risk driving on it.
I do not sleep with the far-infrared stuff on my back. I woke up with my back feeling pretty good, with only some really minor warning twinges. I put my layers of the far-infrared stuff, base layer of the Incrediwear body sleeve, then my Fenwick shorts, then my BOT back brace with a Fenwick horse leg wrap folded into the pocket next to my body, plus my Fenwick T-shirt on top.
Right now my back feels pretty good, considering.
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Maybe you can ride this week!
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I did get my lesson today, yeah!
However my body was NOT cooperating with me. My lower back has been spasming sporadically since my lesson last week, and I have been wearing my BOT back brace a lot, usually 24 hours a day/night. I have not been wearing the BOT type stuff while riding because the horses have “told” me that it messes up my riding, especially contact.
So I decided that this would be an ideal week to see if MJ thought my new Fager Adam leather snaffle is gentle enough so I could keep contact even if I wore my BOT back brace while riding him. I put it on my extra Micklem “clone” bridle, Debbie found my soft leather notched reins I had lent her a long time ago, and I was all set. Since my “guestimate” of the size was off MJ did not like the bit at first until Debbie got it sitting right in his mouth, then he had the walk to the ring to mull it over in his mind.
I had no problems getting him to pick up contact, my problems came from the fact that since the bit was not metal he did not really have to take it seriously. I had to “retrain” him to halt, going from my usual “more sophisticated” alternating tweaks of my little fingers to what he originally learned decades ago, using the direct rein of opposition on both reins at the same time. His response to my usual halting aids I’ve been using with him for YEARS was HUH???
He was pretty good with the usual gradual turns until it came to moving away from the gate. An opening rein combined with my outside lower legs or using my inside upper thigh reminded him of the proper response. He got better with all of this as the lesson went on.
His first turn on the hindquarters was wonderful, he responded to my aids immediately, he kept his hind feet moving in a smaller circle without trying to roam off, and I was very pleased with him.
I had tried a titanium Mullen mouth bit on him once before, and on that bit his contact was much worse than it was today, and he leaned on the metal bit while I was trying to convince him to listen to me. Officially I do not like riding with a metal Mullen mouth bit, the horses tell me I just cannot keep my hands even enough not to irritate them. Today I had no problem with this, the leather bit was flexible enough in his mouth so it did not get wedged in his mouth at an angle. His mouth was much more responsive with the leather bit, and he did not lean on it for more than a second.
Halfway through the lesson Debbie took his Smart Therapy exercise sheet off, and at the same time I took my BOT back brace off. I managed to do several “rider’s push-ups” with only a twinge or two from my back. I did not try trotting, maybe next week if my lower back stops twinging every time I move and I do not have to wear my BOT back brace while riding.
It will probably take me another lesson or two to get MJ to consider his new leather bit as something to take as seriously as a metal bit. When we get there I would like to try it as a bridoon on the double bridle if his mouth has enough room for two 14mm thick bits.
I got better contact today even with my problems than I have with the titanium snaffles lately. I’ve gotten the feeling as the weather warms up that MJ thinks his titanium double jointed bridoon with a roller in the center jangles too much in his mouth, making him a little bit reluctant to take good contact with it. I did not get that feeling from him today, there was nothing to jangle in his mouth and he was a bit happier.
Hurrah!!! Maybe, just maybe, this leather bit is gentle enough and stable enough in the horse’s mouth so I won’t be forced to go bitless or ride with the bits using sagging reins (no contact) when my MS symptoms get worse in the heat.
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Im glad you got to ride! Interesting about the bit too. Hope your back feels better!
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Oh my. The drug I am on for my MS, Dronabinol, is in short supply, the pharmacies cannot get it (mail order and local) and they do not know when it will become available again.
I have cut down my daily intake to 1/3 of my daily dose to try and stretch it out, and there is no promise that it will be available when I run out.
I have tried several of the modern drugs for MS. They ALL made my MS symptoms worse, plus the suicidal depressions that some of these drugs cause, and the last one which sounded promising both made my symptoms a lot worse and some moles on my skin were obviously turning cancerous. I got off that drug and the moles on my skin returned to normal.
Luckily thirty years ago when I learned I have MS I developed a herbal regime that seems to help my MS symptoms. I will probably start by increasing my Bilberry, the first herb I tried that seemed to calm my central nervous system down, somewhat.
I have my far-infrared radiation clothes and gear that help a good bit with my pain. Right now I am so glad I invested in this stuff, because I will probably need to use it more and more.
I also have some homeopathic remedies that have helped me in the past. The problem with the homeopathic remedies is that a person CANNOT take them all the time, if a person tries either the remedy stops working, or even worse it can cause the symptoms to come back big time. I have been reserving these for exacerbations.
I will go on riding horses, luckily my riding teachers have SEEN how riding can improve my MS symptoms and my ability to walk on my own feet. I am so glad, glad, glad that I invested in the Fager Adam leather snaffle because it did not seem to bother MJ at all, to the point he ignored it at first. I had to go back to the ABCs with him when I used it.
@NaturallyHappy I will look into the “liquid gold”.
I just looked up homeopathic gold–Aurum metallicum, and I will also probably be experimenting with this if the other remedies that have worked for me do not work for some reason (Piper methysticum (homeopathic Kava Kava), Argentum nitricum (nitrate of silver) and Conium maculatum (poison hemlock) which I usually rely upon to stop a suicidal depression. All of these in the 30C dilutions.)
So I may not be posting about progress, I will be posting on trying to keep the physical abilities I have right now.
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