My stupid left foot

I told Dada that it makes me nervous whenever she says she has big news. She assured me I had no reason to worry this time, and then she told me about a dressage competition they went to last weekend.

Becky, a little 10-year-old but a very good rider, was riding T, who apparently has never done just dressage. T has a history of eventing, which involves running and jumping as well as dressage, and Dada said T was a little unsettled to be in a show setting but without all the running and jumping. Becky got off T and they put her in a small ring and T apparently spent the next 15 minutes bucking and running and jumping. Then she was OK, and Becky won fourth place.

What this means for me is that at my show next week and for the immediate future, I will have Dada as a sidewalker even during competitions. She won't hold me up, just walk next to me. If Dada feels that is needed, then it is needed, and lord knows, I am not at all embarrassed to have a sidewalker -- I know I am not a great rider.

But I am still sad about it. Shows are the only time I get to ride alone. I like that it is just me and T. When Dada is close, even though she is not talking or riding T, Dada is in command. T will be following Dada. Riding alone is the only time I really feel like I am connected to the horse, that it is just us against the world ... or at least a world-shaped big circle.

And today's lesson was not great either. It felt like my left foot was falling out of the stirrup and that there was something digging in to the top of my foot. It was real hot, too.

The first ride I made was good, I thought, which made me glad that I could ride so well despite my left foot. The second ride was pretty good, too. But I just lost it on the third one and my foot was killing me. So we stopped.

I guess we need to get the stirrups lined up. And I know everything will work out OK.