Just like Sharon promised, I hurt.
Muscles I forgot I had (or maybe never knew I had) hurt. Who would have thought that just doing something like move my toes 45* would cause my knees to ache so badly?
Now, I know I'm not in good shape. Any semblance of good shape. The fact that I haven't seen the inside of the gym in almost a year testifies to that.
However, I ride. I ride up and down mountains, across creeks, over boulders. For hours. And I do it all bareback. I have better than average posture when I'm horseback. My core is fairly strong. In fact, that's the only part of me that doesn't hurt. My riding muscles should have been in good shape.
Sharon managed to kick my arse. Who would have thought that almost two hours on level ground going in circles could hurt so much?
Okay, okay. A lot of you warned me I'd be sore and I didn't believe you. For that I'm sorry. I should have believed you all.
I've decided that my arms are going to get quite the workout, too. I've always ridden Western. Very little contact unless I needed to give the horse instruction. After the few minutes I did yesterday of riding with contact, my hands hurt. I'm not used to helping the horse hold his/her frame and it's going to be quite a change. But I'm willing to bet my triceps will appreciate it.
8 comments:
Ah, but that's the good kind of hurt!
I know, I have the same problem with my little workouts that tend to get ignored in between book deadlines. And each time I hurt all over again--even if it's only been a few days. How quickly our muscles turn to jelly!
Oohhh-I feel for ya. A hot bath with some epsom salt has your name written all over it.
Wait til you get halfway there, when your knees hurt one way if you point them forward and ANOTHER way if you let them lounge out to the sides! And shoulder knots - I get awful shoulder knots from riding, umm, with the option of contact.
I don't think it's fair to a horse to do miles of endurance training on the bit. Reminds me too much of how TWHs "should" be ridden, with their heads cranked in on the vertical. So I usually ride with just the tiniest bit of slack in the reins, so if I pick them up an inch I can "touch" Dixie's mouth. It takes almost as much adjusting as just riding with contact, so I get firey death knots in between my shoulder blades if I hold my arms wrong for miles. Wheee!
You really do have a fantastic core. It shows just from those short videos. If you ever took up weightlifting, you'd shock the guys at the gym with how much you can squat and deadlift!
I love that when you're sore in new spots--you get a feel for which muscles are being used. I just got back from TX and did some bike riding--talk about sore!! I had no idea I was in such bad shape.
I haven't been riding much since the clinic in Nov so when I do get to ride, my body aches the next day. Getting old sucks because it takes longer to bounce back but the hurt is still work it. I imagine you feel the same way.
One thing though about what you said that has me a little perplexed. Light contact is not really about carrying the horse's front end. Was the horse taking advantage of your lack of understanding and getting you to do part of his work?? Or is he trained differently than I think??
The way I was taught I could feel the horse was there but I did not carry the horse. There was no pressure from the horse against me, if that makes sense. It was just enough connection to know the rein was a direct line to the horse's mouth. It I tweaked a finger the horse would know I was asking something.
No pain no gain. Ah. Actually, it's all worth it. Especially the joy of riding a horse. Did the same today with Bug. It was awesome. Ride on, cowgirl!
And how did Estes feel? :)
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