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Rationale:
All disciplines in equestrian sports are based on the relationship between two beings: horses and riders. Often injuries curtail the development of this relationship and slow the training progress. Much attention has been placed on horse injuries and health issues (1000s research journal articles published) rather than rider injuries, especially injuries not based on accidents. This unbalanced distribution of attention is also seen in a cursory review of equestrian magazine covers where the majority (all actually) of health articles are horse based. It is hard to believe that riders, like any other athletes are not plagued with health challenges. Yet, no national or international association, medical research group, equestrian magazine seem to pay continuous attention to this topic. Rider health is ½ of the equation. To start address the disparity,Leimone’s chronicles has been created.

The main purpose of the Leimone’s chronicles is to bring attention to the topic of rider health challenges and to establish a conversation among all involved in equestrian sports. Furthermore, it will be interesting to survey how widespread rider injuries that are (accident based or not), and how these injuries affect training –physically and psychologically. The blog is especially interested in discussing the recovery process and the psychology of recovery.

Leimone’s chronicles is a blog based web conversation. It is managed by Leimone and regular posts will follow the progress of Leimone’s recovery from back pain (and training of her horse) as basis of developing a thread of conversation. Often guest bloggers will be invited to post.
Please let me know what you think and share your experiences...

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changing seats

I am sorry everybody, I haven't posted anything for days.
As it turns out life is indeed funny, now its Lumpy turn to be sore. We went to the Virginia Equine Imaging (http://www.vaequine.com) this morning and we are doing a nuclear scintigraphy of his body on Monday. He is jumping weird to the right and does not want to "sit" on this haunches. It looks like he may have problems with his hip (sacroiliac joint - SI). So off I go to learn all about SI joints... wanna join in?
As for me, I have been a blob for the past 2 week, not PT, no running no NO nothing. The only exercise I got was playing racquetball with my husband yesterday.

Virginia Horse trials - Lexington

April 1st : I am way behind on my blogging... sorry. So we went to Lexington for their starter horse trials. I thought it would be a nice first outing to test the back and the horse. He was very nervous when we were walking around and very happy to start warming up - sometimes walking just makes him more anxious. His Dressage warm up was FANTASTIC - 3 people came over to me to ask what kind of warmblood /morgan/ arabian cross he was (ah ah).
The moment he stepped in the ring he became tense - so the test was tight but obedient. I decided to just work on loosening him up and reassuring him (no fighting) and I think this was the right decision. All 8s and 7s with 3 6's around the walk where he stuck his head up in the air to look around and had a tight trot transition. We got a 30 - which I thought it was kind - with adulatory and encouraging comments but I guess that's what judges at schooling shows should do. For comparison I think other scores started at 34 (?). Its the first show of the season so I am not worried : I know we can do better !

Showjumping: I rode it like a hunter show: slow, concentrating on rhythm, relaxation, long turns etc etc. Only one minor hiccup in the end with a long spot, and a couple of going to the right but otherwise like a pro. I am not sure if I'll do it with the hackamore again though.

XC: what can I say? A blast. We need to work on startup box antics and slow down (time was 4:52 and we did it in 4:13). He was all business and I had no problems bringing him back when necessary - very obedient. And yes a few jumps were totally to the right, but I "set him straight" on the next jumps so there is hope. He didn't look at anything aside from "where is the next one?". This horse had more fun than me, he was eating it up. I though he would be concerned about some logs on top of the hill where we jumped onto the "void" but I was wrong.

Next post: you will hear how I forgot to jump the last jump in stadium and got eliminated last weekend after a 29 in dressage and awesome XC... stay tuned.

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.