NEW SITE

This is a notice that from this point on, I will no longer be posting blogs to this site. Please instead go over to Ride with no eyes or simply type http://ridewithnoeyes.com into your web browser. Thank you for following me so far on this journey on this blogger blog but it is time to move on and make it a better experience for both my readers and myself. Hope you'll join the fun over at ridewithnoeyes.com Marie

Quiet Ride

I was simply exhausted again this morning and was told I'd be riding Bella. This was more than OK with me as I haven't ridden her in a few weeks. The ride was overall quiet and very uneventful. Trots were good and minus her not cantering, she was being more than cooperative. Someone walked with me on this ride which I wasn't overly impressed by as I've ridden Bella independently for a long time. We didn't have our usual RI as she was off on an hour hack with two ladies and I suspect it was this reason more than anything I was stuck with a walker. Anyway, I got over that fact and as I said was a nice quiet, non eventful ride. On the back lane, I wound her up, by squeezing her and halting her to get her fidgety and then asked for a canter. She almost went then decided against it. Classic Bella! :) I felt somewhat deflated today and it wasn't really about the ride I don't think, not even sure what it was. I stood with Bella, giving her cuddles and then left feeling almost like, why did I just bother? Anyway, onward and forward. Will write more next week. Thanks, Marie

Sunshine With Shadow

Despite the heavy rain predicted for today, we ended up having a gloriously sunny day, dare I even say almost summer like. It did mean I was sweltering in a waterproof coat. But anyway. I arrived and was asked to brush Shadow which of course I didn't mind in the least. I was brushing him on the fence as the girl looking after him had moved him there while she mucked him out. I discovered he is much easier to brush his face when he's haltered to the fence so actually got some mud off of his face for once which was good. Halfway through, we moved him back to his stable and finished off brushing and tacked him up and we were running late so I jumped on from the ground. I need to practice this much more as I still need a push from someone getting on a 15.3 HH horse. Once mounted, I followed another horse and was walking by myself again today in the glorious sunshine. My trots were fabulous and he was totally listening to me. Our contact was good and I felt so relaxed. We were on a ride with a lot of less experienced riders so I got to canter once on this ride. I was on my own, with one of the other girls running to the end to yell stop when I got there. I gave a squeeze and we got a few strides, then trot, then I squeezed again, another stride and another squeeze, another stride. But I was kind of pleased with this anyway, as he was going when I asked, just not staying and my sitting trot was pretty awesome. My RI was really pleased with me actually. She said I looked good and relaxed. I was reading a piece on Horse and country about heels down in canter and it seems I'm not the only one to have any of these issues. The strike off in the canter seems to be my biggest problem, or it has been. It possibly still is but I've not seen it for a few weeks. I'm just totally relaxed for some reason. More trotting and his energy was great. He did try to have a few snacks today which made me giggle. Nice try Shadow. Once back at the yard, I untacked him and gave him a few cuddles. Then was chatting to another girl and she had to jump off and take the saddle off of her horse and put it on a different horse so I offered to hold him and there was no hesitation or call for someone else, I stood stroking this lovely horse while holding him still. She'll not know what that meant to me. I was watching a jumping lesson before I left. My rI and I were chatting about para show jumping during my ride today and she had some really good and quite accurate ideas about how it could be done. I talked about the show jumper, Peter Charles recently leading a jumper who was blind around a show jumping course in France. He's done this before too, with Britain's first blind show jumper, who is also from my neck of the woods. :) It was good to hear her talk so positively about it. Just hope one day I can try my hand at jumping too. Anyway, that's today's ride and hoping tomorrow is another lovely, relaxed and enjoyable one. :) Thanks, Marie http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1422548_leap-of-faith-blind-showjumper-represents-great-aunt http://www.horseandcountry.tv/ask-the-expert/help-how-do-i-keep-my-heels-down-canter

Could Technology Help Me in A School?

