[health] My best friend is trying to kill me!
So I went over to Britt's farm, as has become usual for me on a Wednesday. It threatened to rain all day, but it didin't rain a drop until I left at nearly 7pm that evening, after the horses were fed and brought in.
In the morning, we fed and I ran buckets while Britt mucked stalls, as usual. Except I was ahead of her. It was cool! I didn't need to take the breaks between buckets that I used to four weeks ago. Neat huh? I'm still filling buckets up halfway, carrying them to the stall, and then topping them off with another bucket. It's twice the work, but half the strain on my bad elbow because I'm carrying only half the weight at a time. Water is heavy!
We had a lovely lunch at the new Mediterranean place nearby, and I even kept reasonably within my food counts. Had a salad and a Gyro. Britt too. But she ordered baclava, I ordered Arabic coffee. It was nice.
Then I helped with a lesson. Three adult horsewomen who own their own horses (Arabs) but who've never ridden dressage. They mostly trail ride. So Britt is teaching them as a group. There just the most wonderful people and it was a pleasure to help them tack up and stuff. I enjoyed watching their lesson. It's cool to watch when the "translation" of Britt's instructions into something your body does suddenly makes sense to a person. Britt has this one horse -- Ti Amo -- who will not take a cue unless that cue is clear and perfect. He's a very good horse to teach you dressage because everything has to be precise and not sloppy. But he can be very frustrating if you think you're cueing him right; it will kinda look like he's just doing something else to be a jerk. And he is. But it's because his cue wasn't perfect. So it was really cool to see his rider "get it" and come out of the lesson pumped to ride him again.
After the lesson, we kept Nala -- the little Arab -- tacked up so I could ride. Originally Britt was going to ride with me, but she decided to give me a lesson.
And here's where my day went downhill...
I shouldn't say that. It was a great deal of fun! And it built a lot of confidence in me. But as I type this to you, I am using the smallest movements of my fingers I can because muscles I didn't even know I had HURT!!! Waaaaaaaaaaah!
Britt and I have been talking about me getting back into riding in a serious way, you see. And I wondered what level I'm currently at. She said she hadn't seen me really ride in so long that she couldn't say. So she went all German Dressage Coach on me and made me do 20 meter circles at the posting trot, both ways around the ring. Then 10 meter circles. Then canter 20 meter circles. Then transitions to the trot and back to the canter. And then... and then... I don't think I could feel my feet anymore!
So she pronounced me an advanced intermediate, and then I got to dismount... and my knees forgot how to work! But then I helped feed and they normalized again. But wow, the woobliness!
I feel really really good (if exhausted). Not only did I do a lot of things I thought I couldn't, but apparently I'm a better rider than I thought. I'm out of shape, yes. I tire really easily. But I can do it! Britt went down this list: "You do this right, and you're good at that, and you have no problem when I ask you to do this..." It was VERY encouraging!
Then I came home and had curry and brown rice. Bob ate dirt pudding in front of me, but I couldn't move fast enough to grab it from him. My arms were already starting to be sore. How am I going to feel on Friday!
I'm afraid there will be no interval walk today. It's pouring. But I hope it stops soon so I can go for a stroll at least. If I can't, I'm afraid my muscles are going to freeze this way.
In the morning, we fed and I ran buckets while Britt mucked stalls, as usual. Except I was ahead of her. It was cool! I didn't need to take the breaks between buckets that I used to four weeks ago. Neat huh? I'm still filling buckets up halfway, carrying them to the stall, and then topping them off with another bucket. It's twice the work, but half the strain on my bad elbow because I'm carrying only half the weight at a time. Water is heavy!
We had a lovely lunch at the new Mediterranean place nearby, and I even kept reasonably within my food counts. Had a salad and a Gyro. Britt too. But she ordered baclava, I ordered Arabic coffee. It was nice.
Then I helped with a lesson. Three adult horsewomen who own their own horses (Arabs) but who've never ridden dressage. They mostly trail ride. So Britt is teaching them as a group. There just the most wonderful people and it was a pleasure to help them tack up and stuff. I enjoyed watching their lesson. It's cool to watch when the "translation" of Britt's instructions into something your body does suddenly makes sense to a person. Britt has this one horse -- Ti Amo -- who will not take a cue unless that cue is clear and perfect. He's a very good horse to teach you dressage because everything has to be precise and not sloppy. But he can be very frustrating if you think you're cueing him right; it will kinda look like he's just doing something else to be a jerk. And he is. But it's because his cue wasn't perfect. So it was really cool to see his rider "get it" and come out of the lesson pumped to ride him again.
After the lesson, we kept Nala -- the little Arab -- tacked up so I could ride. Originally Britt was going to ride with me, but she decided to give me a lesson.
And here's where my day went downhill...
I shouldn't say that. It was a great deal of fun! And it built a lot of confidence in me. But as I type this to you, I am using the smallest movements of my fingers I can because muscles I didn't even know I had HURT!!! Waaaaaaaaaaah!
Britt and I have been talking about me getting back into riding in a serious way, you see. And I wondered what level I'm currently at. She said she hadn't seen me really ride in so long that she couldn't say. So she went all German Dressage Coach on me and made me do 20 meter circles at the posting trot, both ways around the ring. Then 10 meter circles. Then canter 20 meter circles. Then transitions to the trot and back to the canter. And then... and then... I don't think I could feel my feet anymore!
So she pronounced me an advanced intermediate, and then I got to dismount... and my knees forgot how to work! But then I helped feed and they normalized again. But wow, the woobliness!
I feel really really good (if exhausted). Not only did I do a lot of things I thought I couldn't, but apparently I'm a better rider than I thought. I'm out of shape, yes. I tire really easily. But I can do it! Britt went down this list: "You do this right, and you're good at that, and you have no problem when I ask you to do this..." It was VERY encouraging!
Then I came home and had curry and brown rice. Bob ate dirt pudding in front of me, but I couldn't move fast enough to grab it from him. My arms were already starting to be sore. How am I going to feel on Friday!
I'm afraid there will be no interval walk today. It's pouring. But I hope it stops soon so I can go for a stroll at least. If I can't, I'm afraid my muscles are going to freeze this way.