Push me

I'm up at 5:40 and riding by 7am. It's an overcast, windstill day. I take Princess for a walk in the state forest. It's been a while since I've been out with her, and she lets me know her fears. She gets into it soon enough, and we have a really enjoyable ride. In fact, she's so relaxed by the end, that I'm holding the reins at the buckle!

I put her away and grab Crownie. We start on some dressage. Crownie, being a long horse, requires quite a lot of strength to get going in dressage. You have to work quite hard to get those back legs stepping underneath. I get some fantastic work, but the minute I stop applying the strength, it all starts to fall apart. The horse stumbles or loses a leg.

After 20 minutes I am exhausted. I do a halt and look at my watch. 20 minutes is just not long enough. I pick up my reins and do some more walk and trot. My muscles are screaming at me. I am wishing for a coach, that could be right here, right now, to push me through this. After another 7 minutes, I succumb to my weakness.

By midafternoon I'm kicking myself for wussing out.