I've used an iPhone for three years now. Until recently it was the only product on the market with a built in screen reader, meaning I could use the phone, out of the box, with no further charges to me as a consumer. Sure, they're slightly more expensive, but if I had bought a nokia that could have run Talks or Mobile speak, the screen readers that ran on those Simbine 60 or 80 series, it would have probably cost me around the same price for an iPhone. I advocate mainstream products building in accessibility and Apple have done a great job with this. What does this have to do with riding you ask? Well, many GPS apps are out there now and some are pretty nifty in the way you can mark "favourites". I've used one particular app, designed for the blind to help me merely get to the yard. I don't use Bailey as you all know going to my current riding school, so I have to use the cane. There was a point I always would get lost on and end up taking the wrong dirt track to my riding school and getting lost. But Ariadni helped with this. There is a bush I have to square up against to get the lane that takes me to my riding school, I marked the bush as a favourite and also marked the path so I know when it beeps at me, I'm on the right path. I only needed this for a while, I can now do the route without my GPS app. Minus the bus stops but that's another unrelated issue. I had an idea while I was sitting here today. These apps use satellite navigation and coordinates in a lot of situations, and so if I went on a hack with someone, couldn't I essentially plan out the route with the iPhone assisting me. That is why I was asking about the Protecting your iPhone on Hay Net I would never try to ride alone unless there was a protected hack route on land I was totally familiar with. And that is a mile away in the future. But this idea got me thinking again. I'm not sure this is possible with current GPS apps, as the size of a school is not that big but could an App be developed to help a blind person learn the school? I'd love to try and see if the GPS apps I know of currently that support the favourites feature could do this but I highly suspect the area is too small for the app to map out, essentially a school and guide the blind user around from letter to letter to learn the school. Those people skilled at these things may have a better idea but I was just thinking to myself, could the iPhone, a piece of technology that has revolutionised my mobility life along with Bailey assist me in horse riding too? Could an app be designed to teach a blind user a visual area like a riding menage and map out all the letters of an arena or needed, skipping way ahead, help them judge a jumping course through feedback of a GPS app? Visualising for blind people is not that easy so we need cues from our other senses, in this case sound. As many have told me, blind riders get to know the school layout in Dressage with someone calling from each letter or someone telling you what letter you are at? But what happens when you're alone and practicing, you and your horse? Could technology then assist? I'm very curious of this idea. I know its all a little rambled but I'm just throwing curiosities out there. :) Thanks, Marie

Compliments and carrots

Today was drizzly but that did not dampen my spirits as I headed to the yard. I chose to ride Kenny, the lovely coloured gelding that I don't ride that often. He stood nice and quiet as I put his bridle on and once I mounted him we waited for a while for everyone to get ready. I've always been slightly put off by this horse as he has a considerable bounce but since riding the pretty Welsh section D, my love for bouncier horses has increased. This particular horse is my RI's personal favourite. So if you do something wrong on him, you feel mighty bad on her watch. Well, I do anyway. We did the farm route today with my usual RI and we were following Shadow so had to keep half halting young Kenny as he was quite eager today. Our trots were forward and continuous which has been an issue between him and I in the past. I've struggled to get him into trot and keep him there but he was brilliant today. We turned onto the field, I didn't have anyone walking or leading me today, and we asked for a canter. First time, we didn't get one, second time we got a lovely one and my RI said she was very pleased with it. We turned around at the bottom of the field and cantered back up. He was so awesome and my heels were apparently down the whole time, I was totally going with him, and wait for it, I looked good on him! I was super pleased to get that particular compliment. My RI has never been one to say things for the sake of it and has always been good about giving me good, constructive feedback so for her to say those things made my day. More trotting, down the cobbled path and another trot and another canter on the back lane. On this last canter, felt the heels sneaking up, pushed them down and got back into rhythm. So happy about this as this horse has been, for me, harder to canter on because of his bounce but I'm excited on what is to come. He was pretty responsive today which was nice and not looking to anyone else for guidance, just me. :) as we were walking back to the yard, my RI said she was pleased with all of my canters, they were collected and very neat and I was really going with him now. I'd done a good job. So I was pleased. I dismounted and started handing out carrots after I'd put him back in his stable and loosened his girth and tied up his reins as he was going out on another ride soon. Kenny, Bella, Shadow and even my good friend Topaz all got to snack on some carrots. Shadow seemed to be a bit moody with me, maybe he's mad I haven't ridden him this weekend but I walked up to Topaz's stable and called his name and to the door he came. It was so nice! I love seeing their personalities come out when you're on the ground with them. So until next time, Thanks for reading, Marie