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I made a decision this morning: I wasn’t going to rush.
Rush physically as in: from the house to the first bus stop, from the terminus to the bank machine to the next bus, from the bus to the taxi. As in mentally: doing the whole procedure in my head whilst my body moved it, not worry about what other people were doing, or, more to the point, not doing, as in, why are those people walking four abreast, why did that woman run right up my back, why is that man not watching where he’s going!? etc.
I wasn’t going to rush, I wasn’t going to get myself in that kaleidoscopic maelstrom of impatient movement and jittery mind set that, I fear, describes my general waking life.
It worked. Oh, I’d catch myself, and I’d slow down again. Caught myself hustling a bit to get to Rebel, but I cooled it waaaaay down, and wondered how this new state of being would translate itself into the lesson. Read the rest of this entry »
THIS IS ONLY A TEST Dressage test, that is.
Having recently watched my first ever execution of said sort of test, I could see what the attraction was, and it’s certainly a good argument to take up against those who think that you just sit there on the back of a horse. Read the rest of this entry »
Would this be the common mnemonic, or is it different in your part of the world?
SEE BELOW Yeah, well, okay, so… shut up. Read the rest of this entry »
I am still trying to watch the programme.
My Mac won’t download the required plug-in.
I tried a PC the other night, and after patiently [not much] waiting for it to download to the desktop, it decided that it didn’t want to play it after all.
I had to use an internet place yesterday whilst on the hoof, and forgot in the rush to do other stuff.
So, anyway, I had this idea that I’d ‘live blog’ it, if and when I ever get to see it.
At the moment, this is the best I can do for my readers as far flung as Jules in Australia, Kirsten in Oregon, and Nancy in NYC.
If I ever actually get to see the @*&%$ thing.
After my first three blasts of amatsu, I’m now down to a visit every month or so. I reckon I should have called in after flying off of Ruby, but I was so relieved that my brain wasn’t dripping out my ears, and that I could still do simple maths, that I figured everything was okay.
It was sunny yesterday morning. I began to project.
If it was sunny, then maybe we could jump the course that I didn’t get to jump the Friday night. If we were going to jump the course, then I would take Delilah. If I took Delilah, then I wouldn’t really need the long stick, would I? Read the rest of this entry »
BY THE POWER OF GREYSKULL!* I had forgotten about Lucozade.
The bubbly orange energy drink is an old standby as regards the morning [the entire day] after, and whilst not in the same league as Red Bull, 380mls of it can get one through a low energy day. It is positioned as a sports drink, which maeks it sound ‘healthy’, but to me, it could just as well be full of uppers. For whatever reason, it overrides wooziness, fluey-ness, and general woolliness.
Somehow? It’s like 100% glucose!
So powerful is this brew that I didn’t even need to finish the bottle. Perhaps I was on the way to feeling better. Most likely, it was the act of getting out to the yard, arriving in the yard, changing into my boots and chaps and hat, that overrode the blahs. Standing pressed up against the wall of the indoor, trying to stay out of the rain, once again all feelings of unwellness disappeared.
It’s amazing what you forget when you’ve got to pay attention to a horse.
*He Man was really more my brother’s thing than mine, but I couldn’t resist…
NOT SURE WHAT THAT IS, IS IT ICE CREAM? I was kinda crap on Thursday, and though it might have been, I don’t know, being rusty, couldn’t keep my balance at all, but I had had Rebel on Tuesday and even though we had an ongoing battle for the bit, it was a good night, and, so, was I losing it, was I just crap, crap at horseriding, and I should just quit?!?! Read the rest of this entry »
Wading through pony campers to get to my kit bag this morning, a young voice ventured to ask:
“Was that you on the telly last night?”
I looked down into a girl’s beaming face; her friend, over her shoulder, blinked, and blushed.
“Uh… uh huh.”
“You were really good!” She smiled, and I… said, ‘Uh. Thanks,’ and thought, well, good, if a kid thinks I was really good, then I must have been, you know, fine.
But: “Did they show me falling off Rinaldo?”
She kind of hunched her shoulders, and still smiling [kindly], said: “Yeah.”
Ack! I banged my head against the wall. She reiterated my goodness, and her friend blushed and nodded, and I ducked out of there, and felt the very cynosure of pony camping eyes.
Saturday should be interesting…
Still haven’t seen it yet. It’s up on RTÉ until 10 September, but sadly, for all my readers off the island of Ireland, it’s not viewable. I’ve asked about getting the clip to upload, but what with copyrights and all… I’d say I’ll keep you posted, but that is, of course, a bit redundant.
