I'm ready

I had a nice and relaxing weekend with my husband, my last "free" weekend before I'm a student again. School starts this coming week, in 3 days, to be exact. I think I'm as ready as can be. I decided to take this weekend off to spend it all with Ezra, since we'll be seeing each other a lot less when time comes for me to go to Towson five days a week. And for the reason that I tweeked my knee somehow, most likely from riding. Granted, I've been "feeling" a dull sensation on and off in my right knee for some time now, but it was insignificant enough for me to ignore it. Then, after riding on Friday, I got off to my knee actually hurting, a sharp prodding every time I put weight on it, bend it, straighten it, and so on. It still hasn't gotten better, so I'm going to be not stubborn and make a doctor's appointment for it. Not that knee injuries are uncommon among equestrians, but a bad knee is a pain in the rear to say the least, and a lifetime of trouble to say the most. So, better safe than sorry. We had a date night at Buffalo Wild Wings tonight, after spending a whole afternoon on getting our apartment cleaned, which was my final before school to-do list check off, and each of us had a delicious alcoholic beverage. I savoured every bit of it. Going out drinking on a Sunday night? Might not happen again until winter break. I was actually drunk by the time we got home. Still such a light weight, despite not being on any medication anymore.

Friday I had a light ride, but a great ride. After a few rounds of our usual small gymnastics exercises, one of which I extended for challenge's sakes, I rewarded Candy by sending her over the 2'9'' vertical that I'd been eyeing for some time in the ring. She cleared it beautifully, twice. No rushing, no stumbling, no throwing herself aimlessly. And both times, I felt great about myself. I didn't tense up, and I didn't grab mane either. I sat back, held my canter seat to the bottom of the jump, and snapped into two-point when Candy picked up her front legs. Granted, I still have so, so much to work on as far as that goes. Karly has said that sitting up all the way to the jump, waiting until the last second possible, and then getting into two-point with the horse's upper motion as soon as the horse takes off for the jump, is what all higher level jumpers should aspire to master. The timing and coordination take a whole lot of time and practice to perfect, more so when you start jumping higher than three feet. Of course, knowing when to use the half-seat will also be crucial when I begin riding cross-country, but I have faith that I will get to a point where I will just know it every time, that my body and Candy's will just play call and response automatically, balance each other, and give each other all the necessary feedbacks without any extra effort on either of our part, whether we're out on a cross-country course or in a showjumping arena. Eventually, it'll all be done by feel, and we'll both know exactly what to feel for every time, and I'll never have to think anything about it beforehand ever again. There's no doubt that I'm riding Candy better and better, and that we're both improving with every ride. It was almost dark by the time I dismounted. I had practiced my canter positions, using my body to adjust Candy's strides. I had practiced my two-point position, at the trot and at the canter. I even worked on my sitting trot. Taking into consideration how many times poor Candy tripped due to bad footing in the ring following heavy rainfall from the day before, I couldn't blame her for being a tad bit wary. I had a serious "oh shit" moment, when Candy tripped right after a canter pole and right before a crossrail, decided to take off and go over the crossrail right away anyway without even a nanosecond of pausing, then tripped again upon landing after the crossrail, and had to flail her way over the landing rail at the end. I would've given a lot to have seen a freeze frame of my face through all that. 

The interesting things that keep happening to you when you are a horse person: your equine friend gets a nosebleed and decides that the best solution is to wipe it on you. 

Here's a random thought: is it just me, or does it happen to all other equestrians, that you almost seem to always come back a much better rider after a bad fall than you were before, every time? I feel like since my last serious incident (the left side of my rib cage can still feel it, by the way), I made a grand return full throttle, and things have just been shooting uphill ever since. Granted, I've been putting in more lesson blocks recently, but hey, maybe a fall like that was what I needed. Scary thought, but maybe it just happened to have worked out in my favor.