He's Getting Stronger, I'm Getting Weaker
What happens when a five year old warm blood and a fifty+ year old woman start back to work after a short lay off? The five year old gets stronger with every ride. The woman gets more sore, stiff and weak! How did I get so out of shape in two or three weeks? You lose muscle ridiculously fast at my age :(
The riding ring was in great shape today. When I arrived home from my meetings in Halifax Doug had the outdoor speakers on and music playing as he rode Savanah - they looked great and it looked very enticing. It was just before dark so I jumped on Rogo. Kaboom - he's just starting to feel and use his power. It's built with each of the rides since I got him home, this being the third. It's an incredibly fun ride, but as I write this I realize that since it's quite different than he had been in the indoor, this would contribute to my fatigue too. There is just sooo much movement there. Trying to be soft and encouraging/supporting, while also helping hold it together, i.e. not getting strung out, is HARD WORK, physically and mentally. Our warm ups and routines were familiar, but now he needs much faster thinking on my part and I have to stay so focused.
He isn't normally spooky, but tonight he took a giant spook (power gone bad) and galloped half the length of the arena before I got him stopped. I thought I'd come off, as the sideways jump took me completely by surprise and I lost my balance, but he didn't buck at all so luckily I stayed on. I rode him back to the scary place and it turned out to be one of our cats in the grass. This should be routine for him and normally it is, but I guess I have to cut him some slack as he gets used to being outside again and also feeling very good. We went right back to work and he was great.
We've back slid in a few areas - the center line is crooked again, halts are crooked again, head is coming up again. But he's better in some key areas too - more forward, more responsive, lateral work coming, bending is good. Life is good.
Comments
Used to think riding was an activity that contributed my fitness, but have come to find I need fitness activity to help with stamina while riding.
Now, to address mental fitness lol :)
I hate those sideways leaps. Those are the ones that get me. Cats in the grass can be an interesting distraction. Sometimes they get them and sometimes their some kind of horse eater. I never know what to expect with that one.
It must be something in the air, everyone's ponies seem to be spooking in England, America and New Zealand.
And those spring spooks! I spend the winter waiting for spring and then in the spring I sometimes think that a nice 100 degree day in July would take some of that fizz off. lol
Good job riding that spook! Isn't spring fun? Don't worry, soon it will be summer and we'll all be complaining about how dead our horses are! ;)
I was going to suggest one thing with the spooking/bolting thing. It is something I have been told to do but have not had the guts nor the mind to do it in the moment until yesterday. Steady is not a spooky horse so when he does occassionally spook will catch me off gaurd. He will jump to the side slightly then bolt forward normally. He throws his head in the air and thus becomes hard to get contact with his mouth to slow him down. So yesterday he did it and I finally had thought to do it and it worked wonderfully! It is like an oxymoron when he is bolting forward put on leg and more leg until he moves off of your leg and he ends up back on the bit. It served three purposes very effectively. 1. I didn't have a battle to get him to come back to me. 2.it gave me more control in my seat so I didn't feel like I was going to fall off while he was flinging his head and bolting forward. 3. It instantly pushed him into working until he was ready to listen and lo and behold it was the last time he tried it yesterday. I am no trainer so take it for what it is worth. I just thought I would mention it cause it worked so well for me yesterday.
I give you a lot of credit for staying on during that spook. A cat got me one time, we didn't ever jump sideways but turned and spun on a dime. By the time I hit the ground he was already on the other side of the ring. I guess we all took the easy way out this winter and now I'm paying for it.