hurdles

Last weekend my dad came up to watch me horse show. It was great to see him! I am very close with my family and it is difficult being away at school. My dad loves to come watch Charly and I. Even though, my dad is the definition of a city slicker he still enjoys feeding Charly treats. He always says how his biggest joy is watching how happy the horses make me. However, what could have been a lovely weekend with my dad watching me show in an easy class…turned into a disaster.

I have been in a “riding funk” for the past two weeks now. I am not sure why or how to fix it but I have taken a nose dive and simple tasks now seem insurmountable. My coach at school tells me “it happens, don’t worry.” Yeah that may sound all nice but I didn’t believe them, this sort of thing shouldn’t be happening to me. My “riding funk” culminated in my first class, everything was going well until I moved up to a distance that I should have waited for. The result….Charly and I took down the entire fence. The worst part was how pissed off at me he was after. He bucked and bolted and pinned his ears as to say “what the hell was that mom?!” I was concerned he was injured because of my careless mistake and the tears began to stream down my face. He turned out to be fine but that level of guilt and feeling of stupidity stuck with me.

Finally yesterday I climbed out of my riding funk! I spent the weekend in Florida with my boyfriend. I was able to ride with a trainer, Amber, who I know and respect. Luckily, shaking up my routine by riding a new horse, with a different trainer, in a different environment was all I needed! Amber couldn’t stop laughing at my ear-to-ear grin as I jumped around. I told her she had no idea… :)