Shannon was busy with her grandchildren today so DH helped me ride my Home Horse.
I lasted 15 minutes. I started out ambitiously, doing 25 “strides” of the walk and posting trot instead of just 10 strides.
As always this got me tired, resulting in a 3 hour nap.
I love having my HH, at least I can “ride” in a saddle.
I got my lesson at Debbie’s today on Splash. Today I made it around 27 minutes.
HOT. HUMID. At least today there was a little breeze. In spite of my technical fabric riding clothes, ventilated half-chaps, ice vest and stronger neck fan I was hot, sweaty and miserable.
Splash “told” me that this was another day that was not fit for man or beast.
I just walked both seated and in 2-point. I did some of the “rider’s push-ups”. I wore out my legs asking Splash to extend her stride a tiny bit, and she finally started giving me some more decent walks.
I had changed back to using the Fager Adam leather snaffle as my bridoon. All of Splash’s bit issues disappeared even when I backed up (and Splash did NOT want to back up.)
Unfortunately, in one of the small grass paddocks, Debbie’s youngest grand-daughter fell off her pony, a rather short pony. She was comforted and put back in the saddle. This was her first fall off a horse (pony).
Today Splash totally approved of stopping and just standing in the breeze. She did not feel right to me, and her left hind leg felt iffy rather high up, like stifle to croup high. I told Debbie and fortunately Debbie will listen to me when I tell her one of her lesson horses don’t feel quite right. Splash will be getting a PEMF treatment with the tubes which have a temporary home at Debbie’s stable while the usual PEMF tube treatment lady has a well deserved vacation.
I will try to be more active in the saddle on Sunday on my Home Horse in the air-conditioning at home out of the sun.
Today I just felt melted in the saddle. Poor Splash had to put up with me literally dragging my right foot over her loin when I dismounted. At least with the Fly Rider sheet her back had some protection from my foot. I was ashamed, but Splash stayed standing still and calm.
Next week Debbie has summer camp at her stable. Normally I hate having to miss one of my lessons but it has been so hot and humid this year I sort of feel relief that I won’t be getting out in the summer heat next week to ride a horse.
I hope Splash is ok. Glad you got to ride even if the weather was miserable.
No Home Horse work today, I have both sons and both grandsons in my house, yeah!
I did want to mention a recent off saddle success. Over 40 years ago a drunk driver passed out behind the wheel and his big American car hit my little Ford Escort and I had whiplash and my neck has been hurting ever since.
All I have tried for my neck helped some, the Far Infra-red Radiation gear and my neck collars help somewhat with my neck pain but I’ve ended up wearing the FIR stuff 24-7-365 and most days I have had to wear my neck collar for hours every day and I have to wear it to sleep at night.
Since the threat of tariffs I got busy on-line trying to buy Chinese stuff based on sort of odd oriental medical practices, especially when I developed plantar fasciitis in both feet. I’ve bought a lot of stuff that has helped me, it has even helped my neck pain–some.
I had noticed this really odd looking tool, a rather long S shape with projections. When I had finally gotten all the Chinese stuff that looked helpful I finally looked at this odd looking tool, the Body Back Buddy Elite (at [https://www.bodyback.com].) While not as cheap as the Chinese stuff I ended up ordering it since it was less that $40.00 US.
I tried this tool on my neck. Since I’ve started using it daily a week ago my neck pain has improved beyond my wildest dreams. Too of the knobs on it are for the neck, following the directions I pressed them firmly against my neck for the recommended time–30 seconds.
I still know my neck and occipital bone are there but I no longer feel like I have a tight steel band around the base of my skull digging in painfully. I am wearing my neck collar a lot less, I can go for hours without needing my FIR neck gear, and I never dreamed that just 30 seconds a day could deliver such good results. This piece of gear, using the knobs for my back, has also helped a lot when my back bothers me.
I do not know if this will improve my riding or riding fitness but after having pretty constant neck pain for 40 years I am hopeful, very hopeful, that the improvement will continue. Being able to deal effectively with my back pain after riding is priceless.
30 seconds, every 24 to 48 hours, and I no longer feel that my only hope to get rid of the pain would be cutting my head off.
Maybe this took could help some of you and your pains. It is worthy of a look, and it is not terribly expensive to try it.
