Things I can't do : part 1

I can't put studs on my horse's shoes. No way. ouch! I learned the hard way yesterday. We did some gymnastic jumping concentrating on backing off and letting Lumpy figure out his feet and keep it all in one soft slow, nice rhythm. My husband calls my jumping sessions with Steph, marriage counselling : I am quiet and let him think for himself.
Speaking of husband, he will have to learn how to put studs for the weekend...

Rational

Ever since my last posting I have been really sore. And I am getting suspicious that a major aggravating activity is not the cantering I do outback, nor the jumping gymnastic exercises, nor the sitting trot I trying to re-dignify. I ran on Monday and Wednesday, lifted weights on Tuesday and played 45 minutes of racquetball with my husband on Thursday. I hacked on Tuesday, did dressage on Wednesday, jumped on Thursday and did a 2 hour trail ride canter/trot set today. Tonight I am totally sore - but I was totally sore last night too... and the night before.It is hard to separate the variables and find the true culprit. All of these on themselves could be the source of my misery. However, I think the main difference this week has been the baby. I carried him this week more than usual, it was spring break and I wanted to spend more time with him. But I want someone to call me on my rationalization that riding is ok, that exercising is fine and that the real cause of my pain is carrying around my baby on my hip. Rationalizing or not, it makes me quite sad.

First show after back injury!

It has been almost 9 months since our last outing. Hard to believe! time flies when your back hurts - actually no, I am wrong - time is very very very slow. Today we did the 3 footer division at the Marlborough pony club to check and see where we are. I am happy to say that Lumpy has picked up exactly where we left off. He was all game - what a good boy, I forgot he could fly.... overdid it a bit by jumping the 3'3s as if they were 4 footers, but that's ok. Not a bad problem to have. It was very cold and windy but as you can tell I got special help with the trailer (and he is only 18 months!). I must admit my back is sore tonight, but its not so bad. I still think it is the trailer gate - so if you have a good step up trailer for sale let me know. We hung around a little bit to get our ribbons, which started me thinking, are ribbons important ? I would like to know your thoughts... I spent some time thinking about this on the drive back.
Off to dinner and PT exercises.

Ask the expert part 2 : Dr. Cesar Parra

I can't even tell you all how exciting it is that Dr. Cesar Parra took the time to write for the blog.
For those who do not know who he is, Cesar is one of the most exciting Dressage riders competing in the world right now. Under his belt he has the 2004 Olympic Games, 2005 world cup in Las Vegas, 2006 WEG in Aachen, along with team silver at the Pan Am games and winning various Grand Prix at Devon.

Check out what Cesar has to say about riding, injury and fitness by clicking on comments link below on the right...

And leave your own comment!

Cheers
Daphne

jump jump jump

We jumped jumped jumped this weekend with Waredaca's best kept secret: Robert Butts. It was great - well, Robert was great we were embarrassing (but getting better !). The weather was nice and for some odd reason nobody was riding, so I got a private with Robert - Lucky me. I am considering trying to bribe him sometime this week for another lesson with a Brazilian dessert... he is hard to catch !
My back is doing fine and not even the pneumonia (yes, pneumonia - I told you I was sick: what a crappy winter...) raised its ugly head. All is calm.... aaahhhhhh...

ask'd the expert Part 1 : Dr. Karen Sexton

Having the flu is great. You get to cough and neglect your exercises and take drugs that make you sleep -even if the baby is crying. But for me is even better because I actually have time to email my friends and bug them about our favorite subject: strain on rider's bodies.
Here you go click on the comments button on the bottom right to see what Dr. Karen Sexton has to say.

And feel free to post your own comments and questions... we may even coax Dr. S to answer a few of them !

cheers

Daphne

you.

Well, hello you.

I know you are there.
I know it because my computer pings at me saying you visited this blog.
I know you are in Englewood, Colorado; Santa Clara, California; Culpeper, Virginia; Unity, Maine; Louisville, Kentucky; Urbana, Illinois; Camp Dennison, Ohio; Tavares, Florida...just to mention a few. Are you silent because you are only peripherally interested in this topic of discussion? are you silent because you are young fit and healthy and never got hurt? Am I the only one one with "repetitive sitting trot syndrome" ? Do you ride in a western saddle and are secretly laughing at all of us ? Are you shy? .... don't worry you can comment anonymously.

Let me hear from you. This is a warm invitation to leave a comment anywhere in the blog. Even if it just a note to say you are well, and happily riding.

Best wishes... always.

Daphne

little break

It is amazing what a little bit of vomiting and fever does to an otherwise determined mind. I officially have the flu and therefore all physical activities (aside from working on my computer, but I guess this is only physical to my fingers) are out the window.

more soon...
Daphne

discouragement

Saturday was so nice that we rode outside. I cheated on Gretchen (who is Florida) and rode with Steuart Pittman (we met at the T3D last year at Waredaca). From his arena I could see XC jumps sprouting around the surrounding grass field like pesky dandelions. Lumpy was great- calm quiet and perfectly mannered - like towards the end of show season, not what I would have expected after 6 months not going anywhere.

He wanted to see me jumping normally before making comments. He then told me that he thought Lumpy was a bit explosive and that I should my seat less before a jump. So I jumped mostly on 2 point and worked on being minimalistic with my derrière - not too challenging but quite different for me. I liked that we worked on maintaining the same rhythm before and after the jump.

The lesson was really fun but my back was totally busted by the end of the day. I had to float in the hot tub to recover... I suspect (or chose to believe?) that riding was not the problem - but that pulling that damn trailer gate up and down was the culprit. Sunday I was still in pain and so bummed I didn't even want to write on the blog. All those weeks of exercise and PT, sacrifice, and... wham! (not the 80's rock group).

So I started slowly Monday, Tuesday... felt better on Wednesday and by today I am ok. Gosh it takes forever to recover from set backs at 35 ! Only blind bullheadedness kept me going this week. Lumpy looked tired too... but tonight: Dressage or burst!