Endurance Ballerina Mare and I are baaaaaack!!!

[spookypony]

I've not posted in here for ages, because I've not been at a competition of any sort since 2018, when the Ballerina Mare got her Bronze Thistle Final (an endurance grading in Scotland: roughly equates to becoming Open in England/Wales) at the Scottish Championships. The reason for that was initially the "Neck Thing" (cervical spine disc bulges, on my part), which wiped out our 2019 season, as I was trying to regain fitness to sit in the saddle for more than 5 minutes, and the Ballerina Mare got really, really fat. Over the winter, the horses had no hay, only grass, and after Xmas, I began schooling and hacking again in earnest. I participated in an online dressage course (a lifeline while my instructor wasn't allowed to be giving lessons for several months) and in two 160k hacking challenges (Plan D, run by a German rider and blogger, and Plan Restart, run by the Scottish endurance club). So today, we finally went to our first Pleasure Ride in 2 years (competitive rides are still not taking place in Scotland): me, ca. 12kg lighter, and the Ballerina Mare, NINE girth holes more svelte!

The ride was a somewhat hilly 21km over varied going, and we were in the company of a very good friend and her excellent Highland X Arab X TB mare, who goes like a steam locomotive over tough Scottish terrain. The Ballerina Mare was just ACE. I was slightly worried that she might flip her lid a bit, going to her first ride since 2018, but she wandered over to the start, and when the starter announced "40 seconds", went "meh" and sloped off to have a few more bites of grass. We had an awesome ride, and I felt confident and secure, and was able really to enjoy the beauty of the forest and the landscape. I'm hopeful that when competitive rides are allowed again here, we can step up to 60km quite soon, and I think that, Neck Thing notwithstanding, I'll be able to cope, as well!

A happy pic:

 

[MidChristmasCrisis]

Hi spooky pony...excellent news and good to hear.

 

[Bradsmum]

Welcome back. That looks and sounds like a good run out and look forward to hearing more about future rides. Well done to Ballerina Mare for taking it all in her stride. Take care of yourself re neck, glad it's all looking promising.

 

[Alibear]

Lovely to have you back and well done on all your hard work to get there.

 

[j1ffy]

Good to see you back! It sounds like you've had a rough couple of years, well done for getting back on track.

 

[spookypony]

Thanks all! It has been a wee bit rough! But the combo of the online course and the hacking challenges really helped me re-focus while I couldn't have lessons. It also really helped having a friend who is riding the young companion pony for me. She's a bit nervous about her abilities, so I have to be confident and pro-active. The pony is developing rather nicely!

 

[Bernster]

Welcome back. I think lots of us are having a peculiar year in 2020 too. I was interested in your comment about you having to be the confident one, like you have to step up and it makes you more confident just by doing that? I’m generally the nervous one - maybe I need to pair up with a more nervous rider?!

 

[spookypony]

I think the key, if you do that, is to be in a situation that you know objectively is one that you're equipped to handle? Then you can distract yourself from your own nerves by projecting confidence and helping the other person. So in my case, we were hacking with a young pony and a less experienced but well-taught rider. I knew from riding out with another friend that the pony wasn't inclined to do anything dramatic, so between thinking up useful exercises and talking the rider through what she should do if the pony did suddenly spook and shoot off, or if we met a dog, the projection of confidence just...sort of seeped inside, if that makes any sense?