Coming Back to Horse Riding after a C-Section Delivery

- Waiting at the gate. Copper’s happy to see me! -

It’s been a while hasn’t it?

I have been to see Copper twice since Charlotte was born, but as I haven’t been cleared to exercise yet I haven’t been riding.

To be honest, I haven’t really been up for it anyway.  Charlotte was born by caesarean section due to some complications, and while she has been happy, healthy, and growing like a weed, I haven’t been recovering so quickly.

It’s been four weeks and one day since she was born, and I’ve spent the vast majority of that time in bed. And I’ve needed to, otherwise I get really sore through out my core and back, and across my wound. And (TMI alert!!) I make my bleeding start up again and usually it’s quite heavy when that happens.

My body is really shattered, and it’s going to take me quite a long time to recover.  Probably a least a year before I’m back to full strength.

In the mean time I am doing all I can to aid the healing process.  I’m taking Arnica tablets three times a day, rubbing my belly and scar with Arnica cream every day.  I wear a support bandage 24/7 to help my posture, and I’m taking my supplements as often as I can.  Which should be every day but let’s face it – I’m nursing around the clock and I can’t remember what day it is, let alone what my daily routine should be!

As far as physical recovery goes, I have an exercise routine mapped out to help my core knit back together with my pelvic muscles. I’ve started with Osteopath treatments to wake up the severed nerves and muscle and make my body realise it can knit those together again – not just healing them separately.

Then I plan to do Feldenkrais – which is a method of training yourself through repetitive movement patterns to be aware of the way that your body moves and holds itself so that you can retrain bad habits and create better function.

After I’ve started with the Feldenkrais, I want to pick up some Pilates to start working on regain my fitness, then after a few months if I’m feeling strong enough and up to it I would like to take up Kettlebells or Ballet!  I haven’t decided which yet – and I might end up doing both.

It certainly will be fun to pursue these new forms of exercise, but it’s all because I want to be fitter and stronger so I can ride better.  That’s what it’s ultimately about for me.  

- Happy pony! -

Dressage.

Riding my horse to the best of my ability. Improving my health so I can get the most out of each ride. That’s the end goal, and I’m excited to see how my cross training improves my horse riding.  I think it will be beneficial to my flexibility and range of movement which I hope improves my dressage seat. 

I will have more updates once I get started with my exercise routine and hop back on Copper.  I think it’s a good idea to keep a record of this journey as it’s a fairly big one in terms of where my body is now and how much it has to heal, and of course, how that’s affecting my riding in the mean time. 

Just so you know, Copper is as happy a clam chilling out in his paddock with his herd.  I’m the one who’s missing the riding!

See ya,

bonita

In which I learn my lesson

And that is:

Ain’t nobody going to make it happen but me…

 

- Mario’s facepalm seems to add the appropriate “Duh” factor here -

And by that I mean; I missed all the rides for the last two weeks.

Ugh.

I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to keep up the three-rides-a-week routine, but this (at the risk of sounding like a whiney, grizzly, whingy toddler – hey, have you met my toddler on a bad day? ;P) is pathetic.

The stupid thing is I could’ve had at least two rides over that time if I had got off my butt, called for someone to babysit and just gone. out. riding.

So there. I’ve learnt my lesson. I really need to work harder if I want ride regularly through the week. And yes, I need to think harder about the child care aspect. I’ve been relying far to much on my Mister (who works from home – so he has the bacon-bringing-in work to do, and actually has to NOT be stuck on baby duty during the day).

This worked when we had one child; said child would sleep for three hours and Mama could go riding. This doesn’t work so well with two, and certainly won’t with three…

Oh yes, there’s this as well -

I’m five months pregnant with number three as I write this – where did that go?

Oh, that’s right – under a haze of influenza, winter colds and house moving. Hah.

I’m glad I got any rides in at all!

I’ll be working for it this week though. I’d like to see two rides happen, but I’d be happy with one as you’ve got to start again somewhere. :)

See ya,

bonita

Spread a Little Sunshine

 
I am so thankful for this nomination for the Sunshine Award by Karen of Bakersfield Dressage – (which, by the way, I was extremely surprised and honored when she did – I’ve been reading her blog for ages and love it) of course I’m a million years behind and everyone has already been nominated. But if you haven’t and you feel like playing along; I nominate YOU!  : )

Mares or Geldings: Geldings. Mares are too moody and frankly, that’s my job. I don’t need that from my horse, or there might just be a hormone explosion!  : P

English or Western: English. Western can be fun to do every once in a while, but dressage is my passion, so English all the way.

Do you prefer "younger" or "older" horses?  Hmm. I don’t know. All of my older horses haven’t been that old and Joey at four and a half has been my youngest horse. So I can’t really judge.

