On Weather, Winter, & Inconveniences

When I returned home from my trip to Ireland, I got off the airplane to ridiculously hot (70 degree) temperatures, and promptly spent the next few days in shorts, t-shirts, and summer dresses.  People thought summer was here to stay, but me and my cynical self didn't believe it.  Guess what?  I was right.  Last year, we had a big snow storm at te end of march, following some pretty nice summery weather around the middle of the month.  It was nothing like the weather we got this year, but it was warm for March.  Then, at the end of the month we had a foot of snow dumped on us in under 12 hours.  Actually, it was probably under 6 hours... but that's beside the point.
The reason for that little trip down memory lane is that right now, after our soaring summer temps (nearly 80 degrees) I now find myself smack dab in the middle of a snowstorm.  Funny thing is, I can't really bring myself to hate it... it should kill most of the bugs.  Hopefully.

On an unrelated topic, I'm stuck at home in bed after turning down tickets to the Rick Mercer Report.  Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of being sick this weekend... but illness rarely slots itself conveniently into your schedule.

Resurfacing

I am slowly resurfacing from the wave of sickness that has pulled me under in recent days.   I thought yesterday would be my last day in bed, as I was feeling much better, but apparently I overexerted myself, so today I was back in bed.  I've now missed every single day I was supposed to ride Cadence, Monday because of my coach's back, and Wednesday and Today (Friday) because I'm stuck in bed.

On a more positive note, I will ride Cadence tomorrow.  I may regret it afterwords, as I've lost absolutely all of my muscle mass since I've been sick, (seriously. I can barely walk up the stairs, and get tired walking from one room to the next) but I'll do absolutely everything in my power to get myself to the barn tomorrow. 
On a less positive note, it feels like ages since I've seen The Pony (in reality, I saw Arty on Monday) and it has been ages since I've ridden him.  Last time I rode him was on new years eve.  When I went out to see him Monday, he was all alone in the grassy part of the field.  His pasture buddy, Clarence, was chatting over the fence with the TB's in the field next door, but Arty had his priorities: eat now, socialize... never.  Arty happily walked up to me, and after searching my pockets (and munching on the mints he retrieved) followed me over to the gate.  Actually, he got distracted right before the gate by a pile of hay, but that's not the point.

Sick and Sore

I don’t know if I remembered to mention it, but before I rode Z, we free lunged her for a minute.  Now one of the hazards to riding and competing is injury.  At one point, my coach stomped her foot, and it triggered an old back injury.  I felt terrible for her, because she was clearly in a lot of pain, and it didn’t look like a quick fix.  Anyhow, yesterday she had to cancel our ride, as she was getting x-rays in the emerge.  It turned out to not be a terrible thing, as I myself was sick.  I slept most of the night last night, and tried to ignore my sore throat and cough.  Unfortunately, it didn’t want to ignore me.  I’m still sick, but it better go away soon.  I CAN’T be sick for exams!  Oh well, we’ll see how things go for Wednesday.  Fingers crossed I’ll be better. 

Sick :(

So I've had the joy of spending the past two days with the flu.  Oh how I love flu season.  All in all, I managed to only miss 1 day of classes instead of two.  I made it to my morning classes yesterday, and my afternoon classes today.  Unfortunately, I haven't made it to the barn.  I've decided that tomorrow, I'm going out to see Arty if it kills me.  I haven't seen him all week, and I need to see how his feet are healing.  My coach is away on vacation, so I didn't pick a bad week to be sick.  She'll be back Sunday, so I'll be able to have another lesson next weekend.  Something to look foreword to once I'm not confined to a bed.

Just as a note:  I love this picture, because Arty looks so happy.  He truly loves to jump.  Anyhow, this picture taught me something really important.  A friend of mine commented on my position, and how I was in front of the saddle when I jumped.  I looked closer, and while my position wasn't perfect my alignment was correct.  I was stumped, so I asked another person for their opinion.  They pointed out that Arty's saddle was slipping back (notice how it curves).  Her suggestion was to get a breastplate, and since then the problem has been solved!  The power of a second opinion (and a more experienced eye)