Hey there, what's happening? Me, I'm doing good. Trainer Dude is back from his annual sojourn to Florida, and we are officially banging a gong and getting the horse search on. (Obligatory music video here. I'm also very fond of The Power Station's version. But, no disrespect to Robert Palmer, I feel like Marc Bolan is the only man who ever pranced the earth who can say "you're built like a car" and make it sound like a compliment.)
So far, there have not been any serious contenders to be my next horse. Part of me is desperately impatient to find another horse (that would be the part of me that checks every single horses-for-sale website on the planet every single day.) Another part of me realizes that it is probably doing me the world of good to not have a horse right now. It's giving me the space and the time to process my whole experience with the last horse (which was pretty intense and emotionally draining.) I've been carrying around a lot of physical and psychological tension related to horses, and powering through it did not work. So now I'm just giving myself time and space and taking off pressure.
I've been riding my horse friend Willie a couple of days a week. I've been thinking about my position in the saddle, and working on some mild exercises to help him with bend and acceptance of contact, but I'm giving myself permission to step back and not push myself, so mostly we just walk around. We went on a trail ride with Meredith which was great! I haven't been on a trail ride since I was 13. And as soon as the weather cooperates we'll be doing more of that. I am realizing how important cross training and just hacking out is for the mind and body of the horse and the rider.
It's also been very helpful for me to work with Trainer Dude. Not that we're doing much work together yet. But it makes a significant difference to me to know that I have him on my side to help me through this. I trust his expertise, I trust his personal character, and I trust his motivations. It takes a huge chunk of the worry and stress out of horse shopping (and the whole prospect of having another horse to take care of) to know that Trainer Dude is on my side, looking out for my best interests, and if something goes wrong, he'll help me take care of it.
Yesterday I had my first session of physiotherapy for my wonky left shoulder. I found my physiotherapist by calling the sports therapy place down the street and making an appointment with the first PT the receptionist suggested. And it turns out that my carefully selected PT has an extensive hunter/jumper background. She completely understand the physical movements and demands of riding ("Do you have difficulty or discomfort with overhead movements? Like lifting a saddle off of a rack?) She also understands how important it is to a dressage rider to be physically balanced. Since I live in a big city this is a pretty big stroke of luck and I'm very pleased.
The PT examined me to figure out what's going on with my shoulder and what any contributory issues may be. I need more core strength, and there's a slight problem with the lower back curving forward too much (which also shows up in my riding.) We are also going to work on those issues once the shoulder has been addressed. Yay! Then she gave me ultrasound treatment on the muscles on my affected shoulder. (My PT said that it helps loosen up constricted muscles so that they can be manipulated and exercised with less pain. I've heard mixed things about the effectiveness of ultrasound therapy in helping muscles heal faster and I'm curious to know what her take on it is, but I didn't ask her about all that since we barely know each other and I don't really know what I'm talking about. It feels good, anyway.) And she did some exercises on me, and gave me a set of exercises to work on at home.
This is a good example of what I'm figuring out in many areas of my life - that even though self-education is possible, you're better off starting with professional help. I've been doing my own little exercises and stretches on this shoulder for years, and it's helped to a certain extent, but since I don't have a foundation of training to understand what I'm doing, it's never properly addressed the problem.
That's it for this post. Tune in next time, when I'll possibly talk about correlations between horseback riding and cooking. Or possibly something else.
-Beth
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