Back in the Saddle

I made a foray back into hacking during the 1st weekend in April. It was the first time since January I had been outside on horse back and I only cantered for the first time since January on the Wednesday beforehand. The viral infection I have had since December last year, which wasn’t picked up by me until my body began screaming at me to ‘JUST STOP’ during January has really knocked me out. Unfortunately my balance has been most affected and I have been so tired at the weekends that I cancelled many hacks booked with the thought ‘Oh I will be fine’, at times my lessons have been really tough and my instructor Claire has been brilliant throughout. One lesson I simply walked Wee Gem around the arena as two strides of trot had made me want to vomit, another lesson I cancelled two hours beforehand and all they want to know was if I was okay.

This meant the April hack was a real highlight for me, I cantered twice – both times just myself and the leader but the first time was really good and a decent length of canter. I felt really balanced as I was concentrating more than normal and looking straight ahead. The second canter #FlameTheWonderHorse felt I was off balance before I did and we slowed to trot pretty quickly. The gorgeous chestnut dude looks after me like no other horse can, with Twix gone my fondness for Flame grows each time I ride him. I felt full of joy for my hobby again until it struck me I have been riding again for 9 years! Yes, let me repeat that 9 years! Suddenly I started analyse everything – why wasn’t I better? Why were my nerves still around? Should I continue to do this if I can’t even trot in a group without being a little nervous? Why do I bother? You know the totally normal* things people say to themselves about a hobby.

I floated these ideas to Claire at my last lesson and as she stood rolling her eyes at me, explaining patiently to a 34 year old woman to stop being an idiot she suggested I set some goals for my hacking and my lessons. She also pointed out that I can walk, trot, canter and jump so really I can ride, I just still don’t believe it. To that end I have been thinking about what my new horse riding goals can be and have decided to set three and start to work towards them throughout the year.

• Hacking wise I want to canter in a group, that’s all, nothing fancy just straightforward cantering in a group.
• Lesson-wise goal 1: Learn 2 new dressage moves for flatwork, if Claire agrees I would like to perfect leg yield in trot and try it in canter
• Lesson-wise goal 2: Jump a small course of jumps in canter. I don’t need big jumps I would just like a wee course. I haven’t done this for years! This one will wait until my balance is fully restored

So that’s it! I have written them down and will chat to Claire next week to see where we go from here. On a different note, I am planning on changing the blog slightly and will focus on reviews of riding establishments and quarterly updates of my riding – this applies to the horse-y part of my blog other posts will be written and published but I have realised that it might be helpful for other nervous riders if I write up where I ride and let them know my thoughts! Any comments on my goals or the horse-y plans for the blog I would love to hear them.

 

*sarcasm on the go here 🙂

Riding Update – Lessons and A Wee Bit of Stubble Fields

This blog is called The Inelegant Horse Rider for a reason and that’s because I do horse ride! By the time you read this I will be on holiday in Ireland practising jumping and hopefully doing a jump or two in a row (my own small goal for the return visit to AnnaHarvey Farm). Over the last few weeks I have had some difficulties in my lessons twice being in tears and feeling incredibly frustrated with myself. Now I can safely say that an element of these episodes has been influenced by my stress levels being through the roof at my work. My lessons are after work during the week and while they definitely help me destress I also think my emotions are sometimes close to breaking when I get there. More on stress and how I am trying to manage it in a later post. Anyway, in one lesson I jumped off the horse in tears and refused to do anymore. It stemmed from the fact that once again I had failed to get the horse to canter when I wanted. It feels as though this has become a trigger for me beating myself as a rider, I have considered quitting the whole hobby after a previous lesson due to this.

