My last several lessons have only been...well, just ok, to be honest. I've been struggling physically, which is very disheartening. I don't know if I have lingering nerve damage from the car accident and then subsequently throwing out my back or if it's my hip being out, or if it's just plain old muscle weakness. I've been trying to be good about really stretching my calves and hamstrings before I get on. I've also been trying to be more consistent about drinking a lot of water and working out, etc.
Last Thursday, I flew to FL and then drove back to NC on Friday, spending about 14+ hours in the car. Needless to say, I was feeling more than a little crippled when I got out of bed on Saturday! I was smart enough to schedule a chiropractic adjustment for Monday and while I felt more sore initially after being adjusted, I felt a lot better yesterday morning.
Still, I was skeptical about how my lesson last night would go because my back is still feeling sore from sitting in the car for so long. I wasn't sure how it was going to hold up for an hour long ride!
I was pleasantly surprised. After mounting (to get on Riko, I have to drop my stirrups 4 HOLES. Omg, he's gigantic), I dropped my stirrups half a hole from where I normally ride. They felt a little long at first, but then I started to find my rhythm. My back and legs felt good during our trot and canter warm-up. I only stopped trotting 2x to walk for a couple of seconds and let my legs relax a bit, which is quite a bit better than anywhere from 4-6 times in a 20 minute warm-up! And, I had no leg numbness, no toes falling asleep, and really, no back pain, either. I even cantered in 2 point because my legs were feeling good!
We didn't jump last night, but we did do a course of ground poles that she had setup. So it was a diagonal line to a single on the short end, to a single on the long end with a rollback to jump #2 and then halt and back 4 steps afterwards. It was a nice little equitation course without having to think about anything other than pace, straightness, and control. We trotted over it once and then cantered it once before we ran out of time.
I really felt "on" last night and Riko was listening well after some initial sassiness in our warmup.
The first time we cantered the course, I asked for an add to the first jump rather than launching over the pole, and he shortened his stride and added nicely. The 5 strides to the second pole came easy. And then I pushed him to the rail and made him wait to turn to the single on the short end. We accidentally cut the corner to the single before the rollback because he started to hang on me, but I nipped him quickly and then loosened up and let him canter on and he added a stride and rolled back perfectly to a nice halt. We backed crookedly for the trot course, but after getting a little stuck the second time, he backed straight for me and got praised and a big pat.
Then we walked down the chute to cool out and he almost decapitated me on a pine tree! I had to lay completely flat on his neck to not eat the low branches, lol. I was much more careful coming back to avoid the tree!
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