Heart of Gold

This morning, I rode my trainer's warmblood mare, Landie in the indoor ring. Champ watched me from his stall, along with all the other horses. Landie was a nutcase on the lunge line for a while, but once I got on, she was good to go. The poor thing hasn't been ridden since I rode her a month ago, and if she isn't ridden regularly, she gets stiff. And nutty. I worked on sitting trot with and without stirrups, balance exercises, rhythm and forward movement at the walk, and re-learning correct positioning -- sitting on my 'seat bones' (ischia) instead of hollowing my lower back and sitting forward. It was a good lesson. I missed Champ, though. Next week.

I rode in my very own saddle, which has been a fixture in my bedroom closet for about 12 years. It's a Stubben Seigfried all-purpose, of unknown age. I bought it in 1993 from a girl who rode at the lesson barn where I was riding. Actually, my dad bought it for me. It was the first piece of 'real' riding equipment I owned, and I am really comfortable in it. It was nice to have my stirrups with the sandpaper pads in them, too. I like those. The little things make riding feel like 'home' again.

It rained and rained and rained while I rode, the sound amplified by the metal roof of the barn. There are a couple of mirrors at one end of the ring, and I noted that I did not actually look like the sack of  potatoes I feel like sometimes. Hooray!

After I was done riding, my trainer and I talked and talked while finishing up some barn chores. Leaving the barn, much later than I planned, felt like emerging from some other world, back into this one, where the phone rings with work, and kids need picking up from school, and dinner needs to get started. I wanted to take a nap when I got home, just to prolong the otherness of my morning.

Oh. We looked at the registration papers for Champ to find out his 'real' name.

It's Heart of Gold.

Perfect.