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

[Jackie_Cochran]

Yesterday I go daring, adventurous and ambitious. I rode my HH for 2 minutes instead of one minute. I immediately went back to NEEDING a nap and I slept in this morning yet again, all for ONE additional minute of riding my HH.

Today it was raining so there was no way I could do my Sunday ride. Shannon came by again and this time she brought the dressage saddle I lent/sort of gave to her since I did not like riding in it and I doubt I’ll ever ride dressage. She LOVES this saddle (a Cloister Schonfeld leather dressage saddle made in Germany), she loves the stability it gives her when she rides the horse I thought it would fit, a TWH mare without any rational training who believes in arguing with her rider (after all that worked with the mare’s previous owners.) For Shannon, when she rides in this saddle, the heavens open up and the angels sing. She told me it is the most comfortable saddle she has ever used on a horse. I’m glad she likes riding in it because I most surely prefer my jumping saddles or any jumping saddle so long it fits me and the horse. Anyway if I ever need a dressage saddle or think that it would fit a horse I ride better than my other saddles I know where it is.

I rode “bareback”. Shannon liked having the bubble balance on the front of the HH platform. First I was off to the right, then to the left, then I’d get to center and I’d feel like I was teetering. It was easier to get to center when my right foot was in the equivalent place as my left foot on the platform. The most interesting part of my ride was when I put all my weight on my feet, rising from the seat a tiny bit. Then I was balanced from side to side and front to back. I presume this means that my insole in my right boot was a good idea because it was much harder to get centered when I had my weight just on my feet before I put it in my boot.

I rode the HH for 5 minutes, with a tiny bit of “walking” and three “posts”. I spent around 4-5 minutes in the ASC afterwards. I expect to feel totally exhausted later today, or if it does not hit me today I’ll probably feel exhausted tomorrow around 24 hours later (this has happened to me before.)

Shannon had fun on the HH using her saddle, she experimented with using the stirrups and most of the time was moving the HH with her seat trying to replicate the motion of a horse’s back at the walk. She has better eyesight than I do, she could see the bubble of the balance through the hand-hole in the “pommel” of the HH. I offered to remove the shims I have under the front and the back of the HH platform but she still wants them there while she gets used to riding the HH.

Then Shannon got off and ended up sitting quite happily on the ASC for an extended period of time while we talked. She LIKES sitting on the ASC since she does not like sitting still and she can fidget on the ASC as much as she likes. In a week or so she can buy one and is looking forward to sitting in it when she and her husband watch TV.

[3PonyFarm]

Have you ever tried water aerobics? I imagine besides having access to a pool another possible issue would be a person’s ability to get in and out of the pool.

[Jackie_Cochran]

Man I got exhausted from yesterday. I have to wear a diaper and I wake up many times a night to go pee. Last night I did not wake up for that and when I finally woke up I had flooded my diaper and soaked my under pad that I sleep on for extra insurance against leaks.

Then I overslept this morning for almost an hour and a half.

I think I have figured it out. 5 minutes on the HH, plus 5 min. or so on the ASC, and spending as much time with Shannon as it takes me to drive to the stable, help groom and tack up the horse, walking to and back from the riding ring, and riding the horse for 30 minutes, is MORE exhausting to me than going out to the stable and getting my lesson.

Both sessions end up being around 1 1/2 hours, but riding the horse for 30 minutes does not leave me as exhausted as riding the HH for 5 minutes.

I think my extra exhaustion is because I am using muscles on the HH and ASC that I have not really used in decades. This type of physical reaction is why I am so reluctant to add any new type of exercise to my life, there is an excellent chance that I will end up totally exhausted and that the exhaustion will last a long time, affecting my riding.

I am taking today off from my riding simulators. I think it would be best for me to limit myself to ONE minute for each simulator on the days I don’t ride a horse or I am not collapsed with exhaustion. So far it seems that doing any more than this is a proven recipe for exhaustion even though it seems like I am not doing much at all.

Maybe I should change my “goal” from climbing Mt. Everest from one millimeter a day to one nanometer a day, much slower.

And maybe the equine skin microbiota has something that helps keep me from getting totally exhausted from riding horses because I do not remember ever getting this exhausted from my riding lessons on a real, live horse.

[Jackie_Cochran]

To recover from my Sunday “ride” on my HH I did nothing with either riding simulator the last two days. I took the double bridle extension with reins off of my HH so it gets off its “forehand”.

Today I did 5 minutes bareback on the HH, just sitting there while my husband, watching the bubble balance, told me when I got off center from side-to-side.

I am tired, but not exhausted. I am going to rest, probably all day or most of the day just reclining in bed doing nothing physical. Maybe I will recover faster than before.

