Not so sure about March

Yesterday I rode both the boys. After I picked a whole wheelbarrow full of poop out of the arena. It only took twenty minutes, but still, it's annoying. I was also able to break up and move the dumped bucket ice and the icy snow in front of the door. That made everything more safe and ridable.

Albert was first up and he was a bit cheeky. Distracted and hyper, I had to insist that he focused on work. He was doing pretty well until we came across the diagonal at the canter. I was planning on working the counter canter so I didn't ask for a lead change of any kind, and we were approaching the opposite corner. He had anticipated a lead change through the trot, but when I pushed him past X he got a little tense. Just was the words "It's okay, just canter...good boy.." came out of my mouth he saw something in the corner and spooked big time. It was one of those "Oh crap!" spooks where he planted his front feet and spun into the wall, sending me out of the saddle and up onto his neck. Then he was really tense, figuring that I was going to paste him for spooking. After I got back down to the saddle, I just said "Come on!" in a happy vioce and we went on like nothing happened. He was still a bit tense at times but we did get some things accomplished in those 15 minutes. I really do hate his saddle though. It just doesn't fit me comfortably.

Kaswyn felt pretty darned good. It was nice to be back in my saddle and on my horse again. He was more than willing to trot and canter, even though the left lead canter started out a little rough. I decided that he just wasn't using his back end, probably out of habit, so I asked for more push and impulsion and he gave it without a problem. After cantering on the right lead for a bit the left lead improved a lot and almost felt back to normal. He still feels weak behind, and that he just needs to build everything back up again.

He's not the only one. I only rode each horse for 15 minutes and by the time I got off of Kaswyn my abs were screaming. My legs were wobbly too, and I was just tapped. I'm starting to think I might not be ready to show in March even if I can get the horses ready. I really really want to go, but I'm guessing I'll have three rides a day, and if I can't get through 30 minutes of riding then I don't know how I'm going to do three warm ups and three tests in one day without dying. We'll see where I am when entries open.

Remember how I said that there was no way that I was going to clean tack with no hot water in the barn? Well, there is a way because I did it last night. Yes, I'm a freak, because I cleaned my tack in icy water with the barn hovering around 25 degrees. I just couldn't stand it. I didn't do the best job ever, but at least my saddle, bridle, spurs, and boots are mostly clean. Which is a good thing because I'm doing the whole thing all over again tonight. After two days of pushing myself I know I'm going to be hurting on Saturday.

Oh well, it's worth it. I gotta get back in shape! Sore muscles be damned!