All Good Things Come to an End

Riders, you know the feeling. You have an awesome ride- whether it be in a lesson, at a show, or even on the trail. The euphoric feeling of having conquered this thing called horse back riding- you freaking did it. Ain't nothin gonna get you down now...

Oh wait, yes there is....

This was me, with Ben. After his show he had all of Sunday to rest, but was back to work on Monday, Tuesday, and then Wednesday to accomodate the holiday week and training schedule. Then, he had a much deserved scheduled break from Thursday- Sunday.

Monday the trainer took it easy on him- working on some finer things rather than focusing on the physically demanding work. Tuesday he had a medium workout.

By all reports, he was in fine working form and happy as a clam.

Wednesday morning I had a lesson scheduled.

Everything was going pretty routine, until we started our canter work. But even then, our canter work was going fine too. Until during one canter Ben wanted to counter bend so my trainer told me to bend him back. Which I did - and the addition of my leg was not well received. Ben bucked pretty hard- but in addition to a buck he also did a little twisty number that wrenched my saddle to the right.

I hung on to his neck from K to F, trying to get my saddle back  enough to get my balance. But at some point you just know you just have to fall. Dammit.

So hit the dirt I did.

I was unharmed, just a little pissed off. Dusted myself off, got back on. Ben was visibly shaken. He was nervous, and it took a long while for him to relax. Mind you, I probably wasn't helping things because I was angry.

But nevertheless, we rode it out, got our transitions, our bends, and ended on a good note.

My neck was pretty sore that day - spent the day icing, taking ibuprophen, but also enjoying the 4th. The next day was even worse, but manageable. I didn't really move much. 

I'm doing fine now, most of the pain is gone. Though last night I tried to do my crunches and that was just too much. So we're still off of those for now. I've been able to do lots of walking and even got in a run. Riding resumes today- Ben and I are going for a little hack.