When things fall into place - and "I assure you I'm a person"

Sometimes things just fall into place. Remy and I had a super weekend at Sheffield Farm. Luckily, Remy is such a good traveler, and aside from road construction on I-94, traffic was flowing. He and I had beautiful accommodations, Remy had a big and deeply bedded stall, and my lovely room (also deeply bedded) at Sally's had a stunning lake view. 

Beautiful view at Sheffield Farm

Our session with Britta Pedersen* started with her observing our normal warm up. Then she put me through an assessment off the horse, plus worked on me on the massage table (yikes, tight hips and thigh muscles). Then back on Remy, with exercises, followed by being "bandaged" (using a patented system of resistance bands). It felt a bit like riding on a trampoline. Once I got the hang of it I could really feel the difference in my position. Day 1 was a wrap! 

Straight, elbows back, both seat bones even, open rib cage, turn

Day 2 was more of 'bandaged on the horse' (I was tempted to call it bondage, but then all the weirdos out there would probably pick up the post 😏), and we had a dressage lesson (Britta is also a GP dressage rider and was on the NZ eventing team). At one point in the canter I was actually squealing "I feel like a kid again!" I felt a bit silly, but Marian, the clinic organizer, and a professional trainer, assured me that this is how she felt also. Effortless, fun, and in tune with the horse is the best to describe it. 

Question received on my FB post: "Is this a mannequin or a person on the horse?" (Seriously!)

 Reply: "I can assure you that I'm a person" 😀 

The only minor hitch was me braking out in a cold sweat on the way home: My GPS took me through the country side, with no gas station in sight anywhere. Lots of Amish carriages, so I guess no need for gas! We barely made it to a gas station, and I breathed a heavy sigh of relief when I managed to squeeze truck and trailer close to a pump. We made it home, tired and happy - and JP breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn't brought Woody home 😅

Comment from JP when I sent him the photo: "Whatever you do, don't bring him or her home!"

Not this time, JP, by maybe next??

*Britta Pedersen, performancerefinery.com

Here is the outline from Britta on the clinic:

"Equestrian RMBA (Ridden Muscle Balance Assessment System) consists of a series of strength, flexibility, and Range of Motion tests, performed to the upper and lower body, spine and core. The specific RMBA (both off and on your horse) is structred into 4 phases:

Stage 1: We look at your postural alignment and biomechanical systems during the warm up phase on your horse.

Stage 2: We will see you put through a variety of specific tests from the ground, where we identify any possible muscular weaknesses, tightness, dysfunctions, joint hyper/hypo-mobility.

Stage 3: We comprehensively explain the biomechanics of 'your' seat in the saddle and closely guide you on how to make correct and effective changes. We work with you on the horse for the remainder of the session as this will help you to cement the "feel" of your alignment and achieve postural harmony between both you and your horse's way of going. "

"Life is no wish concert" - and road trip with my Bestie

 Just when you think things are going swimmingly - life has a way of telling you: Not so fast! Saturday morning we had fun trying out a course that JP had designed for our outdoor arena and the boys were happily strutting their stuff. Then we went on a trail ride, and nothing seemed amiss until I finished working with two nice mares later in the afternoon. I felt dizzy and queasy, but tried to ignore it. By Saturday night I was vomiting violently, and could barely move. Sunday late afternoon JP carted me (and my puke bucket) to the ER. Of course, I didn't want to go, but by then I was so sick I couldn't really object. A few bags of IV fluids later and we were sent on our way, I felt marginally better. That didn't last too long though, by Monday morning I could only crawl and when I did a tele-visit with my GP she sent me right back to the ER to be admitted.

Well, for those of you that don't believe that there is a health care crisis and the hospitals are overloaded: There was no bed to be found, so I had to literally camp in a cubicle in the ER overnight.  Harried staff, stretched to their limits, moaning all around, you get the picture. More IV's, more meds, CT scan and chest Xray. Once the meds and fluids kicked in the next day I was ready to jump ship and sign the "AMA" paperwork ("Against Medical Advice")  to get the heck out of there. But a nice nurse convinced me to wait for the Neurologist (who was a day late), and after I passed those tests I hightailed out, with approval.  Luckily, nothing major was found! Whew! Seems I had a very bad case of Vertigo. Through all this JP was my champion, working hard to keep me sane. We were very grateful to Ed and Angie for taking care of the dogs during the day so we didn't have to worry about them. 

German saying: Das Leben ist kein Wunschkonzert
"Life is no wish concert" = literal translation from a funny calendar Stephanie sent me 
"Life is not a musical request program"

So all this put the kibosh on my tight schedule, but all my clients were very caring and understanding. Yesterday Vanessa rode Remy for me, as I'm still a bit wobbly, and he looked fabulous (of course 😍). 

Remy and I have exciting plans for this weekend, so I better be fit: Two days working on ME! It's a Biomechanics for Riders clinic, based on a "Equestrian RMBA" (Ridden Muscle Balance Assessment) system - performancerefinery.com. It's held at a beautiful farm on the other side of Michigan -West-, and Sally, the owner, has kindly invited me to stay with her. Looking forward to it: Road trip with my four-legged Bestie: Yay! JP will stay home with his Besties, and I think he'll be glad to get some respite from taking care of me 😏

"Let the wall help your shoulder-in" - and the bunny needs a horse

 Having grown up in a country that was divided by a wall, and now living in a country where discussions about walls are areas of big contention didn't predispose me to thinking of walls to help my riding.

Enter our lesson with Vanessa today. We have been working a lot on straightness, as in staying straight on the quarter line in all gaits, no straying off the straight and narrow! I was struggling with our shoulder-in* to the right today, just couldn't get it with the correct bend through his body and not the neck. Vanessa had me ride it turning on the quarter line on the left hand, and then doing the shoulder right facing the arena wall. And wouldn't you know it: It worked. I guess sometimes a wall is a good thing. 

Even the Easter Bunny needs a horse 😀

*"A correct shoulder-in is ridden in the walk or trot with the horse’s hind legs on the line of travel and with the shoulders displaced to the inside. The legs should be on three tracks and this angle should be stable. In other words, the outside hind leg tracks along the wall, the inside hind leg and the outside front leg are on the same track parallel to the wall, and the inside front leg is on the inner track parallel to the wall. The line of travel can be the wall, which is the easiest place to begin, or another line off the track, such as the centerline. The horse should be bending in his body around the rider’s inside leg with the poll flexed to the inside, away from the direction of travel". (Janet Foy, DT)