I lifted my foot and placed in the stirrup, and started to lift myself onto Amigo's back. No go. I had explained all about the injury to the girls before the lesson. One of them rides on Tuesdays now, and I had texted her to tell her to tell our instructor that I wasn't going …
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 …
‘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 …
Thank F**k
It's one of the more interesting phrases I've picked up in my time here. Now, the F word is used as carelessly as one would use a definite article — it's simply a part of speech, like a noun or a verb or an adjective, and with creativity, can be used as any and all …
2010: Year Four
I THINK — I CAN NEVER FIGURE THIS OUT Okay, so I started riding in 2006, which means I ended my third year in September of '09, and okay, I get it now, yes. Yes! Fourth year of riding has begun! Or it will on Tuesday. I can't say I haven't enjoyed the last two …
Trust and Bonding
ACK! Been away so long, WordPress changed their homepage. Freaky! I suppose 'summer' is as good an excuse as any, to invoke against sluggishness in blogging. I've mostly been spending the time daydreaming about writing my non-fiction horse book, and waiting to go across to England to do a week-long course. The course is done, …
Why Not to Give Up
Oh, Tuesday. I had Rebel, we were outside, there was a massive puddle between E and C, and he had decided that it had my name on it. He was spooking at a teeny tiny one between C and M, and in open order, I kept going back over it, to get him to look …
On the Ground — For Real
So I'd been doing all this stuff — sitting on the edge of my seat on the bus, walking around with my elbows loose yet down, standing with my balance entirely in my pelvis — to help me in the saddle. This is as far as my 'on the ground' work has gone. I'd never …
I Know It’s Getting Better
BECAUSE IT FEELS BETTER The last few jumps on Thursday were over an oxer. I seek to use the correct terms, and I suppose an oxer is an oxer is an oxer, but this was, maybe, if I was pushing it, eighteen inches wide. [There had been some sort of crazy series of fences set …
MANY BRAVE FOOLS 