I had no idea that I could hurt myself doing dressage. Although what I was doing by the end of Monday's lesson was not strictly dressage. It was more like trying to get the horse to stop skipping out of bounds on a canter circle. It was bound to be a tricky lesson. Malabar had …
Owwaaaaaa
I have had some mighty falls. I had one where my physio said that one of my vertabrae [at the top] was, in his words, a little knocked out of alignment. I had one where the bruise took two weeks to come up, it was so deep. That time I got knocked out? That was …
Ooh!
So my Monday instructor thinks I can manage the dressage test that's coming up at Festina at the end of May, and that I should compete. I ask: 'Do I have to get the clothes? I haven't got the clothes.' She didn't think so, but then I thought, What am I thinking??? — I am …
I Bought Horse at the Flughaven
SORTA I didn't see one horse the whole time I've been in Berlin [long weekend], just one shaggy pony in a field on the way in to city centre, last Thursday. There were horses in the statue atop the Brandenburg Gate; I imagined myself, in a giddy moment, cantering down the road itself through [past?] …
Endorphins ROCK
THEY REALLY DO Once I started riding, I could see why it had taken me so long to get up there. See, you just can't be worrying about anything, about your life, when you're riding. And worry and obsessive thinking and all sorts of mental imbalance were a huge part of my life when I …
Kinda Sorta
So, talk about a buzz kill: I had Tango for my private lesson on Thursday, and we went great together, a combination of some fairly massive improvements on my part re: leg; of watching a lesson mate ride him really well on Tuesdays; and of the penny finally dropping as regards how to behave as …
What Is This Colour?
I've got this bruise on my forearm, and again, harking back to the art school thing, I should be able to put my finger on what it is. My arms have been rather colourful since I've been wearing the body protector [am i doin' it rong?] — I generally get them on my biceps, naturally …
Happiness Is…
REMEMBER THAT?* A key to a locker! I had had hopes for a tack box — the proposal was mooted, and then shot down, because if everyone found out that I had a tack box, then everyone would want one too, which is indisputable, because if I heard that a schoolie like me had a …
Air Conditioning
We were cantering over poles at X, preparatory to jumping, and as I returned to my spot to stand with Delilah, I felt like the saddle was... sticking to my butt? I stood in the stirrups and reached around, to the consternation of my teenaged lesson-mates. 'I think I've sprung a leak!' I shouted, and …
‘That’s A Really Good Thing About You,’
Said my instructor today. 'You're not afraid to use your voice.' We were working Malabar on the lunge, doing transitions. I prefer lungeing in the arena as opposed to the round pen, the site of my two previous lesson with the long rope and whip. I get dizzy enough [because I'm doing it wrong] with …
MANY BRAVE FOOLS 