Sunday, February 27, 2011

Germs are Powerful, Maybe Magical

I have the beginning of a sore throat. The only person who's mentioned having a cold lately is Midlife Mom in Maine. I didn't leave the house yesterday and nobody acted sick at the barn on Friday so this is my only explanation.

We were challenged to try to post without stirrups on Friday. The high school girl perks up and declares, "I know how to do this." I mentally gave her the finger. If getting your butt a smidgen out of the saddle counts, then I succeeded. After class the instructor said she was hoping that if I focused on posting I wouldn't let the horse go wherever she wanted as I tend to do when trotting without stirrups. And by golly, it worked. I was so intent on trying to post that I was making the mare stay on track (for the most part)

The other three students worked on jumping; I'm going to guess about a foot. When it came to my turn the instructor would lay the poles on the ground. So much for my husband's aspirations to have me jump three to four feet. The ladies were trotting their horses and I was encouraged to canter over my poles. The same horse that wouldn't trot but only canter on Monday wouldn't rise to the occasion. I find she tends to be cranky on Fridays. I am constantly being told to shorten my reins but I hate it when she roots and tries to yank me out of the saddle. On the other hand, she kept nuzzling me as I walked her around the ring both before and after the lesson so I'm beginning to think she likes me. It seems like everyone starts out on her then progresses to other lesson horses so she may have learned not to form attachments. I've probably ridden her longer than most so maybe she's warming up to me.

6 comments:

  1. You had me laughing with "I mentally gave her the finger"! Hilarious.

    We used to have to trot without stirrups all the time too. It's good for you but I haven't tried it in a while. Maybe I will again.

    I'm sure that mare likes you because you're nice to her and you don't yank her face off as often happens with lesson horses. I'm not surprised she's cranky by Friday.

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  2. I'm fascinated by your updates. I don't know much about horses but it sounds like your lessons are as much about learning your horse's personality as they are about learning to ride.

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  3. I've only had one bout of "the crud" this winter; I'm assuming it was flu, since I had a fever with it. Even though I got my flu shot. Anyhow, that's been it so far, no other colds or sniffles. I think it takes longer than 2 or 3 days to catch a cold, so who were you around last Wednesday? I always figure I catch colds from handling the shopping carts at Walmart.

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  4. Hope you feel better! I loved the 'the finger'...! LOL!

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  5. 'Mentally gave her the finger'...Hahahahaha

    When I was in college and taking our English lessons, there was a girl who could post forever...and perfectly...without her stirrups. The rest of us struggled to get our butts out of the saddle, much less make it a couple of times around the arena. I mentally hated her for the ease she performed that task-LOL.

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  6. I had to brag about my "one bout", didn't I? I immediately got a whole new version of the crud upon leaving that comment. Haaaaaa!

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