Fitness Sunday

And a slippery Sunday too!

We almost didn't ride. I had a terrible headache since basically Friday night that wouldn't go away. I'm out of migraine pills too. I ended up getting a migraine last night and despite ibuprofen, migraine excedrin, and two doses of Nightquil.... I slept, but woke up with a tension headache still. So I almost didn't go ride. Plus it was supposed to rain all day. But it wasn't raining. And it was kind of nice this morning. So... Mike convinced me to go ride and I'm glad I did. I was tempted to do some work, but figured that I should be good since I promised Dan no dressage until Tuesday. Plus with my headache and I wasn't entirely sure if the arena's were open. And really, we needed some fitness work, so that's what we did. 

We hit the trails and did some walking, some trotting and some cantering. It was fun! And despite the fact that the rain hadn't hit, there was no one else out there all morning! We finished up in the XC field and I was tempted to hop over a few little fences. Nothing major as we were both tired and hadn't jumped in awhile. Plus it was slick and wet and I didn't put studs in and Dan now has pads on all four feet. So we hopped over the baby coop and then hopped up the bank. And then Dan wanted to gallop, so I let him out in a nice big canter. Certainly not a gallop. And then we were almost at the end of the field, towards the lake, and I was trying to turn him to go back to jump another jump. In retrospect, I should have just pulled up, but I thought I could do a gradual turn. NOPE! Remember how I said it was slick and wet and Dan has pads on all four?! Whoops! Down we went. It wasn't that hard, but it was quick.  I landed on the ground above where he fell rather than underneath him, which was lovely! I hopped up and he laid there for a minute. I had a second of panic and then he wiggled his head and I realized his reins were pulling on his mouth so he couldn't get his head moved for leverage to get up. Once I loosened his reins, he was able to hop up. He seemed fine and I felt fine. We walked off and everything was in working order. I trotted him in hand and he was sound. So... I thanked God profusely and hopped back on. We did a little walk and a little trot to check things out and everything was good. Then to make sure we didn't have any bad memories...we found a much drier spot and cantered and popped over one more coop. Then we walked home and called it a day. Dan got bemered and he seemed no worse for the wear, so fingers crossed it was just a splat with no repercussions.  

We managed to beat the rain home and I got them settled into their stalls with hay while Mike and I went to the lake for him to winterize the boat. Despite the fact that it was storming and almost 70 degrees today, it is going to hit the 20's as the low in the next couple of days, so Mike had to drain some water lines. And sure enough, not too far into the drive the storm hit. Of course I slept... because... heated leather car seats, rain drumming on the sunroof..... yep. It was lovely! And I got my migraine pills so I feel much better now!

Ooops... You can see the skid marks on his rump. And my saddle. :(