Holding on tight

I woke up this morning, and for the first time in ages my legs were sore from riding.

Dada said that yesterday would be a relaxing and fun trail ride. It was fun, but relaxing is not the right word. It was hard.

T moves along at a good clip no matter the terrain. Of course, the uneven terrain does not faze her, but she is even more bouncy than usual. So I wound up clinging with my legs for all I was worth.

Not that I minded. It was a nice change.

We tried an Australian saddle with my toestoppers, and that contributed to my clinginess. The saddle didn't sit real straight and tight. Next week we are back to the Western saddle, but with rubber bands to hold my feet in the stirrups.

Learning to ride

As I said in an e-mail today, T is the horse to get me as far as I can go. Maybe Sleipnir would be better, but other than that ...

I had my first lesson of the season today, and it was good and hard and fun and disappointing and different and new.

The new riding area is a wonderful ring that was dry despite all the rain the past few days. We still have the steep ramp, although I am told a better one is on the way. A passer-by didn't think it would work, and he helped us. We would have been fine, but the extra shoulder to lean on was nice.

One of the big differences is that Kate, another instructor who always helped with me, is not working with SPIRIT at the moment. I am far from the only one who misses her. She is teaching at another program and no doubt she will be a success.

For me, this meant that after we got in the ring, only Dada was with me. That was fine. She didn't need to catch me or anything, although I did wobble a lot.

Dada stayed close to me and T -- just as well -- but as usual that means T really follows Dada, not my commands. That is one reason I think I do better at shows. The horses are so despondent that Dada is not there that they follow me. Also, like usual, my first ride of a test was the best.

After that I started having problems with the reins -- we did not have both rein clips -- and they were either too long or too short. Also, I can't really squeeze and release the reins constantly like I need to if they are always sliding on me.

And my feet kept coming out of the stirrups. The toestoppers do not fit on the Western saddle stirrups, and we did not have rubber bands. We will have to decide on which saddle works better: the Western one with the horn or the dressage one with the toestoppers.

We will fix things, and despite the problems, it was such fun. And I am going to a show in a few weeks!

On top of the world

I had forgotten how joyous it is to sit astride T and feel her move along, quite fast, too, I might add.

Today was the open house/opening ceremony for SPIRIT Open Equestrian Program. We area riding in a new place that has more space and seems lovely. My youngest sister and her family brought me and watched. It was pretty awesome to hear the chant of "Uncle Matt" every time I passed their side of the ring.

I always feel at a disadvantage at these functions because some people tend to know me from this blog, but I don't know them. Or at least I don't remember meeting them before. Ah well, I guess it is how Brad Pitt must feel, huh? Of course, I am kidding; I have a long way to go before I am even as famous as Brad Garrett. It is so fun to see everyone again, especially the kids who just seem to love riding. One little girl just started clapping when she saw Dada.

Because a lot of folks were riding, not just me, T did not have any of my usual adaptive equipment. So no rein clips, or toe stoppers or different length stirrups. I don't know if they would have made a difference, anyway. I really felt awkward at first. I kept sliding to the left, despite my best efforts.

About midway through the ride, Dada, who was working with other riders, came over and walked with me. First, she tightened the saddle, which helped a lot. Maybe just having Dada nearby helped, too. It was nice to see her, especially riding. I hardly ever see Dada ride.

And in case I thought she might go easy on me the first time I had ridden in months, I needn't have worried. She told me to stop at X, and I didn't. Mostly, I forgot to plan my stop so T knew we were stopping; partly, I could not get the reins in my hands properly. After a talking-to from Dada about using my head, I got us to stop at the right place. I missed that. Dada is quite a good mix of encouragement and constructive criticism and praise.

T was great, really walking with a fast pace. I think she might have been bored this winter.

We have to get schedules set up so I don't anticipate riding next weekend, but I am back in the saddle. Figure 8's, here I come.

Matt the athlete

I got a letter in the mail today from the Challenged Athletes Foundation. I got a scholarship for riding. Now i really can't wait to start up again. Soon.