Catching up

There is a lot happening in the world right now. If I'm being honest, I don't feel like I am eloquent enough or, even more importantly, educated enough on the issues to address the issues in any way, shape, or form. So, I am not going to try. But, I am watching and listening, I am learning, I'm having conversations, checking in on friends, I'm donating and signing petitions where I can, and I will continue to get my butt out and vote every.single.time. 

~*~

I've been slacking a bit on regularly scheduled programming on the blog and in life. But with good reason! I recently had a 10-day staycation (our trips were cancelled), and I thoroughly enjoyed having the time to rejuvenate some burnt out brain cells, play in the yard, work on some garage projects, and enjoy the front porch with my book and the dog. I also did not schedule extra rides or workout at all during my staycation and it while I might have benefited from more saddle time, giving my body a break was glorious. 

My rides have been going really well, although they have certainly not been without their challenges!

While it took about 2 rides to get my GPS mostly back in order (hello leaning too far left searching for the feeling I had the week before!), I've been struggling a lot with stamina. I'm not really surprised, are you? My workouts help my riding stamina a lot, but I have yet to find a real way to work the same muscle groups in the same ways! So, I am mostly struggling with having the muscle stamina to hold a correct position longer than a few strides. This includes keeping my shoulders consistently up and back. Ugh. At least the issues are the same, right? Luckily, my cardio fitness stuck around. As long as I remember to breathe while I'm riding, I don't get out of breath!

Also, I've really noticed in my last 2 rides that I am struggling a lot turning my body left. I think this is related to my very tight right shoulder side. I'll have to chat with T about it on Sunday. She gave me some exercises to do to loosen the shoulder up, and I have been doing them several times a day!

Anyway, Tuesday evening was my first official lease ride. 

I left my house immediately after work and got to the barn around 5:15, gathered all of Skylar's stuff, groomed him and put his boots on, and then had plenty of time to do his stall before I tacked him up. 

I had cleaned it on Sunday and he'd been out all of Monday and most of the day on Tuesday, so there wasn't a lot required. I put a load of shavings in, but he had plenty of hay and his water was clean and at a good level. Skylar is a cribber, so he has his feed bucket in 1 corner, at ground level, bolted to the walls. His water bucket is a big muck bucket type thing in another corner, and apparently he's been a turd lately and has been dumping his water, rather than drinking it. So, T had asked me the week before not to fill it all the way. Easy enough. 

A little before 6, I went to the arena to watch a little bit of the class before mine. T said she'd be ready for us by 6:20, so if we were ready we could meet her in the outdoor arena then. Perfect. I went and got Skylar saddled, and took him for water before letting him hang out in his clean stall until it was time to bridle. 

I also chatted a bit with the woman who leases Tosh 2 days a week, as I've heard a lot about her rides on him and it was my first time actually seeing them. They clearly have a great bond and they look great together. Their jumping was awesome!

The group class went for about 90 minutes, including 5 of the 6 of us hopping over a few fences or doing a course. There was 1 other new-to-the-group person that I usually see on Sundays, and she and I were both a bit nervous about jumping. So, T had her go first on a large circle over a little crossrail, and then down the same line to 2 more jumps. She did this a couple times in each direction and did great! Then it was my turn -- T had me circle around her, then take the crossrail on the large circle tracking left, and continue on to jump it again. 

I reminded myself to keep my eyes up, keep my body up and back, and to wait for him to jump (a positive spin on all the bad habits I did the last time I jumped Skylar before the holidays!). Plus, once I started jumping, my nerves just kind of fell away and I just settled into it. I'm not sure if that will be the new norm for me, but I hope it will be!

All of my reminders to myself worked -- when he tripped after the crossrail the first time through the line, neither of us fell on our faces. He seemed legitimately relieved that he didn't have to catch himself AND me, and we carried on down the line a bit awkwardly but without a hitch. 

T made a HUGE deal about how great it was that I'd been sitting back and waiting. Then she had me do the line again to the left. It went much smoother, so she had me change directions and come down the 3 fences heading home. It felt so much easier to the right. I didn't have to work as hard to keep him straight and (even though I held my breath for most of the line) we got through it beautifully. I was really proud of myself!

She asked me after how it had felt and I said, way better than I expected. I'm happy with that! She said, good, you should be, that was beautiful!