Let's talk about my back again

When I was in the process of moving to Florida, I told myself that I wasn't going to do any horse shows. I Was so certain about it that I left all of my show gear in Maryland and didn't think twice about it. Now . . . here we are.

Shout out to my girlfriend for the wonderful pictures <3

I haven't quite started a "show season" yet. And, honestly, the one or two shows I do this year can't qualify as an actual show season. What I have done is 1) buy an entire show outfit and 2) go schooling at the show grounds. This has been a long time coming for me. I was actually supposed to go schooling last fall with Lucie, but Trainer G got tied up and had to cancel. After that, we just never really got around to it, even though I did genuinely want to take Lucie to a show. For now, I'm interested in showing for myself. Getting back into the equitation ring has been a goal for several years now, and I'm itching to finally go around a 2'6" course like it's not the end of the world.

We hauled out a little after noon. Blackjack's other leasee (lessor? leaser?) rode first while I took pictures of the whole group. My girlfriend was nice enough to join us after I basically begged her to come along and we went back and forth on my camera. We're both relatively experienced (and we're both horse girls), so it was an enjoyable exchange.

After Blackjack had warmed up and gone over some fences, I passed the camera off and hopped on. Blackjack wasn't clipped this winter and was already warm and sweaty. We picked up a trot for maybe a lap before Trainer G had me start going over fences. This is probably the fastest a lesson has even gone downhill for me, lol. I was having a hard time sitting up to and after the fences (probably because I was jumping on cold muscles, but I digress) which resulted in, uhh . . . insults? Trainer G is a mean trainer. Obviously I'm not going to dump on the person who I literally pay to give me advice; she knows what she's talking about, she's just has a mean training style. I honestly do not thrive with this type of training, but the money situation means that beggars (i.e. me) can't be choosers.

I've taken enough lessons with Trainer G to know that she doesn't view me as being completely incompetent, but that day she was being a little more coarse than usual. Apparently while I was riding, one of the mom's turned to my girlfriend and remarked that she "Hoped I didn't take the comments too personally." I honestly didn't; I know how to take criticism, and it wasn't the critique I had a problem with, it was the way I was being spoken to.

Eh, we finished on a good note, despite some of my distances coming up too close. To add insult to injury (or rather injury to insult), I woke up the next day with excruciating pain over my entire back. I'm talking all the way up and down on both sides, super tight and sore. By some miracle, most of it had subsided by the next time I rode, and I focused almost entirely on relaxing into my seat and legs. I'll be damned if I destroy my back this early in life. The knees have already quit. Let me keep at least one functional body part!