Gone Riding

When I was young I could have a headache, or pain of some kind, and I’d go ride and I’d forget all about it. Physically I did not feel whatever was bothering me if I was riding. It might come roaring back as soon as I was off the horse, but for the time I was in the saddle, it abated. A useful tool, I have often “gone riding” when all else around me was falling apart or I was just having a rotten day or just needed some sunshine and horses. As you get older though, and life and living gets in the way, you tend to forget those things that make you feel alive. There is always a reason why I can’t ride – I’ve got too much else to do being chief among them. Even though riding and training horses has long been part of my livelihood, riding just for fun, just for me, has almost become an obsolete pleasure.

Riding now does not offer the same obscurity from pain. I definitely feel it in my back, my neck, my lethargic muscles and usually, also my right hip. I can’t remember the last time I rode pain-free. I’m sure it’s been at least twenty years. Pain only occasionally stops me from riding. Pain is just a reminder that I’ve had some pretty good falls and injuries, and I am still ok.

Living on this ranch, myself and my husband are the ones that take care of everything and anything. I have one employee, to help teach lessons, and two barn rats that help out occasionally. I also have a three and a half-year old who wants my attention nonstop. She eats, and plays, and sleeps (sort of) and eats some more and needs a bath, and needs this and that and I am forever trying to clean up the mess left by the little tornado. If I need to clean stalls, she of course wants to help. Or else she disappears. And then I am calling her name and making sure she’s ok. (She’s fine). Feeding the horses in very cold or very wet or very windy weather is always a fun task with a small child tagging along. But she has learned, I admit, to pretty much behave herself and stay out of the way while I feed. If the weather is nice I can have her outside playing while I do things. Still it’s not as easy as it once was, as obviously, her needs always have to come first. And then she climbs on the gate, or is squealing over an injured mouse she’s found, or covering herself and all her toys in the sand in the driveway and I’m terrified a car will not notice her when it drives up. My attention, at best, is divided.

And, I admit, I am now a fair weather rider. I am not the die-hard I used to be. I remember, once, as a teenager, I drove to the barn after school one day and got my horse ready and mounted, all the time wondering “where the heck is everyone?” My trainer finally drives up in her car about thirty minutes later and comes over to where I am walking around the arena and says “what on earth are you doing? It’s 25 degrees out here!” This was of course before cell phones, so I did not get the message she left at my house that lessons were canceled that day. It never occurred to me not to ride, just because it was cold.

These days, if it’s at all windy, it’s a no go for me. Wind is the arm pit of weather as far as I’m concerned. Wind makes me cold and I do not like to be cold. If it’s below 45 it’s probably not going to happen either. Or above 90. I can handle a fair bit of heat but I do draw the line depending on the humidity. Most days I have to force myself to go out and do the training rides that are required. Sitting at the computer, working (most of the time – I do like to surf through Amazon a lot), is so much easier while also watching / playing with / or attending to the needs of the kid. If husband is not at work or sleeping he usually also has some barn thing that needs doing. Especially if the weather is nice.

BUT. Today I rode. For me. And it was fun and I enjoyed it. A large pony my husband and I have broke and trained together, Hugo is fun for me. He’s smooth and he listens and he learns. He moves up under me and isn’t sluggish. He moves over when I press with my leg. He’ll jump anything and even though he’s young and still learning, I enjoy riding and teaching him. But the best part about him is, if I just want to ride, and not teach him a damn thing, he’s all for that too. And it was a beautiful 60 degree weather day with very little wind. And Baby Girl was at school. I was able to take my time grooming and playing and just breathing in horse. It was a Good Thing. Next time I tell myself that I don’t have time to just “go ride” I will come back and read this post and I will go do it. My uplifted spirits are so worth it.