Jelly Legs

Francis and I survived our first lesson back together! I haven’t done a lesson since June, and I haven’t survived a full hour (albeit group) lesson since probably March-ish. My whole body is sore now and my legs were definitely getting shaky by the end, but it was sooo well worth it.

I have to say, credit for this lesson going so well lies squarely with my trainer and our pro rider. My muscle memory was there strongly enough that I could ask Frankie for what I wanted, but lack of stamina meant I lacked the oomph to back up the ask for very long. It’s thanks to the consistent solid rides he’s been getting that he was willing to maintain what he was doing until I got my act together to tell him differently. It’s really amazing to feel that and contrast it with how reliant he was on his rider not so long ago. I love that he’s confident enough in his job and fit and comfortable enough in his body to offer up the right answers so readily. Even his collections didn’t require as much holding together as usual.

I had tried to lesson the day before, but the skies opened up on us complete with extremely close lighting for a solid hour while I was supposed to be riding. We opted to postpone.

In all fairness, he is also VERY good at reading the room and is often a much easier ride for less experienced riders. We’ll see if he reverts back to some more “testing” behavior as I get my strength back and up the ante.

Another thing I’m grateful to our pro rider for is her work on his trot jumps. His trot jumps have historically been ATROCIOUS. Like, three people have fallen off him over trot jumps. PR (Pro Rider) decided to tackle this head on with him, and I got back in the saddle to find that my horse now has a delightfully smooth and easy trot jump. Literal point and shoot, no boundy canter step or stutter step or lurch. Just easy approach, power across, landing forward. It is witchcraft.

Most excitingly, we jumped our first full course in a very long time! It even included a bending line and a one-stride combo. Frankie was absolutely delightful: forward to the base, sat down and waited when I asked, easy lead changes when he needed them, and light in the bridle. I was super happy with that course not just because it rode well, but because it was a huge reassurance that while my strength is still lacking, my eye is still there and I still know how to make choices. I was most worried that my balance and technical abilities would be super rusty (and to be fair, they’re not as polished as they used to be) but I’m feeling much more confident that as I gain my strength back it’ll all come together pretty quickly.

We had a rainbow to celebrate the occasion of our first lesson back in the swing of things!

It’s lessons like these that make me truly grateful for the program that I’ve had Frankie in for the last few years. While I would definitely prefer to be a more hands-on owner and do all his rides myself, work and life and stuff has made it so that I rely on a whole team of people to keep Frankie fit and happy. It’s thanks to this whole team that I was able to hop on and jump around despite my own time off. They make the whole horse ownership thing not only possible for me at this stage of life, but fun for me no matter what is going on.

After such a promising re-entry to jumping around at 2’6″, the obvious choice was to plan for a nearby ship-in show in a few weeks at 1m. While this may seem a bit fast to put the jumps back up, Frankie is feeling fabulous and my strength is coming back more quickly than expected. He’s old hat at 1m so I’m not super concerned. Based on how that goes, we will decide what the plan is for Piedmont at the end of September: either 1m feels super easy and we will go for the 1.10-1.15m Highs at Piedmont, or it feels decent and we decide to stick in the 1m Lows at Piedmont. I’m happy either way!

Thrilled to be back in the zone and back sharing the ups and downs with all of you ❤

Francis carried his kid around the novice eq, along with the 0.75m and 0.85m jumpers in some big classes last weekend and was just perfect for her. My heart is bursting at how much fun they’re having together.