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!