In the lesson where I had jumped off my instructor Claire did manage to talk me round and got me back on (incidentally I managed to mount a moving horse from the ground – I was pretty chuffed with that, felt like someone from a cowboy film 🙂 ). I was determined I would only trot, maybe removing the expectation that I would fail to get canter would help. Well of course it did. 5 minutes later I was cantering and then…I did some jumps. Admittedly two times my horse simply trotted over the jump while I sat in jump position determinedly not looking down. Honestly I had strange staring contest going on with the wall at the far end of the school, I was looking very serious. Then on the last go at the jump Gem (the lovely horse I was riding) seemed to back off approaching the jump, without thinking the age-old jumping mentality kicked in and I pushed her on meaning we jumped and landed in canter! Wow – what a horse! I was grinning about that one. I also had my mate Gemma in that lesson and I think watching someone enjoy jumping, laughing as they do it, really does help inspire me. The following
week I jumped again (and again and again) which was great fun although I am still finding it tough and we are keeping in trot just now. I fancy trying in canter as if my memory serves it is much smoother. Actually famous last words there but hopefully in Ireland I can try cantering into jumps.

As for hacking that has been fun and pretty daft. I have been riding with the girls again, now on a more regular basis, and I am loving it. The wonderful idiot that is Bibi has been helping me grow my confidence and I am asking for other horses again. This weekend just past I rode Flame again and although I was nervous I cantered in the stubble fields and absolutely loved it. I took it steady as my previous experiences in stubble fields have always been very, very fast and I wanted to build my confidence in a new place. I let my friends canter separately while I opted to go just with the leader – she was brilliant with my nerves. After watching my mates I decided I wanted to go in the fields so we did a lovely canter up to them, Flame seemed to constantly check I was okay but next time I will let the old dude fly. On the second canter stretch I got a little nervous again thinking it looked like a racing strip but I needn’t have worried, myself and the leader walked and trotted down it then I asked if we could have a little canter? The leader agreed so I kicked on then as she shouted I realised she hadn’t been ready to go! I felt a bit bad on that front, she was fine and we laughed about it as my friends cantered up the field to join us. Mates, sunshine, laughter and horses – a perfect Sunday afternoon. We were only missing our 4th musketeer but we are all riding together on the 30th 🙂

Flame does pose pretty well doesn’t he?

Gemma and Ned

I won’t lie I am a little worried about Ireland this time around, my nerves are worse than last time and you all know how much I love beating myself up if I feel I didn’t meet my weird own standards. But I am trying to go with an open head and heart. I have set myself my two wee goals and the other bigger goal is simple to enjoy myself. I bought a GoPro camera so you are going to get some video action hopefully and the weather forecast isn’t looking too shabby. Maybe I will even believe I can ride following this holiday – here’s hoping huh?

Heather and the lovely Bibi

“Oh I can’t possibly trot yet, my leg is sooo itchy”

Our 4th musketeer 🙂

Rollercoasting on Horseback – the Nerves Go Through the Wringer

For some reason June feels like April outside at the moment, but the light nights are lovely which is kind of making up for the fact that I think I have only been outside in short sleeves once so far this year. I am only sort of joking there although to be fair it has meant I have a longer lead in time to make the tshirt and vest top that are next on the sewing list.

Saturday on the other hand was a lovely warm day and there was even sunshine – in fact both days at the weekend were warm meaning the beach I ride on had more people and dogs than we have seen for a long time. The horses are not scared of dogs but lets be honest if you have a dog and you see horses please keep the dog under control – the horse I am on may not be scared of it but it will have no qualms about kicking it should they deem it necessary. Also it is worth noting there are horses that are scared of dogs and dogs that are running around horses legs have a severe chance of being injured and nobody wants that,

Lugs – A Legendary Horse

You may have seen Cumbrian Heavy Horses in the news recently due to a horrible, callous attack on one of their mares, Skye. I have never ridden Skye (yet) but she has been on some of the rides I have been on and she is a lovely, sweet mare. It looks like she will be fine and the team at CHH will look after her so well so she will make a speedy recovery and I hope it doesn’t affect her too much.

I also heard lately that Lugs had passed away. He was an absolute legend. He had retired out a few years ago but not before I had the pleasure of riding him. He was my steed for my first ever beach ride – he knew what his job was and he did it to perfection. I started off that ride trying to smile and joke but a fair bit nervous – by the end I was grinning from ear to ear and as well as Annie and her team credit must be go to Lugs. He gave me confidence in my riding and while I was in a good place with my nerves he helped to cement that fleeting glimpse I sometimes experience of ‘oh, I can ride’.

