Off kilter

Posted on September 21, 2017 by the_everything_pony

Wednesday was a really odd day. Thankfully, Amber is doing just fine and is looking great, although unfortunately not any thinner.

Srsly, how does she still look pregnant?!

So thankfully while there is nothing wrong with Amber, I’ve been feeling off kilter for most of the week. I’ve been getting pounding headaches, weak legs, neck pain that clamps on my nerves and ends up making my hands numb, nausea…. It hasn’t really been fun. We’ve had a few sick people coming in to work, and I really want to tell them to stay home. And then viciously scrub their area with Clorox wipes and follow them with Lysol spray or something. Please don’t get the rest of us sick. I really don’t want to be sick.

After a quick nap I felt relatively okay so I slowly made my way outside and got us ready. I wasn’t planning a long ride. Between the sore muscles and headache I wasn’t really up to much but knew that Amber needed the work, as evidenced by her pregnant belly in the photo above.

Looking less fat and simply “stocky” in this one

We actually ended up doing a lot of trotting. I was nowhere near good for my position – my legs kept moving places and my abs were floppy, but it ended up really working out as weird as that sounds. It took Amber a bit to realize that I really just wasn’t up for much, which included when she anticipates and then gets very worried about that shoulder to the left. But once she did, she started off easy for me, kept pace pretty nicely, and stopped getting worried about my legs moving everywhere. I kept apologizing to her. It was also windy enough that going into the wind would throw me back if I didn’t prepare, and she had to fight a bit to get through it, too.

She was also a bit more resistant to contact than usual. Normally once she understands something and isn’t too worried, she’s very willing to put herself in that position for you. But it seems to be a bit hard for her recently, and I think it’s a little more evidence that her teeth need to be done. Hopefully we’ll be able to catch the vet to do them really soon. So since it seems more difficult, I let her reach down a little more and stretch like we’d need for HUS. And she seemed a lot more content with that.

We did more cantering – a lot more to the right than to the left, but again just let her stretch down and try to replace her weight over that right hind leg. I think it is getting a bit stronger – it seems a little easier for her to do things and considering that she also seems less reactive may mean she’s more comfortable as well. She was a bit too downhill to the right, but after a bit of fixing we were pretty successful. Her left was very comfortable, and she really was fantastic at keeping her neck level when I let the reins out. Since my body was not successful, I wanted to give her a good workout but trying to stay out of her way as well since I wasn’t going to be much help.

FINALLY got a pic of lipstick! She usually licks it off by the time I pull my phone out. Also shows how windy it was that the dirt stuck to her slobber lol

I was pretty nauseous and still had a pounding headache by the time I got off, but riding always makes everything better. We ended up riding for about 40 minutes – much longer than I had anticipated I would, but it was great. It was one of those weird rides where there was a lot that wasn’t perfect and a bit that was stepping in the right direction and yet you still feel it was a really good ride and a lot of progress was made.

It’s early yet so hopefully this whole weird-everything-feeling will stay away today. I want to ride but should perhaps take it easy and focus on packing the trailer. Because….ah…..I haven’t done anything along those lines yet. I’m such a great planner. But I’m really not too stressed about the show. Between her teeth needing filing, our minimal western and my not feeling well, it’s just going to be a fun time, even if I was hoping we’d be really on our game since this judge is a USEF one. There’s always more shows, though. I’m just glad I don’t have to wake up so early this time!