Who knows, if my neck pain continues to improve it may help me get riding fit without a lot of extra physical work on my part. So far today my neck has not been hurting even though I did not use the tool. I will probably have to use it later but this is a HUGE change in my life.
I am glad you found something to help relieve your pain! Enjoy your day with your family!
Hi there! Just checking in…I may look into that tool!
Hi, if you get it I recommend starting with a light pressure. Doing it this way the initial results seemed minimal but later in the day I realized that my neck had stopped hurting.
Most days since I started using this I use my Fenwick and BOT neck gear a lot less during the day, which is really nice during this heat wave.
Shannon came by yesterday. I rode my HH 20 minutes, 9 minutes with my feet on the platform and 11 minutes with my feet in the stirrups. The same old grind, walking, 2-point and posting.
Today I made myself HAPPY. Ever since my current lesson horse Splash emphatically told me that my Fager Alice 3-piece titanium bridoon with a center roller was not suitable for keeping contact I have been using my Fager Adam leather bit as my bridoon.
I MIGHT get to ride an Arabian mare for my lessons soon. I do not know her mouth size yet but it looks less than Splash’s 5" mouth so I decided I needed smaller leather “mullen mouth” bits. Unfortunately Fager does not make a smaller leather snaffle bit.
So I went on Etsy to Sweet Billy’s Bits and ordered a 4 3/4" and a 4 1/2" rounded mouthpiece O-ring snaffles.
When I get these I will be able to ride the Arab mare in a double bridle and not drive her crazy.
This year the heat is definitely affecting my hands, therefore I have to use bits that are gentler and more stable in the horse’s mouth. My lesson horse has spoken and I have obeyed the sweet mare because lesson horses tend to always be right about a rider’s hands.
I hope you get to ride the Arabian soon!
I WAS supposed to get a lesson today.
But it rained last night and it was still sprinkling this morning.
Debbie called, said the main ring was too wet but I could ride in the 2nd ring. Well the last few days I was wondering if I should try riding in the heat and humidity and sort of set it up in my mind that if Debbie called I would go ahead and cancel. Believe it or not the heat is affecting me some even though I am in air-conditioning all the time, my balance is way off and my own walk is not pretty right now.
So DH helped me on my Home Horse. I was swaying every which way and it took me a while before I got into balance, for a very short while. I lasted 15 minutes, the first part with my feet on the platform and the rest with my feet in the stirrups. My lack of balance made my HH ride slightly exciting, in a not so great way.
On the better news front I found the “Acupressure Head Wrap” on the Walmart site, 2 for under $10 US. The headbands have one row of the Acupressure spiked “coins” and a Velcro closure. I HAVE NOT HAD TO USE THE BOT OR FENWICK THERAPY STUFF FOR MY NECK SINCE I GOT THEM. This is really nice in the heat since I am not adding any extra heat to my body.
In fact I have not had to use ANY of the BOT or Fenwick stuff during the day since I started using these headbands.
I have one around my neck and one put on like a headband covering my forehead and slanting back to just above my occiput and over my hair. Those are the only pieces of therapeutic gear I have needed during the day since I got them.
This is a big change for me since I have been wearing multiple pieces of the F.I.R. therapy gear every day for years except for when I am in the saddle on horseback or on my HH.
It took me over 40 years to finally find an effective treatment for my 24/7/365 neck aches from my car wreck. It has even worked for my “weather forecasting pains” in my neck when rainstorms are approaching.
I do use my BOT and Fenwick stuff for sleeping still.
I seem to have more trouble with mobility when it’s hot, even when I don’t leave my air conditioned house. It seems weird to me, but it’s been pretty obvious.
Another possible benefit for me from the acupressure head/neck bands.
I did not notice this until I took them off. My sense of balance while walking on my own two feet seems to be improved. I feel normal-for-me when I have them on, and when they are off my recent balance problems while walking come back. In other words when I use them I can feel safe walking with just one cane, not two as has been my new normal lately.
I hope that this lasts. My worsening balance has been causing angst for me.
I had my lesson today. I told Debbie that I probably should not have come out, mostly as a warning that I would not be able to do much today.
For the first time Splash actually showed signs of LIKING ME!!! Those wonderful little nuzzles where the horse stretches out that extra 1/2" and ever so gently touches me with her muzzle. I have been waiting on this, any sign that she finds me acceptable as a rider.