Cliff Top Canters

Can you believe it is the middle of May already? I am slightly reeling in shock! May is shaping up to be quite busy but in a nice way. I can’t wait for my week off from work at the end of May and even more excitingly our trip up North for a couple of nights.

The weather in Scotland has actually gone a bit downhill of late but has that stopped the horse riding? Of course not! Last weekend I rode Bibi down at Seacliff on a slightly shorter route as I got my timings wrong and thought I was 15 minutes early when I was actually 15 minutes late! As it was just myself and Carol it was also a lesson on the hoof. It is useful to be corrected and pulled up on the certain slightly lazy habits I have picked up. I was trying to make Bibi walk on and eventually it worked but there was some go-slows and some jogging, which he isn’t allowed to do. Bibi is a black cob, he is around 14.1h I believe and he is very sweet natured horse who Heather adores. I can definitely see why.

Anna and the Scary Waves

Urgh head colds are horrible aren’t they? I have had one since Friday but I still managed to drag myself out my bed and to the train for my (nearly) weekly trip to Seacliff. For the first time I cycled to the stables from the station, it didn’t take too long but felt tough – that should have probably been a hint that I wasn’t well.

On Friday evening I had another lesson with Houston and while it was enjoyable I did get incredibly nervous at one point and we had to stop with the faster work we were doing. The instructor did suggest that the snorting of the horse and the fact she had tripped seemed to make me tense, that’s interesting and something I need to work with. We did manage one canter and the fact that their horses are much faster in the canter is proving good for me.

Confidence Nudges

Apologies for the delay in posting this week. Normally I try to post early in the week, reflecting on the weekend’s adventures but this week has already managed to run away with me. On Monday I did a presentation to a larger group of colleagues than I am used to presenting to, and I am happy to admit I was really nervous beforehand. I’m not sure I am cut out for public speaking, I find it nerve racking and while happy to chat and present to small groups of people – make me stand up and hand me a mic and I start to talk faster and faster, pretty sure I mumble and I forget some of the facts I wanted to say.

There was meant to be a colleague presenting with me on Monday but due to illness I stood up there alone and spoke. Now I have minor presentation amnesia meaning I rarely remember the full presentation I give but it seemed to go okay, I got across all the points I wanted to make and I didn’t sound like an idiot in front of my bosses and colleagues, success I feel. I even got a lovely mention on Twitter where someone said I was a delightful presenter – which is wonderful praise to receive.

Sharing the fun!

Just a quick update today on the horse riding antics of the weekend. I badgered some work colleagues into joining me at Seacliff on Saturday and they seemed to really enjoy it. One had ridden there a few times before and was a very good rider while the other hadn’t ridden much but enjoyed her time in the saddle.

Somehow the background on this doesn’t look real does it?

Ready for Our Close Up

After weeks (months??) of promising photos of our Seacliff adventures here are a bumper crop taken on last Sunday’s hack with my best horse-y buddies. One of our motley crew was unfortunately unable to make it and it started to rain while we were on the beach but it was fantastic anyway.

It took me a while to gain my confidence in the canter again, Flame is not slow all the time! In fact the instructor took me for some one on one canters, explained various techniques to help me with my balance on Flame including pushing him on in the canter and to trust in myself that I am riding him and controlling him not simply being pulled along. She was absolutely lovely to ride with and my confidence grew so much that by the end I was doing group canters 🙂

She also made sure to canter one-on-one with the other girls too and gave them tips and comments too. Here are a few pictures from our morning out and about. Apologies for the fact my fingers are in some of them, that’s what happens when I am riding and taking pictures!

The three amigos – L-R Me on Flame, Heather on BiBi and Gemma on Vicky

Rest In Peace P & Jm

I received some sad news this week. P and Jm, two wonderful horses at my regular stables passed away last week. Although P had been off work for the past wee while I always assumed I would ride him again and given his lovely friendship with Td I used to always make sure I gave him a pat and chatted away to him.

Jm is even more of a surprise as he has been in my lessons recently – racketing around and causing mayhem as he liked to do. Jm and I might not have gotten on brilliantly when riding together but he certainly had bags full of character and I will miss his mischievous ways.