Woofed

My husband (the dirty dog ;-) took off early this morning for a symposium on “The Biomechanics of Soundness” by Dr. Gerd Heuschmann. I would have loved to attend as well, but we had no care options for our son. Since it was another beautiful, sunny day and Brian needed something useful to do to keep him out of trouble, I tortured him enlisted his help in getting the garden weeded. We spent hours with hoes, shovel and rake, leaving it looking the best it ever has at this time of year – but, oh, the drama! (I finally warned Brian that any further wailing and gnashing of teeth would result in losing any chance of calling a buddy for a play date when we finished; just another chapter in the volume "Parenting is Not For Wimps"....)

It was hard work. When we finished this afternoon, Brian pedaled off to play with a neighbor boy and I collapsed in a chair for awhile, too pooped to party. But when I have the time and weather to ride, I know better than to squander it, so I finally drug my sore, sorry self down to the barn.

As is so often the case, a good dose of horse (temporarily) cured what ailed me, and we had a good ride. Rick got home while I was still schooling and came down to the arena. I asked him about the symposium, and then invited him to critique us. Why not get some benefit from the day, right? So he gave me some input, encouraging me to let go of Lance's face and let him carry himself more, while reviewing what Dr. Hueschmann did with the demo riders. It was actually very helpful, and I'm going to try implementing what he told me in every ride from now on.

Now that I'm back in my chair, my body is griping at me as much as Brian was earlier. If I can make myself get up again, I think a couple naproxen would be a very good idea....