This is just a vent. And maybe a question or two.
My partner and I are not exactly teenagers anymore and after maybe 50 years of smoking, he's got pretty bad COPD--bad enough that arena work is now out of the question because of the dust. Which basically means no more cutting and no more reining. Both endeavors kick up a tremendous amount of dust. We were switching over to endurance, largely because McChickenWrangler's posts make it sound really interesting. We had begun some conditioning, both for the horses and ourselves.
Yesterday we rode probably 5 miles. It's really hot here in Alabama and we are in the middle of a drought. It didn't seem dusty but it must have been really dry because we wound up in the ER around 2 am when even the emergency inhaler didn't help. He could NOT catch his breath. (Scared the you-know-what outta me!) Saw the pulmonologist this morning and he confirmed it. No more endurance training/distance riding. The doc doesn't think he should ride at all anymore. His lungs just will not take the stress.
Now I am mad at myself because I'm thinking he pushed himself too hard just to please me. He knows how much I miss running the various reining patterns or cutting a cow or two, neither of which I can do now because of the dust they cause. Even walking into the house with dusty boots and jeans can set off a coughing jag. Yet I cannot give up my horses. I've personally bred every animal out there except the one mare we got from Texas A&M. They are my babies. I've invested probably 50 years of my life into my horses.
Now here comes the question. If I stay out of the arena and do something that does not include any sliding, that would cut way down on the dust factor. Dressage is mostly exercises on the flat, right? Sorta-kinda like a very advanced form of reining? Can it be done on grass (I have a large, relatively-flat grass field nearby). I'm not even remotely considering competition, just looking for something interesting that the horses and I can work on together, something that will challenge us and be interesting to work on.
I figure that as the riding area stresses the grass, I can move it around the field, which is about 5 acres. It's not perfectly flat and smooth like the arena but is still pretty even and fairly cushiony. No rocks or stones, just ankle-deep bermudagrass.
So, do any of you dressage people think this might be doable? Can anyone recommend any good books and videos? I will probably stick with my stock saddle for a bit until I see if this is something that can work for us. If it is, I will likely take the plunge into proper tack, though I will probably continue to ride in my boots and jeans.
Still trying to get my head around everything that is happening and looking for ways to make this work.
To quote Ben Johnson in "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys": "Y'know what the worst part of gettin' old is?..... It's gettin' old."
Rusty
My partner and I are not exactly teenagers anymore and after maybe 50 years of smoking, he's got pretty bad COPD--bad enough that arena work is now out of the question because of the dust. Which basically means no more cutting and no more reining. Both endeavors kick up a tremendous amount of dust. We were switching over to endurance, largely because McChickenWrangler's posts make it sound really interesting. We had begun some conditioning, both for the horses and ourselves.
Yesterday we rode probably 5 miles. It's really hot here in Alabama and we are in the middle of a drought. It didn't seem dusty but it must have been really dry because we wound up in the ER around 2 am when even the emergency inhaler didn't help. He could NOT catch his breath. (Scared the you-know-what outta me!) Saw the pulmonologist this morning and he confirmed it. No more endurance training/distance riding. The doc doesn't think he should ride at all anymore. His lungs just will not take the stress.
Now I am mad at myself because I'm thinking he pushed himself too hard just to please me. He knows how much I miss running the various reining patterns or cutting a cow or two, neither of which I can do now because of the dust they cause. Even walking into the house with dusty boots and jeans can set off a coughing jag. Yet I cannot give up my horses. I've personally bred every animal out there except the one mare we got from Texas A&M. They are my babies. I've invested probably 50 years of my life into my horses.
Now here comes the question. If I stay out of the arena and do something that does not include any sliding, that would cut way down on the dust factor. Dressage is mostly exercises on the flat, right? Sorta-kinda like a very advanced form of reining? Can it be done on grass (I have a large, relatively-flat grass field nearby). I'm not even remotely considering competition, just looking for something interesting that the horses and I can work on together, something that will challenge us and be interesting to work on.
I figure that as the riding area stresses the grass, I can move it around the field, which is about 5 acres. It's not perfectly flat and smooth like the arena but is still pretty even and fairly cushiony. No rocks or stones, just ankle-deep bermudagrass.
So, do any of you dressage people think this might be doable? Can anyone recommend any good books and videos? I will probably stick with my stock saddle for a bit until I see if this is something that can work for us. If it is, I will likely take the plunge into proper tack, though I will probably continue to ride in my boots and jeans.
Still trying to get my head around everything that is happening and looking for ways to make this work.
To quote Ben Johnson in "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys": "Y'know what the worst part of gettin' old is?..... It's gettin' old."
Rusty
