Day Twelve

Today, I had quite the uneventful morning. I got up late, then went outside, took Cherish out of her stall, and turned her into the barnyard. I had played with her for a little bit and then realized that my stomach was running wild through the towns and burning them all, splintering large bridges as if they were popsicle sticks. After I ate some left over pasta, I anxiously but tiredly went back outside. There would be no way that I would have enough energy to do that much this morning. The air was already filling with heat, so I decided to just sit with Cherish in the little shade available - behind the barn. We enjoyed each other's company until it was time to go back up to the house.

In the afternoon, we took Julia to Lupi's pizza restaurant, where we had wonderful pizza. For most of the time there, Julia and I wrote and drew on napkins with pens. Much of it was about Rafik, a small rose grey Arabian colt who was sent from Mercy Stables to training at Heritage Farms.

For the evening, I decided that I wanted to do something slightly different from usual. I walked up to Finale confidently and anticipating the play. I had turned Cherish out in the barnyard to graze, as I didn't want her to have to stand in her stall another few hours while I went with Finale.

Finale and I trotted, danced, walked, backed, moved.... we flowed. We were free, for the time being, very expressive and joyful. This is like my way of painting with horses, painting the world and the dance. We had an absolutely wonderful time, and by the end we were so in sync and connected that it was amazing. When I dance with Finale, it is okay to not be so connected at the beginning and then let it gradually grow until we are
by the end... And when with Cherish, I typically already have to be connected.

As I was nearing the end of the dance with Finale, I got this intense urge to ride her. She encouraged me to, saying that it would be fun, but I warned her that if she got distracted and wasn't paying attention, that I would slip off.

When I got on Finale, it felt absolutely wonderful. There was so much expression coming from the two of us, and then I knew. I would enjoy this mare so much, who was already very special to me, even though I would let my mom play with and ride her sometimes. I pictured Aubrey and I riding her on the trails, having complete fun. It was a nice thing to think of.

After a bit of turning and stopping and going in sync, and even increasing or decreasing speed, I decided that it would be alright for us to go out of our small arena. We did fairly well for a while in the barnyard, and even though I let her graze here and there, she was still paying pretty close attention. I eventually hopped off because she got increasingly more and more distracted as we went on. But that was alright by me. We had so much fun.

As Finale and I passed on the ground, I gave Julia some tips for the turns and the trot in the saddle when she asked for them. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to help her with the turns too much. Sharlie and Julia have improved a thousand times in their riding though, and I congratulate them for that.

After a bit, my mom was riding in the barnyard with Hope. At her request, I began to help her with her seat, her hip movements, and her general looseness and fluidity on the horse. Her seat has improved amazingly while she has been in horse camp, but she still needed some help with her hip movements. She was bouncing around quite a bit at first, not really being able to melt into the saddle. I told her that she needed to let her seat and her body sink into the ground, into the ground, into the ground. I told her that she should not be on the horse, but a part of the horse's movements. After that, she trotted off again... this time, her seat was really sinking into the ground, but she was still not part of the horse's movements. I also noticed that when she was posting instead of sitting, her back would come up arched and then sit back in the saddle as it normally would. I had her curl her body over as far as she could, really sucking her abdomen in, and then letting it all release and loosen. I had her sit like that for a while, and then finally, I took the reins from her, told her to close her eyes, and find her seat that she thought she should have - and her movement - while she was walking with Hope. Finally, she began to really melt into the saddle. I smiled at her and let her have the reins back and asked her to continue. After a bit, she immensely improved her seat and her movement in the seat... But Hope, every time she transitioned downward, was stopping quickly on her front end. I asked her if she wouldn't mind if I got on to see if I could figure out why.

As I was riding Hope, I really focused a lot on visualizing everything for her, and completely feeling it in my body, but not making the actual movements - I was still allowing my body to be passive and continue to melt into the horse, but I was in the walk in my mind and self. She would feel this, and her stops gradually lessened and then ceased completely. She was still slightly jarry going from the trot to the walk, but it was so much better. This all took about five minutes, and we were in complete understanding.

While riding her, I also realized that she would expect, on the turns, for me to become unbalanced. She would then swing her weight to one side of the turn, hoping that she would be able to catch me before I did so. This would slightly unbalance me, and then she would swing to the other side. It was nothing major, my unbalance, it was just a bit of unmelting. I worked with helping her to realize that I would not become unbalanced on turns, and also visualizing it. I addressed it to my mom afterward, who said that she had felt it before but didn't know why. I told her to keep in mind to really try and stay balanced whenever she was turning, because it could very well be that she was the problem for that.

After I got off and all of the horses were in their stalls eating their dinner, we were all talking in the tackroom. Somehow the subject of my mom's chiropractor and how horse movement is therapeutic to the joints came up, and I asked her if I could see her feet. She didn't understand why I had to see them now instead of waiting until we got inside until Julia explained to her that I would like to compare after the horse and before the horse. There was some tenseness right on the upper sole of her foot, and just below the toe area, and then just a little bit on the big toe bone going down her foot. She said sheepishly that she hadn't been doing her foot exercises either, which I responded to her that that was awesome! She had been going to a chiropractor for some time now, and I noticed that every time she came back, he would make the tenseness worse and worse, and with each visit her joints would deteriorate in strength and flexibility a little bit more. She didn't really believe me when I said that it was a waste of money until she decided - screw it, I'm riding again - and suddenly, her feet got better. She had also been forced to take a few weeks off from going to see Dr. Schroder. She felt so much better because of it.

To all of you out there, I am sure that there are some good chiropractors - but before you go out and get one from word of mouth, do your research. Only go with someone that you know will help, not hurt. When it comes to your joints, you don't want somebody "fixing" them when they don't truly know what they're doing.