No riding for me this winter...

Well, it seems I'll be out of the saddle for a little while. I have hurt my left hand and both my middle and ring finger are sprained with some torn ligaments. A very uncool thing... Both fingers being most important to fine-tune contact and with the ring finger bearing all the weight (which is especially true with a very strong horse like Meeka), I just cannot ride until it's completely healed. Doctor told me this could easily take eight weeks, maybe more, because as ligaments are not irrigated very well they take a long time to heal...

Hopefully I can go back to riding when spring comes. In the meantime, I have to be patient in managing many aspects of my life, I even have to type with only my left index + right hand because my fingers are sticking out & kept straight by a very sexy-looking metal splint.

Oh, well... :) Time heals all wounds!

Procrastinating, obsessing & and begging my way to a chicken casserole...

Not much to share in the past few weeks. The weather has been crappy most weekends and therefore I was stuck inside doing chores and filling up the freezer with home cooked meals. Which is not so bad considering how pleasant it is for me and my family to come back to a clean, chicken-broth-apple-pie smelling home. But be that as it may, I missed the horsey time badly...

Today is a glorious day in eastern Canada: with 13 degrees (celsius, you can resume breathing), not a hint of wind, not a clowd in sight.But I've got work to do, a report due tomorrow that I need to work on. So I'm here sitting at my desk, riding my laptop instead of Meeka or Monsieur. I've actually opened my document in an effort to convince myself that I was actually going to work on this. But the patio door open, the bright warm light and cool air of this autumn day, all are calling me to unplug everything and go. Go pony-up.

It's become an urge, an obsession, to the point there's nothing I can do but think about how it would feel to be riding today. I've not been helping myself, you would say if I told you that all of this week's reading was about horse riding: Masters and masterclasses, Horse & Rider (I loooove the UK edition), and another book on jumping. Ahhh, to hell with this crappy research, I'm going to the barn. My boyfriend is gone to work and is going to come back to an empty house... hopefully he's going to cook ME one of his succulent meals (you know what, he's such a gerat cook he actually managed to teach me one or two things in a kitchen, I would never have thought that possible coming from a regular guy).

I think I'll call him up and order a chicken casserole... And maybe (just maybe) I can work a little after that... :)

Yep, I'm back !

It HAS been a long time, has it? So much so I barely remember how to upload a new post. But tonight I felt the need to share with you all that has been happening since I last told you about my horsey life.

It has been two years now since I started riding, almost day for day. And my, how much I've gained from it all. What was then something I was dared to "try" is now a full blown passion. I just cannot imagine not riding for more than a week.

Since budget is now an issue with the new home and all (yeah, the infamous move), I have accepted the generous offer of a friend to give me lessons in exchange for a little help in terms of barn administration. Yay! She had never tought before so she told me we would start from scratch, review all the basics: position, transitions, deepness of seat, steadiness of hands, all that stuff you really have a hard time grasping & appreciating as a beginner but the value of which you really recognize as a more seasoned rider. But somehow, most probably to please my eagerness to learn new moves, stuff that my previous teacher had quickly moved away from when I started to beg for more exciting challenges than just staying in my saddle. My fault!

So we worked on all the above for a few months. Woah! I can barely recognize myself now! I am the queen of confidence, so much more secure in the saddle, my hands are fixed, my seat a lot deeper and more supple, and my position pretty much flawless (except after a jump, where things usually get a little messier...)

However, things are going great, I still looooove riding. To the point I wish I could make it a carreer, well maybe not as a pro rider, but at least something that would keep me around horses every day. It's ok to dream, isn't it? I'm even considering buying my own saddle. Does anybody have advise when it comes to buying a saddle when you don't actually own a horse? Any models more adaptable? Let me know!

And the new house? Ahhhh! F-a-n-t-a-s-t-i-c! I wish I had done it before (even if it never would have been possible). And since my boyfriend pretty much moved in with me the same day, it's a 2 for 1 happiness combo special. Yeah, for those of you who have followed this blog for a while well... the cow-boy is back, he's never really gone that far.

Anyways, I have missed this little horsey community. I'm going to try to resume writing here and read about you guys more often now that my life is back on tracks.

Cheers!