I am going to get ambitious on Friday after resting a day. I am going to ask my husband to follow the front to back bubble on the balance as well as the side to side bubble. Since my seat bones felt irritated I will try a folded up Western saddle blanket on Friday. If that does not relieve my seatbones enough I will try my Crosby saddle the next time–Sunday, though I am not planning on putting my feet in the stirrups yet.

First I want to sit for a long while in balance from side-to-side and front-to-back. My body does not FEEL the point of balance, if my husband does not tell me I have no idea that I am in balance. I feel like I am teetering on top of a post.

Maybe if I just sit long enough over enough days doing nothing else my body may learn what it feels like when I am balanced on the HH. I am feeling effects on my core muscles and some in my upper thigh.

Climbing Mt. Everest one nano meter a day three days a week. Do you all think this will be slow enough for me to finally have some progress with my balance?

[NaturallyHappy]

When I ride my HH, I’ve started putting a folder jumper pad on it. It is significantly improves the comfort.

[RMJacobs]

I need a nap just from reading about everything you are doing! As always, I admire your determination.

I approach cycling the same way–baby steps when I need them. I desperately want to restart but have to wait a while yet, while I’m also dreading it because I know the first week is going to be very difficult.

It seems like every time I get up to my mileage goal, I have a medical problem that keeps me off the bike for weeks on end. Oh, well, all the bike lanes are snow covered, there is more snow forecast today and Saturday, and I hate the stationary bike. But at least the stationary bike lets me keep enough muscle so my first time outside is enjoyable. Right now, I’m a marshmallow.

Rebecca

[Jackie_Cochran]

Today I rested from my 5 minute “ride” on the HH yesterday.

Today I noticed my ASC and figured it might be relatively safe for me to sit still on it for–thirty seconds. I am still feeling it around my waist and a few inches above and below. I got a little bit more tired, not enough to need a nap though. The acid test will be if I oversleep tomorrow morning, and how much I oversleep. This morning it was ca. 40 min…

So right now I am doing 25% of what I was doing each session on the simulators right before I entered exhaustion, and cutting “riding” each simulator to every other day. I hope I am cutting back enough so I don’t lose those precious nanometers of progress. These simulators ARE effecting my body in a positive way for riding horses more humanely.

[Jackie_Cochran]

I made a math error yesterday. On my HH now I am doing 20% of what I used to do, on the ASC I am doing 25%.

This morning I asked my husband to also keep an eye on the front-to-back bubble after I finally got centered from side-to-side.

Side-to-side was challenging, at one moment I felt like I was toppling to the right when he finally said the bubble was centered. The more stable the HH felt under me the further off I was to one side or the other. When the bubble centered I felt like I was teetering on the top of a loosely footed post.

Then I asked my husband to also get me centered front-to-back. My balance was WAY back (as a Forward Seat rider I’m hanging my head in shame). At first I moved my seat forward on the HH, it was not enough. Then I made sure that my feet were forward enough on the platform. Better but still not enough. Then I pushed my waist forward while keeping my face vertical and BREATHING and I finally got centered.

Then we worked on me being centered both ways at the same time. When I finally got there I felt no stability. I had to concentrate not to keep my weight on the balls of my feet but on my heels, that was my only hint of stability. Otherwise I was on top of this post just resting on the surface of the ground with my core muscles trying to keep those darn bubbles centered.

I got tired.

[3PonyFarm]

I admire your commitment!

[Jackie_Cochran]

I got to ride at Shannon’s new place today, my first ride on a horse in 10 days. I had not ridden Cider in over 6 months. Cider is well past her days of being the Energizer Bunny because of her arthritis (she is in her mid to late 20s) so I was not worried though I had never ridden her over at Shannon’s new farm.

I changed her pad from a Contender II BOT/ThinLine pad with a center shim to using the Fenwick Western pad that covers her loin with the Far Infra-red fabric, with a ThinLine Trifecta pad with a center shim on top of it. She also had a BOT exercise sheet over her croup. As always I was riding in my Pegasus Butterfly Claudia jumping saddle.

Shannon said that we both did really well. Cider was striding out and her back looked a lot more relaxed, especially when we did a very short trot. She was hardly flinching at all, not at all on the “flat” (the riding area is NOT flat, it is a pasture after all) and just a little bit going down slope. Shannon said that Cider’s back looked a lot more relaxed and that the mare did not look all “bunched up” during our short trot. Cider did not mind it at all the short period when I kept contact with just the curb bit, she did not even move her head.

Shannon said that all my time on the Home Horse had helped me. With my additional insole in my right boot the saddle was not shifting at all (usually I have to re-center it after turns in place or tight curves.) So we saw no need to tighten the girth further, a mistake with this saddle that does not have the regular pommel and solid saddle tree.

