June 12, 2011

Killing Time While Broken

I don't take being grounded well.  I mope.  I pout.  I whine.  I generally make myself a nuisance to those poor souls who for some unknown reason consent to befriend me.  I am sure they breathe a sigh of relief when I drag myself home to flop about the house and complain to the cats, who stare vacantly at me, wondering when I am going to shut up and scoop more food.  Even the lizard can't seem to summon up a modicum of sympathy, cold-hearted wretch that he is.

But it's not all melodramatics and depressed sighs; there are still tasks to attend to. Every day, Solo gets a deep muscle massage accompanied by SoreNoMore. I can see the rippling spasms travel along the muscle fibers as I compress them with the heel of my hand against his vertebrae. He cocks a hind foot and twitches his lip -- apparently digging into those painful knots feels just as good on his back as it does on mine.

Yesterday, I put him on the longe line and set the vienna reins on the lowest rings of the surcingle to encourage a low, round, stretchy outline. He went really well and it lifted my spirits to watch his muscles work under the rice-bran-shine of chestnut coat. Keeping him fit is my biggest challenge right now; lifeshighway has ponied him out again this morning -- I have not seen any ambulances fly by the house, so I must assume it was uneventful.

There are even spots of fun! Friday evening, I taught lifeshighway and the irrepressible Pete how to do gymnastic ground poles. Now, Pete's attitude towards poles and anything resembling jumping is that it is a complete waste of energy and surely there is a perfectly good path to go around every obstacle. However, he needs to build his haunches and topline and stretch out his legs for racing, so I gleefully planned a few grids for him.

Pete has impeccable balance and is a quick learner so once he was informed that he DID have to continue moving forward, even if there was more than one pole, he picked up his feet and agreed to comply. We finished with him bouncing cleanly through four canter poles set on 10' centers -- not bad for a short little guy! I couldn't keep the grin off my face watching lifeshighway find the rhythm and discover the fun of gymnastics!

Carolina summer is in full swing and the heat blazes down, although we are supposed to see a break this week. If my body and Solo's will cooperate, maybe I will get lucky and be able to sit on him. Meanwhile, I fantasy shop for prospects that I cannot afford to board and wait impatiently for the cash fairy to make an appearance already!

6 comments:

  1. he looks so shiny and muscley :)

    Get better soon!

    And I LOVE sorenomore!!!

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  2. Haha, check, the pic is from last year, but thanks! SNM is great stuff, isn't it??

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  3. Just this week my new trainer put me through a few gymnastic exercises. Not only are they good for the horses they are great for us! After just a few times through I was finally sitting back and WAITING for the jump instead of getting ahead.

    Hope you guys get better before you start trying to teach the cats some gymnastics! Although, that could be fun to watch if you videoed it. ;)

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  4. Sounds like you're making productive use of your downtown! I really like they gymnastics training...wish I had someone to force my lazy butt to work harder!
    Michelle
    http://www.fromthehorsesback.com

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  5. Haha I could totally see trying cat gymnastics if you don't heal quickly enough. Glad you are finding creative ways to make things progressing.

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  6. ROFL, I am laughing so hard at the thought of cat gymnastics...while at the same time thinking about how I would build them. Is there a standard length for a cat stride?

    Thanks for the good wishes, y'all! You always cheer me up!

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