I am trying in vain to stave off some sort of lurgy. Hopefully it's nothing porcine! It started yesterday with sore ears and throat, I was out in cold wind over the weekend and didn't have a tissue so spent a lot of time sniffing. Hardly a surprise I'm ill!
Today, on the way home hacking Fin, I became 'aware' of my joints being sore. Also, the insides of my thighs and my backside ached too, as if I couldn't bear them to be touching the saddle. I became increasingly sluggish as the afternoon progressed and barely finished poo-picking. I figure I might be feeling worse tomorrow so I had to grit my teeth and get on with it today.
When I arrived today the mares next door had been given access to their other field, lovely long standing hay. This drove the boys up the wall and the mares' owner said they were haring back and forth at full clip. Luckily, they were still in their paddock when I arrived so were not feeling so energetic as to fling themselves over the tape! But I had a sense of humour failure when I saw the field. It looks as if a polo match has been played along one side. It really does go above and beyond their previous handiwork!
Since Quadi felt well enough to do this I decided to see how he looked on the lunge. I approached this with trepidation. I decided I would just give him a quick work around the school in walk and trot to see how the soft surface affected him. If we had to circle I gave him the full width of the school but we stuck to the perimeters of the school. Knackering for me but better for him. He was a little distracted and the surface needs to be levelled but he looked good. No head-nodding, even length of stride, didn't struggle on either rein. And the sand surface was ideal for exfoliating the soles of his hooves. He looked suitably impressed with himself for some one-on-one with me and for doing some work.
Next I tacked up Fin and we went on a hack. I gave Quadi his feed as we left. He didn't finish it so I guess he more distracted by us leaving. He'd pooped a few times but hadn't spun in his stable so hopefully he wasn't too distressed. Better than last time, hopefully we're getting somewhere.
Fin was good but scuttled when we arrived in the forest. I was trying very hard to follow his movement and allow a bigger swinging walk. We had issues about which one of us would dictate velocity, range and bearing! He wasn't bad, but it was harder to relax as my body started hurting. Mr Fin also objected to waiting for a car to cross our path on the way back. I think I'm still advancing my left seatbone as he seems to banana around my leg a lot. It was impossible to correct, I feel like I might need a Portuguese saddle to hold me in place...I'm a little sad that nothing I can do seems to affect a change in this posture but today was not a good day to try too much.
Sufficient to say I was very weary when we arrived back. And it doesn't help when two bully boy ponies express physically their wish to go back to the field immediately, if not sooner. Sick of being headbutted :(
I'm off to curl up in a corner, feeling sorry for myself. Hopefully tomorrow I'll feel better and not worse :s
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