But I did not ever feel the need to tighten the girth, not at all. The saddle stayed stable on Cider’s back and I was finding it much easier to keep my balance.

Then, after 30 minutes, I got off. That is when the problems started. I have been having problems getting my right leg over the cantle of the saddle and not hitting the horse’s croup with my right foot. Today it was even harder to do this so I was putting a little bit more weight than usual in my left stirrup trying to clear the cantle. The saddle rolled to the left, it kept on rolling to the left, I ended up on my butt on the ground while Cider looked at me and STOOD STILL! She is such a good mare! My left foot was still in the stirrup so Shannon got it off and helped me stand up. Since this was all in very slow motion I did not get hurt (except for my pride.)

My next ride I better get Shannon or Debbie to check to see if the girth is tight before I get down. Many many years ago I was still able to vault off but one day my body did not work right and my right leg got hung up on the cantle. Luckily the Arab gelding I was riding froze in place until Debbie got to me to help me down. I can no longer vault off the horse, I sure wish I could.

So at home I am starting to lift my right leg out to the side straight and swinging it over an imaginary croup while I lean on the bathroom counter with my hands. It will take me a long while before I will be able to get my right leg reliably high enough so I do not hit the horse’s croup with my foot (usually the horse is wearing one or two butt blankets so they have a little bit of protection from my foot.) And this is something I cannot practice on the Home Horse or the ASC.

Anybody have any other exercises to help me here? Of course I would have to start SLOW and build up gradually. Until my right leg starts moving correctly for dismounting I dare not dismount without someone there to help me. I am sure that tightening the girth one more hole before dismounting will help but the horses probably won’t like it at all. Maybe I should give in and shorten my stirrup leathers another hole just so I can get off the horse.

At least getting tired “riding” the HH is helping my riding some. Shannon said my position was better and that Cider was going better under me.

[RMJacobs]

I’m glad you got to ride, but hope you didn’t hurt yourself hitting the ground.

I’ve had the saddle slip when mounting at a trail ride place, got hung up and the horse took off. Luckily, I had a good handful of mane and more upper body strength than I do these days. I was able to pull myself up enough to kick my boot loose and drop to the ground. Somehow the horse didn’t step on me, although it scared the snot out of me seeing her back feet so close to my face.

My then six year old daughter watched all this happen. So I had to spring up onto my feet and tell her I was OK. We actually went on to ride after this incident.

Since then, I’ve always gotten someone to balance the offside stirrup for me when mounting and dismounting. This was especially important the last few times I rode. I was no longer able to swing my leg over while dismounting. My mare was amazingly forgiving. She would let me drag my leg over, DH would hold the offside stirrup, and I made it to the ground safely.

This mare could be a royal pain (opinionated!), but she seemed to understand my disability and crappy balance, and would center herself under me if I seemed unsteady. I only rode her a few times, but it was nice being able to plonk around our property on her once in a while.

Rebecca

[NaturallyHappy]

I do a pilates exercise that might help. I’ll do my best to explain. I lay on my back in the floor. I lift one leg about 2 inches off of the floor and swing it out as far as possible …now I can do nearly 90 degrees.Then I pull it straight up so it’s perpendicular to the floor…I’m a T, so to speak. My body is the top line and my leg is the up and down line. It really strengthens mh leg and my ability to control it.

[Jackie_Cochran]

Thank you ladies!

@NaturallyHappy, so you are lying on your back, foot 2" up off the floor, then you swing your leg to the side. When you pull your leg up vertically do you return to center first or do it with your leg to the side?

I had some really minor aches and pains this morning, minor as in BOT stuff (sitting on my BOT matress pad, wearing BOT shorts) and putting Traumaheel on the inside of my right shin bone causing most of the minor pain to disappear. I feel my gripping muscles a tiny bit too.

I did around 35 seconds on the ASC and I rode my HH 7 minutes this morning. Ambition can be a cruel driver sometimes. I’ll see how exhausted I get later.

[NaturallyHappy]

Hi! I pull it up while it is still to the side at 90 degrees and return it to the T position. I wish I knew how to explain it better. Initially it was very hard but has gotten significantly easier.

[Jackie_Cochran]

I just tried this exercise @NaturallyHappy.

When I lifted my leg that was to the left side as far as it would go, three or four joints between my vertebrae popped, pop, pop, pop. The same thing happened when I did it with my right leg to the side when I lifted my leg up.

It will take me a while before I will be able to get my leg 90 degrees to the side, a long while.