Do you prefer riding or groundwork? Riding. I like working with my horse on the ground, but well, we all love to ride right? ‘Cause that’s when we get to fly….

Have you trained a horse from ground zero?  No, but it’s on my bucket list for sure.

Do you board your horse or keep it at home? I board – well, not really. I adgist my horse in 24/7 turnout. There are no stables, no barn, just paddocks.

Do you do all natural stuff or just commercial stuff?  I like all natural when I can – I am a big fan of the wonderful treatments you can find in the plant kingdom and the like. I think that they work really well for a reason. Sometimes nature doesn’t always win though, and then I am certainly happy to borrow someone’s brain and use the products that were invented to deal with things that nature can’t.

All tacked up or bareback: I love bareback for fun, but prefer to be tacked up. I feel like I have more freedom to try different things when I’m in the saddle.

Equestrian model?  No one in particular. I’m not really up on the equine sport news. Although I quite admire Mark Rashid for his horsemanship and I think very highly of Mugwump’s down to earth and thoughtful training techniques.

What's your one, main goal while being in the horse world? To improve and bring out the best in whatever horse I am working with. If one day I happen to be able to train up to Grand Prix dressage while doing that, I shall be a very happy equestrian. ; )

See ya,

bonita

What do you like most about horses?

I was reading Mona’s blog Panic and the Pony and she was talking about her struggle to find out where she wants to go and what she wants to do with her riding – ie, sell the horse, keep the horse, move barns, stay, have lessons, don’t have lessons…   All the sorts of questions I ask myself on a semi-regular basis!

Then she wrote in her post that her husband asked her this question “What is it that you love most about horses?”

I realized that this is a question I’m not sure I know the answer too.  Like most equestrians, the list of things I like about horses and riding is probably long and varied, but I do want to answer this question specifically.  I think it will help me know where I am going from here.

What is the most important thing about horses to me?  I love hanging out with them, I love getting out in the fresh air and exploring, I love hanging out with horsey people, I love learning more about horses, I LOVE teaching others about horses because I love horses so much I want everyone else to love them too!

But those things are not the most important thing about horses to me… 

I do know that over my years of riding, I have gravitated towards training horses, and then I have moved into dressage as an extension of flatwork training. I know I love puzzling out the best training methods and figuring out new ways to help individual horses understand what I am asking them to do.

I also love a good challenge and the thrill of getting through it!

I think, however, that at the root of all of that – the best experiences I have ever had around horses or on horse back is when we have understood each other.

Like that time my Appaloosa mare Nikkieta and I did a perfect round of jumps.  We just hanging out in the jump paddock – I plotted a course and we did every one perfectly!  She felt like she had rocket boosters for legs!  It was amazing….  Or my last ride on her before her owner gave her away and she just did everything as I thought about it.

Or when Irish Moss and I jumped 80cm bareback – no training, no warm up with little jumps.  We just did it.  Or when we won the paddock D grade jumping competition – we were in our own little world, locked on the jumps and sailing over them!

I can’t forget that dressage test on Buttercup, one of the school horses at the riding school I taught at.  She and I didn’t know each other very well, but when we did that Novice 2A test and scored 62.8% (my first Novice test ever!).  I just remember everything flowing.  She was focused, I was focused, and it felt like we were just skimming through each movement. 

And that time when Joey and I finally clicked.  We weren’t doing anything special, just riding around.  But he finally stopped and listened to me for the first time and I just rode around with tears in my eyes and the dopiest grin on my face.  

It doesn’t matter what discipline; whether it’s ground work or riding.  When I make a connection with my horse, that is everything to me.  When we reach that point of perfect understanding. 

And I think that’s why I love training and dressage so much.  It’s about working together – partnership.  That is the most important thing about horses to me. 

So.  Moving forwards – what does that mean for me? 

I’m not really sure to be honest.  The Hubsband would like me to take a break from owning a horse and go with once-a-week lessons and perhaps riding someone else’s horse if I can find one. 

I’m really not keen on that idea.  I feel like I can’t work on a special partnership if I don’t have a partner!  Yes, I can work on my riding skills, but it’s so much more than that to me, and I’m not convinced that half an hour of riding a week is going to cut it. 

Still, my elbow has to heal yet, and I haven’t sold Joey or Copper either, so time will tell whether I buy another one after the boys sell or whether I will be *gasp* horseless for the first time in over 10 years! 

Even though I might be horseless, I’ll never be without horses.

See ya,

bonita

Update on Copper & Life

~ * Hello Copper!  * ~

The great news is that my sister and dad decided to buy Copper and share him!  He’s happy, she’s happy, Dad’s happy – and I am soooo happy!!

