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April 19th, 2012

Achy ♥Apr. 19th, 2012 // 03:09 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, grr, ow, pilates, riding, riding: side saddle, weather ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/869666.html ] I've been a bit slack about riding, lately: not going up as often as I should, and spending too much time pootling in the woods instead of doing proper schooling work. (The Plan: one lesson, one side saddle schooling, one cross saddle schooling, one hack. The Reality, for the last month or so: one lesson, one hack, one more hack.) That meant that, when I had my side saddle lesson on Tuesday, I'd not actually used the side saddle since my previous side saddle lesson a fortnight before. And then my instructor seems to have decided that I need to get on with doing more than just pootling around working on my position for the big show*, so she seems to have worked me harder than usual. But I really don't think I deserved to wake up on Wednesday morning feeling like I'd been thoroughly beaten (the fact that I strained something in my arm/back trying to hold on whilst a certain little shit bag dragged me around the field on the end of a rope probably didn't help, either). But, I am trying to do better and ride more, and anyway exercise would help, so off I toddled to the yard, carefully timing my visit for the forty-five minute gap in the rain that the Met Office and Meteox both agreed was going to happen, and everyone laughed at me for believing the weather forecast and then gave me a funny look when it stopped raining and the sun came out for half an hour before the rain returned. And we had a good schooling session, but gosh did I ache when I got off, and even more so when I got home and tried to get out of the car and walk up the stairs.... So it was that, this morning, I still felt like I'd been thoroughly beaten, but I thought I would be good again, so off I toddled to Pilates, because exercise would help, and the instructor 'helpfully' threw in some exercises to stretch out my aching muscles, and then I went to the yard thinking I'd ride. But the school was busy, and the woods would be muddy, and anyway the heavens opened about ten minutes after I'd decided to be slack and just put GB back in the field to replace his layer of mud, so it was probably the right decision to come home and sit on the sofa, wondering just who it is that keeps beating me up while I sleep every night. (If it weren't for the fact that I feel otherwise utterly fine, I'd say that I must be coming down with something. But I feel fine. It's very odd.) (Grr. When I started working, I made my loan swap her day from Thursday to Monday, which was much less convenient for her mother. I asked her last week if she wanted to change back, and she said she did, so today I swapped my Pilates class to Wednesday. I just sent her a sms asking if she wanted to swap back from next week or the week after, and she's replied "well, my mum wondered if I could just keep Monday?" Grr. Particularly coming, as this does from the incident at weekend when I got dragged into the middle of the two of them having a mother vs teenaged daughter bitch fight.) * I don't think I mentioned the big show. I should do a post about that. Link 2 kisses // Who loves you?

The big show ♥Apr. 19th, 2012 // 03:30 pm♥ [Tags | riding: shows, riding: side saddle ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/869925.html ] A few weeks ago, I got an email from the Side Saddle Association (well, you have to really, don't you?) begging for more people to enter the rather grandly named The Jane Hallett Costume Concours d’Elegance at the South Of England Show, on account of how last year they only had half a dozen people doing it and it was in danger of being cancelled. Which sounded interesting. I enquired a bit further (in particular, about what lines in the description like "Fancy dress is not permitted [...] competitors should produce a brief written resume of their costume for the Commentator" actually meant (historical costumes only, you can't go as a fairy or whatever, it turns out)), and thought "what the hell". As far as I can tell, it's more of an audience attraction thing than a proper showing class: it's in two parts, one where you go into a ring at the insignificant end of the show ground and ride around getting judged, then another (over an hour later: the gap is presumably designed to test your ability to be lady-like and not get horse poo and slobber all over your fancy frock) where you go into the main ring and ride around showing off your frock before they announce the winners. (I'm still bemused by the fact that, in the first part of the class, "competitors [...] may be asked to give a short display in small groups," though: normally, you do a short display on your own. If you're in a group, who decides what you're going to do next? Do you get together in the Green Room and plan it? If so, how do you know who you're going to be in a group with? Although I've been working on the assumption that they'll just ask people they're planning on giving rosettes to to do this, and so I needn't concern myself, I should probably make more of an effort to find an answer before the show, shouldn't I?) So, yes, there we go: on the 7th of June, I'm off to the South of England show, with my faux-Georgian faux-military blue riding outfit, and my pony, and a mountain of stuff and helpers. Things to do before the show include: - figuring out how to get on the horse in at least the underskirt of my outfit, because I haven't got a bloody clue how to do it (I normally mount astride and then swing my leg over, which seems likely to lead to tangling with anything more than an apron on) other than knowing that it traditionally requires a Big Strong Man to give you a leg-up - riding in at least the underskirt of my outfit to make sure GB doesn't bother about it (I can't imagine he will) - hoping that the previous thing will show that the skirt is long enough for me to just wear my normal boots under it - buying a brown bridle - deciding if I'm going to be Authentic (wear the natty, feather-trimmed tricorn hat that came with the outfit) or Safe (wear my riding hat. Possibly with, say, a blue ribbon tied around it) - oh, and, er, getting less crap at riding side saddle. This should be interesting. To the best of my knowledge, neither of us has ever been in a show before, other than me leading a pony in-hand once. Link 13 kisses // Who loves you?

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