I’m so glad you got to ride!
Rebecca
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Cinnabar sounds like a sweetie. Glad you were able to ride!
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Happy to hear you had a good ride on Cinnabar. He sounds like one in a million!
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Shannon came by today so I got to ride on my HH. Since the last time I looked at the weather forecast for Wednesday it is supposed to be raining it looks like all my time in the saddle this week will be on my HH.
I made it longer today, 17 minutes. I am still feeling too unsteady and weak to pick up the stirrups so my feet stayed on the HH platform.
I did several sessions of walking with my butt in the saddle and one session walking in 2-point. I also posted for 10 strides 3-4 times.
I am TIRED but at least I got into my wonderful PDN saddle today. I wish they still made saddles like that!
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Glad you got your new saddle! Rest up!
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I was supposed to get my riding lesson today.
But it rained sporadically through the night and it was raining this morning, a cold rain with a bitterly cold breeze. I called Debbie and she was not surprised at all.
So my DH helped me ride my wonderful, always there Home Horse.
I lasted for 17 minutes just like I did last Sunday but I was a bit more active in the saddle. Instead of doing 10 strides of the walk or trot I did 20 strides at a time. Instead of staying up in 2-point for a count of 10 I stayed up for a count of 20 both standing and at the walk.
I am TIRED and I earned it today. I had dreams of making it for 30 minutes but my body is not there yet.
It seems like little stuff can bring me down and each time it takes me more work to regain the fitness I had before the cold-flu-whatever is going around got me.
Next week I hope to ride a horse again. I do not know what I would do without my Home Horse letting me exercise some of my riding muscles when I cannot ride a horse.
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Do you have a name for your home horse? I would give it a name if I had one!
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I have not named my HH. I thought of it but something in my my mind did not want to.
Shannon could not come out today so my DH helped me ride my HH. I am getting better and better with balancing from side-to-side, I just wish I did not feel unbalance when the bubble balance says I am perfect.
I lasted 15 minutes today. I was not quite as ambitious today, I mostly limited myself to 10 “strides”. Doing the walk in 2-point was the most tiring thing I did today, even more tiring than posting for 10 strides. One set I posted 20 strides and that made me really tired.
Winter is coming back in full force this week. On Wednesday it is supposed to be raining, later turning to ice/sleet and snow.
When I saw the forecast for Wednesday I remembered when my horses lived with me and snow was coming the horses would all go into a very expressive feeding frenzy, so in a way I am glad it will be raining in the morning. My horses were more accurate than the weather forecasters, sometimes they would go into a feeding frenzy when no snow was predicted. My horses were right, the forecast was inaccurate.
Thursday night the low will be 12 F.
It is winter, and this winter I am not getting to ride a real live horse very much. Thank goodness for my Home Horse!
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I am glad you have your home horse! With weather like this I always say I will not complain about the heat but I always do. Stay warm!
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Is your house insulated well enough for temperatures that low? My first year in South Carolina, we had a low of 17 F, and I was shocked that my pipes froze. I was used to Colorado construction, where I’d never had a frozen pipe in spite of sometimes getting to 15 below. Also, our heat pump was pretty useless when it got that cold. We’re going to go below zero tonight, and I don’t worry about my pipes here in Colorado. I’m so glad to be back here even though I’m pretty tired of winter weather.
Rebecca
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We keep our inside water running when it gets into the lower twenties on down, just a drip at firsts, if it gets into the single digits we leave the water running in a thin stream. Since we have 5 sinks and 2 bathtubs it all seems to work.
I live in my Far Infra-red Radiation clothes and use my F.I.R. blankets when it gets cold in the winter. I never dealt that well with the cold even when I was young (from living in South America during grade school) and now that I am old I just do not do well in the cold. The BOT and Fenwick clothes and blankets keep me warm and they prevent the cold from killing me (we have a heat pump, it gets cold in the house.) At night during the winter I wrap myself up in a cocoon of FIR fabrics and luxuriate in feeling warm!
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It snowed some yesterday morning. I had cancelled my riding lesson because I remembered the very expressive feeding frenzies my horses displayed whenever snow was coming, even when the weather forecasters had not predicted the snow.
So my DH helped me ride my HH. I lasted for around 20 minutes.
I got bored so I decided to see what the HH would do when I did the indirect rein in front of the withers and the indirect rein behind the withers.
When I did the indirect rein in front of the withers the HH started leaning to the other side a good bit. Yes, this rein has effects on your horse’s balance in front. I tried it on both sides with the same results. Now I was not as subtle as I am when riding a horse but this convinced me that this type of rein aid WILL affect the side-to-side balance of the horse’s forehand.
The effect of the indirect rein to the rear of the withers was MUCH more subtle. If I paid close attention it felt like the opposite hind leg would get weighted…
Just thought you all might be interested in this. Hopefully I will be able to discuss this with Shannon on Sunday and see what she says when I try it again.
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Good job on the 20 minute ride! Hopefully next week will have nicer weather.
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Shannon came by today so I got to ride my Home Horse.
Today I lasted 23 minutes.