I lasted 25 minutes before the heat and humidity got to me. I quit while I was still able to get my right thigh over the cantle of the saddle, barely but I dragged it over while Splash stood there patiently as my right foot dragged over her spine.
I just walked, did some 2-point at the walk, and I did some “rider’s push-ups”. Splash strode off a bit when Debbie walked in front of her, Splash is fine with extending a little if it means that she can catch up with Debbie.
Hot. Humid. Sticky, sticky weather. Debbie’s shirt was soaked with sweat.
At least I got up on a horse even though I probably should have stayed in the air-conditioning.
I had my lesson yesterday. I lasted a full 30 minutes!!!
Lately, in my quest to get more riding fit and finally buying enough therapy stuff so I can do a significant (for me) amount of extra work, I’ve added two 30 minute sessions of walking and/or standing on various surfaces developed for plantar fasciitis work. I now have 6 different surfaces I can walk &/or stand on, three different slippers (Shiatsu, pebble and rotating button) and three different mats to stand or walk on (Rongde rubber “stone” mat, the plastic multi-colored “pebbles” mat and acupressure mats with the “rosettes” of sharply pointed plastic barbs.) The last two are just too painful for me to walk on so I just stand or sit and press the soles of my feet on them for 5 minutes, on the Rongde mat I shift from foot to foot since it is too short to walk on.
I walk on the first two sandals for 5 minutes each, the last sandal is the most painful and I walk a few steps then just stand.
Doing this I have lost 5 pounds, the muscles of my “hindquarters” are getting exercised more including my butt muscles and I have been able to ride a lesson horse and my Home Horse for 30 minutes a session without ending up being totally exhausted 20 minutes into my ride.
My long term goal with this stuff is to get my feet so that I would be able to walk sort of comfortably barefoot outside on my land. It may take me the rest of my life to get to that point, but I needed a goal to work toward.
Looking forward to riding a pure Egyptian Arabian mare relatively soon (happiness!!!) I decided to get her some leather snaffle bits. She has a small mouth, 4 1/2". It has literally been decades since I rode horses with 4 1/2" wide mouths, but fortunately I kept my bits or moved them on to Debbie’s for her to use. Debbie and them tried several of the bits in their bit library, and Stella selected a 4 1/2" wide Dr. Bristol egg-butt snaffle that I bought for one of my horses many decades ago when it was rare to find a 4 1/2" wide snaffle bit much less a 4 1/2" double jointed snaffle. A tack store owner found it listed in one of her catalogues and I special ordered it.
I already have a 5" Fager Adam leather fixed ring bit (expensive) and I decided to go to the Sweet Billy’s bit site on Etsy. I ordered a 4 1/2" and 4 3/4" loose ring leather snaffle from them, two of these bits cost the same as one Fager leather bit, and the Sweet Billy’s site has more widths for their bits. I was SO EXCITED when they arrived, but the next day my skin was itching a whole lot all over my body. The only new thing in my life was these bits so I just gave them to Debbie since I had bought them to use on Stella.
Debbie has been introducing Stella to the lesson horse life. Debbie told me that Stella has been inverting on contact. I hope that Stella finds the leather snaffle bits more comfortable than the stainless steel snaffles. Stella and her previous owner had “problems” and I suspect that many of the problems came from Stella never really accepting contact with the bit, probably because of deficiencies of her previous owner’s hands. Stella is 14 years old and I suspect that a lot of her training was hit and miss. Most people, most general horse trainers and most riding teachers just do not realize how LIGHT contact has to be for a lot of Arabians to learn to accept contact with snaffle bits, and most people just do not seem to think that it is IMPORTANT to keep the lightest possible contact with the bit when riding the sensitive mouthed horse.
Anyway during my lesson I walked and walked some more, with some backing up (Splash was much more cooperative with this yesterday), some turns on the forehand, some turns on the hindquarters, nice soft halts, different speeds at the walk, I did not do much because it was so hot and humid and sweat was running down my face.
I am amazed I made if a full 30 minutes.
Once again, you are inspirational. Thank you!
30 minutes is great! Good job!
You motivated me to try a leather bit on my own Arab.
And I thank you on behalf of myself and every horse that passes through your hands.
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