That worked out better than I ever hoped it could….  Yay!  :) 

Other news?

~ * Not one of these babies, though he IS cute!  * ~

We’re still waiting for baby to make an appearance.  These last few weeks have been quite tough – I’ve been too tired to do much of anything other than look after the little man, so housework, horses and everything else has pretty much come to a grinding halt.

That’s ok though, I’ve got someone keeping an eye on Joey, and I hope that once baby comes I’ll be back into it in a few weeks.  It’s just about waiting at the moment.

See ya,

bonita

My First Days

 

I am totally excited – I just spent my midweek (Tuesday afternoon & Wednesday) shadowing two lovely riding instructors for my first taste of coaching training!  It been a couple of months coming, but I am sort of semi-employed at a local riding to learn coaching and start instructing. 

I will be starting with the tiny, tiny, tiny tots – a leading rein class for 2 – 6 yr olds.  The parents lead the children and I have to figure out how to teach them something (anything!) without going above their heads or tangling the parents/ponies up.  Hmmm… It’s going to be a challenge but I am sooo up for it!  I am beyond thrilled to have this opportunity!

Of course at this point I am busy trying to learn the names of the 30 odd herd of school ponies and horses, what their temperaments are like and what constitutes their good/bad behaviour.  I am also learning a different school routine; you know, how they muck out, tack up, teach a lesson, reprimand their horses (this one is more important than you might think!), etc.  It’s a lot to take in, but seriously, one and a half days into it, and the place already feels like a home away from home.

I love it.  I am really looking forwards to this new term coming up, and you can be assured that I will be jotting down all the details on the good ol’ blog. 

See ya,

bonita

P.S  - Joey is still going well; in fact I’m beginning to think that our lovely straight-ish walk and trot on the outside track (on both reins too!) is no longer a fluke and we have actually moved past the silly-shying-for-no-reason-phase!  Hip hip!!

Now I am working on:

• a driving seat aid for impulsion at all times – no slopping along allowed!
• hands together at all times to prevent over bending
• closed fingers and consistent contact (I tend to throw the reins away because I’m not used to providing a solid support for the horse to lean into.  I just figured out in my last lesson that that means that Copper was probably slightly behind the bit, thus, he had a hollow back and that’s why he such short strides and could never reach underneath himself properly!  D’oh!)
• and lastly, sitting trot practise for the win.   : D

Mount up & let’s go!

Right.  So let’s kick start this riding habit with a “get to know you” type deal.  Hi.  My name is Bonita and I am a horse lover.  But you probably already figured that out right? 

I am the happy Mama to one gorgeous 15.3hh bay Standardbred ex-trotter "Casablanca"; stable name Copper. 



I started riding when I was about thirteen and haven’t looked back since.  Our whole family got involved; including my dad, which was great, because it meant that he was keen too and bought us a horse! Otherwise it’s pretty much the same old story: went to a riding school, got hooked and then came the family pony parade…

Hmm.  I don’t even know if I can remember them all, but I will try! 

There was:

- Shazzar; an Anglo Arab X who-knows-what flea-bitten grey mare with an attitude and a stubborn streak as wide as the Amazon river.

-  Nikkieta; an Appaloosa mare that was chunky, somewhat grumpy and could really jump but only when she felt like it.

-  Irish Moss;  an TB chestnut gelding who was bomb proof and well, I hate to say it, but he was a bit thick…  He was a darling to ride though as long as you kept him well away from the oats!

-   There were a few loose ones in here that didn’t stick around long; free rides and all that.

-  Tango;  an Welsh D{we think; can’t know for sure because he didn’t have papers} bay gelding that was very pretty and knew it!  He had the smoothest gaits and was very athletic, but he also had a penchant for throwing in an odd bronco buck or two… Or three…. Or… Well, he was still my favourite!

-  Montanna; another crazy TB gelding off the track who was generally nuts.

-  Domino; a honey bay Standardbred gelding.  He was our first taste of Standys, and we liked what we saw.  He was really sweet, but a bit spooky.

-  Rusty;  a reddish bay Standardbred ex-pacer gelding.  This fellow has been hand reared so he’s a bit special but my sister loves him anyway.

-  Mercury;  a gangly Standardbred ex-trotter gelding who is my Dad’s current mount.  He is very quiet and unassuming. 

And that of course leaves Copper, my baby! 

We are currently working on our dressage and jumping with the hopes to one day add cross country and do a bit of eventing.  I thought I would chronicle some ‘trails and tribulations' of a horse mad girl and her people mad horse and the different high-jinks we get up too!  I hope you enjoy.  

See ya!

bonita