I started off pretty vigorously. First I did 10 strides of the walk, a slow count to 10 in 2-point, and I posted for 10 strides. Then I got more ambitious, I walked 20 strides several times, kept up in 2-point for a slow count to 20 once, kept up in 2-point for a slow count to 20, posted for 20 strides twice and I did two circles, one in each direction.
Then I had Shannon watch the bubble balance while I did the indirect rein in front of the withers (well, sort of, I imagined withers on my HH.) Shannon watched the bubble balance and could see me and the HH definitely shift to the other side. Then I tried the indirect rein behind the imagined withers and Shannon said it had a very subtle effect, much less than the indirect rein in front of the withers, of to the “rear leg” on the other side.
The reins were in my hands for most of this, opening and closing my elbows at the proper time in the stride
I am really tired after all of this. At least I got into a saddle today and worked my riding muscles.
Wednesday looks promising for my riding lesson. I think that Cinnabar may be warming up to me, or at least to me using my Posture Prep tool on his back and all the Far Infra-red stuff I put on him. I WANT the horses to welcome me riding them even if they are “just” lesson horses!
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Good workout! I hope you get to ride Wednesday!
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I had my riding lesson today. I lasted 36 minutes!
I had been getting sort of bored with my lessons, so I took 2 bridles (my double bridle and a snaffle bridle with the Fager Wilma loose ring Baucher snaffle) and I also took my Resona Vibe PEMF doodad with the holder that goes around the horse’s neck with me.
Debbie let me use both new things.
Cinnabar did not really like the new bit. He was good (no head flinging or mouth gaping) but when I tried to take contact at the walk he went behind the vertical. He obeyed my rein aids but Debbie said she noticed with one of his recent lessons that he did not like a rider with unsteady hands. So, note to myself, Cinnabar prefers some stability in his mouth. He was happy to walk around with sagging reins. Next week I will go back to using my double bridle.
I like to occasionally change a horse’s bit just to keep them from being bored, but I always tend to go back to the double bridle because the horses seem to prefer it to a simple snaffle bridle.
I put the Vibe on the tendonitis setting since Debbie told me that a few years ago he had strained his hamstring on a trail ride. I put it on him and he did not get the full 1 hr 40 minutes on it. He started off with paying more attention to what was around him and he looked a lot more alert to me with open, calm and interested eyes.
The first time I asked him to extend his walk he gave me his usual half-hearted attempt. The second try he did extend somewhat. The third time he gave me a MUCH better walk, I think he got up to 3 MPH! Interestingly he gave me a freer walk going away from the gate than toward the gate, so the Resona Vibe did some good.
The true test was with backing Cinnabar up. My first try he stood still (hey, he had a new bit in his mouth.) The second try I could feel him shifting his weight, alternately, on both grounded hooves. The third try he shifted his weight on his left hoof, then his right hoof, then he actually picked his right hoof off the ground and gave me a step back!!!
Both Debbie and I were very pleased with this. Ever since he strained his hamstring he has been very resistant to backing up. I will patiently try adding maybe another step next time, maybe I will luck out and get a full stride backing up.
IF he continues to improve his speed at a walk with the Vibe machine then I will eventually add the three speeds of the walk to our lessons. I have been very hesitant to ask him for an even slower walk than his usual 2 MPH walk since I want to feel some difference in his gait for the 3 speed exercise. Debbie then showed me a picture on her phone of Cinnabar during one of the competitive trail rides where he was STRIDING OUT at a trot, so if I stay patient and increase my demands gradually I should be able to consistently get a better walk out of him, eventually.
Debbie kept getting after me to get after Cinnabar with my crop, but I am trying to inspire him to cheerfully obey my desire for a faster walk. I can use a crop on him (well actually I am hitting my half-chaps) but he tends to suck back and raise his head some. I prefer a more “voluntary” improvement in his movement because when the horse cheerfully agrees to obey my regular aids I get a much better ride and he keeps his head down where it belongs instead of raising it to glare at me out of the corner of his eye for daring to insist, so rudely, on total obedience whether he feels up to it or not.
Riding a horse is so much better than riding my Home Horse!
Debbie said my riding was pretty good today, my lower legs stayed in place, my side to side balance was good, and my position was good. It is good to know that I am not wasting my time on the Home Horse.
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What a good boy Cinnabar is!
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You go, girl! You are an inspiration for me💗.
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And me! It gives me hope that I might someday be able to ride again
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The Resona Vibe is very useful.
My body was really wrung out after my lesson. I had to walk VERY SLOWLY, leaning on my canes heavily, to walk back to the barn.
My right hand, where my thumb meets the rest of my hand, hurt so bad Wednesday night I just could not sleep. The BOT and Fenwick stuff did not help and I finally had to put Aspercreme with novacaine on it.
Yesterday I used the Vibe myself on the same tendon setting I used on Cinnabar since my hand still really hurt when I woke up. The Vibe worked for me, the Vibe worked for Cinnabar, I think that the Vibe is worth all the money I spent on it. Not total perfection but I do not feel any need for pain medicine.
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