I was trotting around during a dressage lesson, and my coach said something like, “You’re not trying to make him soft and fluffy, you want him to reach for the contact!”
Yes – I take notes!
All I could think was that “soft and fluffy” was definitely how I’m feeling these days.
The joys (read that as “the terrible struggle”) that can be small business ownership had robbed me the last 8 months of any time to ride, work out, eat well, sleep or in general take care of myself.
So when that small business became someone else’s (thank you universe!) and I decided I would pursue my life long goal of being a working student full time with a top rider……………………
I came into this little adventure at the “softest” and “fluffiest” I think I’ve ever been in my life.
I haven’t been riding.
I’m not heat toughened.
I was pretty sure I was going to die of heatstroke the first day. See “working student fears” for details.
And while I came close…………..I actually did not die the first day.
A miracle.
By the last hour I was sucking wind and counting the minutes hoping that I didn’t throw up in front of anyone.
Holy cow it is freaking hot here!
The next few days were intense with learning all the horse names, and routines……every farm has “their way” of doing things and there are always lots of details.
Then we decided to take Baby Seabiscuit to a schooling show.
What Bad Eventer thought in her mind,” No way, not happening, I haven’t ridden in months, I couldn’t survive a spook let alone his normal show shenanigans………which are pretty terrifying on a good day!!!”
What Bad Eventer said out loud, “Awesome! Let’s do it!”
I’ve always been a “fake it until you make it” believer.
And then I’m thinking ……… I have blisters in places I didn’t know I could have blisters.
My feet are something out of Forrest Gump, I am not used to sweating so much my boots FILL with sweat and I slosh around in it all day.
“Forrest, change your socks every day!”
I’m going to have to invest in some sort of high tech socks, because the powder I’m pouring down my boots, shirt, pants………..just isn’t cutting it for my poor shriveled up & blistered feet.
So I’m thinking this schooling show sounds like a pretty tough gig, we’re going to get up and do all the farm chores BEFORE we go………… oh yes – welcome oh-dark-thirty……..and then come back and do more when we come back.
Here’s the reality. Riding Baby Seabiscuit uses every single drop of adrenalin I have…………and after being fully terrified for a day there usually isn’t much left.
But I pumped myself up and thought, “THIS is what you’ve said you wanted to do your entire life, you HAD BETTER GO DO IT”
THEN! I found out we were going to do gallop sets with the upper level horses in the morning BEFORE we take the babies to the schooling show.
Gallops = 20 minutes of trotting followed by 3 gallop sets which make up 15 minutes of galloping.
HOLY SHIT
If I thought I was going to die the first day of heat stroke, this was the day that might do me in for good.
The plan for the schooling show was stadium, then a dressage test, then cross country schooling………
I think this is the hottest day since I’ve been here, and it was BLISTERING.
I survived the gallop though I’ll tell you now there is not a muscle in my body that isn’t letting me know what it thinks of me at the moment.
We survived one very naughty stadium round, and then I was “sent back in” to clean it up and get the little dragon to jump around without spooking at everything.
90% humidity and 90 plus degrees…….add in farm chores, one gallop, two stadium rounds, and a dressage test later…………… I was running out of adrenalin.
I was thinking that I didn’t have enough in me to survive ONE cross country fence let alone an entire schooling.
Bad Eventer racked her brain……. how could I possibly get out of this and save any face. If I fell off at the first fence because I was too rung out to wrap my legs around my horse…….. I would never live it down……………..
Then I discovered that Knucklehead had ripped a shoe off during his shenanigans.
No shoe………cross country schooling was cancelled.
I have never been so happy for a pulled shoe in all my life! Bad Eventer lives another day!
Sometimes bad is good. You crack me up.
Yeay!! I was relieved FOR you. Love the black dress shoe soles on the floor picture. See? Hell on steroids! Good for you for cowgirling up anyway! Bravo!
oh dear. It's like he read your mind…
Wow! Good for you for getting through and hooray for lost shoes! I would have been done at gallop set #1
haha that's one way to make it through 🙂 sounds like an intense experience, tho also pretty awesome ! glad it's going well so far and that you haven't died yet from heat stroke!!
Wrightsock double-layer anti-blister socks are THE BEST!!! They wick the sweat away, and don't rub at all. They're fairly thin, so sometimes I double them up if I want a little more cushion. Expensive, but totally worth it–I have about 10 or 12 pairs, and they've lasted me for at least 7 or 8 years, wearing them all summer long.
http://wrightsock.myshopify.com/
Oh my gosh! That is an intense schedule. I def would have thrown up FOR SURE. And then passed out.