Morning Has Broken
Morning has broken. As typical, the Sandman only spent two hours with me last night. I finally gave up at 4:15 when the birds started their morning chorus. Right now I can see the sky slowly starting to lighten and the moon is still bright.
I have always been a morning person. No matter how late I fall asleep I automatically get up at the crack of dawn. The best time at the beach is watching the sun come up over the ocean or being at the farm and watching the sun come up over and through the trees.
I am debating whether I want to try and ride early or go back to bed and ride tomorrow morning. It is incredibly humid out. I should ride before it gets too hot but I did drink last night. I probably will feel like crap if I start sweating it out on two hours sleep. For Veritas sake, I should go back to bed. Another reason? It is official. I do not bend as well as I used to. Veritas is ,how should I say this? Fat. Between his massive size breed-wise, added to the fact that he has had little to no work since last year,has made his girth a whopping 48". I am borrowing Dru's Albion saddle since I sold my County last year when I was tight for cash. I regret selling it. It was an extra wide British size and they don't make them any more here in the States. I just assumed Gwen was my last large horse. Never in a million years would I think I would be riding a Dutch Warmblood who has the back the size of Rhode Island, like my Gwen.
I have ridden a few times since losing Gwen. One horse was a Tennessee Walker. Even though he was wide, he was smooth as silk. No posting and I rode with a cut back endurance saddle. There was not one bit of muscle strain riding him, reinforcing my love of gaited horses. That was how riding Gwen was. You could easily sit to her trot and not bounce. The other horses have been off the track Thoroughbreds who are skinny,narrow, string beans when they come off the track. Most were rather short,ranging in the 15 hands size. Veritas is 16.3 hands and still growing.
I had actually not ridden in months when I rode Veritas for the first time. I joked with friends afterwards that when I went to get on him, my opening thighs made a creaking noise like the stairs on The Munsters and a bunch of cobwebs gave way to some moths and bats. Not much thigh action goes on in any aspect of my life, so riding this huge horse did something to my thighs for the first time in all my years of riding. I am bruised and I pulled an adductor muscle on the inside of my thigh. I am a massage therapist so I know what I need to do. It needs to rest. Not easy when you are riding a Mack Truck with a trot that is as huge as his size and heart and using a saddle that doesn't fit either one of us. I just got my tax stimulus check. It should go in to my sadly depleted savings account.
Yesterday I found myself at the saddlery shop for the first time since losing Gwen. Since both Sydney and Romeo are retired and need minimal supplies I never go to the tack shop anymore. Most things I buy at the feed store. When I saw the tack shop's circular,wormers and fly spray were on sale for half price so I knew it was worth going there to stock up.
As soon as I opened the door the smell of leather gave me a warm fuzzy. It is one of the best smells on earth. I thought it might be emotionally hard to go back after losing Gwen but it wasn't at all. It was like coming home. I found myself wandering the saddle room looking and scoping out prices. The saddlery specialist came over to chat me up. I used to massage his horses so we are on a familiar basis. He seemed genuinely shocked that I had sold my County saddle. We both agreed the older ones were better made. He told me he was traveling to Britain in the fall and he would be on the lookout for any used,older Countys. I thought of the check in my savings and my bruised thighs. I told him to call me if any thing in an extra wide #4 ,17" Eventer saddle,turns up.
Meanwhile,I think I need to go back to bed and rest my thighs. Now there's a statement that doesn't sound right...
I have always been a morning person. No matter how late I fall asleep I automatically get up at the crack of dawn. The best time at the beach is watching the sun come up over the ocean or being at the farm and watching the sun come up over and through the trees.
I am debating whether I want to try and ride early or go back to bed and ride tomorrow morning. It is incredibly humid out. I should ride before it gets too hot but I did drink last night. I probably will feel like crap if I start sweating it out on two hours sleep. For Veritas sake, I should go back to bed. Another reason? It is official. I do not bend as well as I used to. Veritas is ,how should I say this? Fat. Between his massive size breed-wise, added to the fact that he has had little to no work since last year,has made his girth a whopping 48". I am borrowing Dru's Albion saddle since I sold my County last year when I was tight for cash. I regret selling it. It was an extra wide British size and they don't make them any more here in the States. I just assumed Gwen was my last large horse. Never in a million years would I think I would be riding a Dutch Warmblood who has the back the size of Rhode Island, like my Gwen.
I have ridden a few times since losing Gwen. One horse was a Tennessee Walker. Even though he was wide, he was smooth as silk. No posting and I rode with a cut back endurance saddle. There was not one bit of muscle strain riding him, reinforcing my love of gaited horses. That was how riding Gwen was. You could easily sit to her trot and not bounce. The other horses have been off the track Thoroughbreds who are skinny,narrow, string beans when they come off the track. Most were rather short,ranging in the 15 hands size. Veritas is 16.3 hands and still growing.
I had actually not ridden in months when I rode Veritas for the first time. I joked with friends afterwards that when I went to get on him, my opening thighs made a creaking noise like the stairs on The Munsters and a bunch of cobwebs gave way to some moths and bats. Not much thigh action goes on in any aspect of my life, so riding this huge horse did something to my thighs for the first time in all my years of riding. I am bruised and I pulled an adductor muscle on the inside of my thigh. I am a massage therapist so I know what I need to do. It needs to rest. Not easy when you are riding a Mack Truck with a trot that is as huge as his size and heart and using a saddle that doesn't fit either one of us. I just got my tax stimulus check. It should go in to my sadly depleted savings account.
Yesterday I found myself at the saddlery shop for the first time since losing Gwen. Since both Sydney and Romeo are retired and need minimal supplies I never go to the tack shop anymore. Most things I buy at the feed store. When I saw the tack shop's circular,wormers and fly spray were on sale for half price so I knew it was worth going there to stock up.
As soon as I opened the door the smell of leather gave me a warm fuzzy. It is one of the best smells on earth. I thought it might be emotionally hard to go back after losing Gwen but it wasn't at all. It was like coming home. I found myself wandering the saddle room looking and scoping out prices. The saddlery specialist came over to chat me up. I used to massage his horses so we are on a familiar basis. He seemed genuinely shocked that I had sold my County saddle. We both agreed the older ones were better made. He told me he was traveling to Britain in the fall and he would be on the lookout for any used,older Countys. I thought of the check in my savings and my bruised thighs. I told him to call me if any thing in an extra wide #4 ,17" Eventer saddle,turns up.
Meanwhile,I think I need to go back to bed and rest my thighs. Now there's a statement that doesn't sound right...
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