Feeling Blessed

So yesterday morning I will admit I was not a happy camper. It's hard to be in limbo, regarding jobs and life and after being sent home from work after having been there only an hour (a situation which left me paying out more in gas and tolls than I made) I was a little irritated.

Like all bad days I took myself up to the barn to decompress a little. It was a hot one and Michelle was busy grooming Red. We chatted for a bit - poor Lisa was headed out to see about her sore tooth, which has been bugging her forever. So, Michelle and I hung out - made a run to the store - and outlined some plans about what to do to get ready for the shows coming up.

After Michelle left I thought that the heat had been subdued enough by the upcoming wind to ride. I like riding in wind because it reminds me of Texas. In Texas (well in El Paso and Southern NM anyway) it is windy for the whole month of March. I used to be scared of riding in the wind - what if a bag goes flying across the ring or what if the noise spooks her - but I got over that quickly down there because there is really no other choice plus Sky got swiftly over her fears of flying objects while she was at Josh's and they rode sun, sleet, wind or whatever... that reminds me of a great story.

Justin (Justin is Josh's assistant who I took a lot of my lessons from) was riding one day there and it started to cloud in... A few raindrops were coming down but nothing serious and you could hear the thunder in the distance. Josh says to Justin, "I think you should quit about now" and to that Justin says, "It's alright, it's just a little rain". Then Josh replies, "I'm not worried about you getting wet, I'm worried about you getting electrocuted"... It was funny at the time. Maybe you had to be there.

So, after a lot of grain shaking and calling Sky came down (YES!) from the field and after a good grooming I saddled up and headed out into the wind to ride... There are three round bales covered by a blue tarp living in the corner of our riding area right now and the wind was bringing that pile to life - at first I was a little nervous that she would spook at it but after the first go-round I realized she could care less - (AWESOME! - LOVE MY HORSE!!!)

Anyway, we rode for about an hour in the yard - lots of trotting and transitions and some loping both ways - at first we had a bit of a hard time as she is still not clear about the cues or the leads but we are getting there. By the end we were doing really well and had a couple of great stops as she was begging to stop loping (she's got a stop, I'll tell ya!). I felt really accomplished and as I was walking her back up to the barn I felt really blessed. Here I was earlier in the day whining and complaining about the state of my life and in that moment later in the day I was counting myself among the luckiest people around. It was a beautiful day and the wind had made it cool and fresh and bug-less. I had my amazing horse who tries so hard for me and is so talented. I had the time to do the work and get better and feel accomplished. In that moment, life was good.

I hear horse people say all the time that horses are better than therapy. I agree b/c she is a living breathing accomplishment of mine and she reminds me that life is about so much more than the things that drag us down. I didn't figure out any major issues by riding but I did feel better and I did have a much more positive prospective and I think that is better than therapy has ever done for me.

C