[NaturallyHappy]

That’s very interesting. Does that mean it might help you align your spine better? My vertebrae in my neck pop when I get it back into position (and I know things are significantly/exponentially more difficult for you so I’m not sure this could even be an analogy) after spasms have distorted it.

[Jackie_Cochran]

I don’t know. However I live in hope. It would be great if the pains I get in the small of my back while riding in 2-point went away completely (though they have improved lately.)

It is supposed to be raining Wednesday morning at my lesson time. Next Sunday we are supposed to get an ICE STORM, so I won’t be able to get out to Shannon’s place and ride and she won’t be able to drive over here for our mutual lessons on the HH.

At least I have the HH with the bubble level and the ASC to keep my riding muscles from dissolving into gruel. And, most importantly, these riding simulators seem to be HELPING me in the saddle on a real live horse. It won’t take long before they completely pay for them selves by riding time, and I pay a lot less for riding and lessons than a lot of people here (AND my riding teacher is the best riding teacher I’ve had my whole life, I am lucky about that!)

I have noticed that just breathing the air around a horse improves my mood (of course) and this helps my body operate properly. The air around a horse has magical qualities that can improve a person’s whole life.

[NaturallyHappy]

You, my friend, are a lesson in graciousness, class, and gratitude.

[Jackie_Cochran]

Today I got my first lesson on the HH from Debbie, my riding teacher. Ever since I got the HH I’ve been trying to get her out to see it, and since it rained all last night and was supposed to rain this morning she agreed to come over to my place and give me a lesson on my HH.

At first I showed her me just sitting on it without the saddle, and my usual problem of leaning too much to the left showed up again. With the bubble balance it was simple for her to gauge just how badly I was weighing it too much to the left. After a few minutes I dismounted and she got on it. Debbie found it interesting to ride, how any rider movement gets the HH moving under the rider, and how we could sort of replicate the walk by moving our seatbones like they move on a horse at a walk.

After a few minutes of her riding it I put the saddle on and I mounted again. Getting on caused the saddle moved off center on the seat of the HH so I had to correct that. Then she had to help me get my feet in the stirrups. I showed how I was trying to do a 2-point position and how I tried to post like I was on a horse. Once again, when the bubble balance showed me centered, I felt like I was leaning to the right a good bit and it felt like my right stirrup was about 2 holes longer than my left stirrup, but I was perfectly centered and my stirrups were level.

We then shortened the stirrup leathers three half holes for Debbie and she mounted the HH with the saddle. She had the same problem with the saddle moving off center on the seat of the HH. Debbie could get her feet into the stirrups without any help and without the HH swaying violently in every direction like it does when I try to put my feet in the stirrups. Debbie just has better balance than I do. Debbie also replicated my problem I had earlier, that when I finally found a point of stability it was because the HH was leaning far back until the rim hit the ground, and when she got her seat forward in the saddle and sat up correctly she was in balance but the HH did not feel as stable under her since it moves with any rider movement, including breathing.

Then I put the double bridle extension on so she could get the feel in her hands. She agreed with me that while it is not exactly like keeping contact with the horse’s mouth it gave her a “live” feel in her hands.

I told her I was starting to save up to get her a HH at the stable. I have missed quite a few lessons over the years because of rain (she does not have an indoor arena), and I told her if she had a HH at the stable I could come out and still get my lesson. She just has to find a space for it (every stall at her place is taken, even the 2 extra stalls they built last year, and her office is crammed full with stuff like a couch, her desk, her personal tack cupboard, the hamper for dirty horse gear, etc.).

Then she started seeing the possibilities. When it rains someone could still come out to the stable and get saddle time in or a lesson. When her group of college kids come out if one more comes than she has a lesson horse for, she could have them ride the HH with someone else spotting this rider while she teaches the other people in the ring. To me this proves that she considers saddle time on the HH to be a partial substitute for dealing with the motion of the horse at a walk (there is no push from the hindlegs to substitute for the horse at a trot.)

She liked having the bubble balance on the base of the HH. She has a few people taking dressage lessons from her and using the HH with the balance she would be able to concentrate on their weaknesses, especially the weaknesses that come from bad balance in the saddle. With the bubble balance she would have PROOF when the rider’s position, posture (looking down) or movements overloaded the horse’s forehand.

With her hunt seat students and riders it would give them something that MOVES under them in reaction to their seat and movements in the saddle. They could also work on their 2-point and posting while not on a horse, and be able to check how their balance would affect a horse.

It will take me around 2-3 months to save up enough money for her HH. To me this is money well spent, I would be able to get a riding lesson even if it was pouring down rain, like today!

[NaturallyHappy]

If she would benefit from it, maybe she would buy it…or at least chip in! OR pay you back when she makes money teaching on it.