Tuesday = Remy's Monday = Back to school day. Chambord got a pass today due to the extreme blustery winds. Chambord is such a cool guy, but his 'pet peeve' (hmm, not sure if that's the right term) is being indoors when high winds are howling and rattling the roof. This usually prompts Chambord to do his own version of "airs above the ground". As I'd like to keep JP in one piece (at least most of the time) we decided to be prudent and leave Chambord at home.
I knew before getting on that it would be a difficult day - breathing wise. Unusually warm weather (in the high 50s) plus high humidity spells trouble for me in the indoor. Those shredded Nike's are just telling my air ways to shut the hatches. To make it easier I put Remy on the longe line first for his warm up, already focusing on engaging his hind quarters, and on good (prompt) transitions.
The blustering winds luckily did not get Remy much off the couch - at least in this case luckily for me (I did not fancy a rodeo). Judy was not enthralled with his rather lackadaisical approach. We worked through it, somehow. It's not so easy trying to get 1200 pounds motivated while gasping for air like a fish on land.
We finished well, but my "Inner Type A" was rather frustrated with me. I mean, finally I had a canter worthy enough for Judy to say "Now you can do a flying change" and my short answer was "No". Just didn't have enough breath, which annoys the heck out of me. Even the masks that are supposed to work for athletes are not doing the job properly.
On the bright side (and of course, there is one) - I should be ready to conquer any high altitude mountain in no time. After all this training I won't need any oxygen bottles. Watch out, Pico de Orizaba*, here I come!
*Our company has a plant in Orizaba, and two people from my sales team are part of a small group climbing the mountain next weekend.
Pico de Orizaba, also known as Citlaltépetl (from Nahuatl citlal(in) = star, and tepētl = mountain), is a stratovolcano, the highest mountain in Mexico and the third highest in North America, after Denali (formerly known as Mount McKinley) of the United States and Mount Logan of Canada. It rises 5,636 metres (18,491 ft) above sea level in the eastern end of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, on the border between the states of Veracruz and Puebla. The volcano is currently dormant but not extinct, with the last eruption taking place during the 19th century. It is the second most prominent volcanic peak in the world after Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro.
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