“How are you not sore after falling off??” MK asks me incredulously…
This was the actual question posed to me.
Yes, I fell off. At
the horse show. In my class. And I was disqualified.
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| Round 1 - Fence 3 |
My flippant answer to “How are you not sore?” was, “I work
out.”
While it was initially spoken in jest, I think there’s some
truth in there.
 |
| I put in a gajillion braids... |
Because I’m following a complete workout program, my core is
regularly and thoroughly worked and challenged.
Therefore, when the Fancy Pony slammed on the brakes, my core was
available to hold me in the middle (for an extra second, anyway). That extra second allowed me to slow my
forward trajectory to better match my pony’s lack of trajectory so that I sort
of fell onto her neck and just rolled on around until I landed in the
dirt. I wasn’t grabbing with out-of-shape
muscles to stay on, so they were fully available to do the job. It’s not like you use those muscles when riding
is going well… Thanks to my integrated
cardio-weights workouts, they were available just how I needed them!
The story gets better though!
 |
| I like this one! |
While I was eliminated from my first round, I still had a
second round to ride.
We made it a little further this time…
I sat all my refusals without falling off.
I had a few nice jumping efforts.
I had a few not-so-pretty jumping efforts…
 |
| You would think we hadn't practiced at home... |
I had this incredible save!!
 |
| Stay in the middle... |
 |
| Just call me Karen? |
Now, what you may find difficult so see here, is that I’m
hanging off of the left side of my horse by my right knee and elbow… Somehow, I was able to channel my inner Karen
O’Connor and sit right back up!
…And re-approach the offending jump…
I’m pretty sure I just straight up choked in my first 3’
hunter class, but I learned. I learned
more than I imagined I could in those few short minutes. And, now, I’m back home to implement the
lessons learned while pushing just a little further out of my comfort zone.
 |
| after my second refusal... |
Because if we don’t push
something, we won’t grow.
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