How am I not dead?
Or at least keeled over in pain. However long ago, my Thursday lesson with Miss S got moved to a sunny, humid, Saturday morning. Did I mention it was humid? Oh yes, the joys of living on the Eastern Shore include feeling like you're standing in a pot of boiling mist every time you step out of your house.
It had rained on Thursday and Friday, and the big arena was too soaked and grassy to ride in, so the lesson took place in the smaller of the outdoor rings. The schedule change also meant that all but two riders out of my normal lesson group had to skip this lesson. So, it was just me, Cas, and Miss S on a friend's horse.
Ever since my last lesson, I had been dying to ride bareback. I don't really know why I had such a strong desire to do so. I love bareback and all, but an entire lesson with walk, trot, canter, and jumping was just short of suicide for my legs. Despite having thought about the pain I would have to endure, I left my saddle in the tackroom anyway. I made sure Duke's back was nice and clean, too. I was not going home with an extreme bareback butt that day.
Lesson begins and Miss S asks us to pick up a posting trot. I squeeze my heels on Duke, get him to trot nice, and then I started posting. I was all like, Yeah, I got this!, and then five seconds later I was like, No, I do not have this, and I will never have this. It doesn't take long for the burn to set in, and once it's there it doesn't leave. My hips and thighs were aching. We were going around in a circle trotting over poles at one end of the arena. After that we cantered serpentines, which was more painful than the poles, and then we practiced a line (trot in/canter out, canter in/canter out, getting leads over jumps). Overall, I need more core support, as usual, but I was probably falling forward even more over the jumps because I was in so much pain.
After the arena work, we cooled off on a trail ride, during which Duke spooked at a dog cage, and then we both spooked at the dog which suddenly appeared in the cage (there was a dog igloo within the cage itself). After that, the rest of our cool off was completely uneventful. The rest of my day was spent at Busch Gardens, and walking across an amusement park to get to every single roller coaster after riding for an hour without a saddle still managed to leave me with pain free legs the next day. What can I say, some are luckier than others.
Since I don't have any pictures of myself riding, here is a picture of Ben being adorable.
It had rained on Thursday and Friday, and the big arena was too soaked and grassy to ride in, so the lesson took place in the smaller of the outdoor rings. The schedule change also meant that all but two riders out of my normal lesson group had to skip this lesson. So, it was just me, Cas, and Miss S on a friend's horse.
Ever since my last lesson, I had been dying to ride bareback. I don't really know why I had such a strong desire to do so. I love bareback and all, but an entire lesson with walk, trot, canter, and jumping was just short of suicide for my legs. Despite having thought about the pain I would have to endure, I left my saddle in the tackroom anyway. I made sure Duke's back was nice and clean, too. I was not going home with an extreme bareback butt that day.
Lesson begins and Miss S asks us to pick up a posting trot. I squeeze my heels on Duke, get him to trot nice, and then I started posting. I was all like, Yeah, I got this!, and then five seconds later I was like, No, I do not have this, and I will never have this. It doesn't take long for the burn to set in, and once it's there it doesn't leave. My hips and thighs were aching. We were going around in a circle trotting over poles at one end of the arena. After that we cantered serpentines, which was more painful than the poles, and then we practiced a line (trot in/canter out, canter in/canter out, getting leads over jumps). Overall, I need more core support, as usual, but I was probably falling forward even more over the jumps because I was in so much pain.
After the arena work, we cooled off on a trail ride, during which Duke spooked at a dog cage, and then we both spooked at the dog which suddenly appeared in the cage (there was a dog igloo within the cage itself). After that, the rest of our cool off was completely uneventful. The rest of my day was spent at Busch Gardens, and walking across an amusement park to get to every single roller coaster after riding for an hour without a saddle still managed to leave me with pain free legs the next day. What can I say, some are luckier than others.
Since I don't have any pictures of myself riding, here is a picture of Ben being adorable.
Comments
Post a Comment