From Tullamarine, to the Front Steps
I began writing this post while I was waiting for my plane to begin boarding on Sunday morning at Tullamarine Airport. It was another early start to the day, which is par for the course when I'm traveling. I was dreading the attempt to put my camera bag in the overhead locker when I got on. Normally this is ok. Except on Saturday morning I put my neck out in dramatic fashion. Not because of some exciting activity either, sadly.... I did it in my sleep, at Lyn's house, shortly before my alarm went off, by having one of my frightening dreams which made me startle. I moved suddenly, and the crack woke me up. My first thought was 'oh no, but Lyn and I are riding'. It was a pretty bad pinch, and Lyn said I was as white as a sheet.
As a result I spent the weekend dosed up to the eyeballs on anti inflammatory drugs to get it to settle down. Of course the weather was gorgeous that morning, and in true stubborn fashion, despite the fact that my neck was hopelessly sore, I said to Lyn 'let's just saddle one horse, and we'll play about with him'. She looked at me dubiously, and said "Bronnie, I'm not sure you should be riding!!", but I can be stubborn when it comes to horses. So she got on and warmed him up first, then I said 'bugger my neck' and then yes, on I got! He's a nice horse! Lyn and I are excited about riding together in future. She wants some help with her horses. I am still very keen on getting Snips, but realise that there is a chance that this may not prove possible. So it's good to know that there is a perfectly good fallback option of 2 lovely horses (3, the little grey galloway Cadet will be perfect for Jessica and Heath) that I can help her work if my plans for Snips all fall apart in a screaming heap.
The day at Caulfield was a lot of fun, although pinched nerves are fatiguing and it made shooting a little problematic. I was disappointed about Miracles of Life, delighted for Samaready and Mick Price, pleased for Peter Moody because he had a good day, and truly, truly happy for Mark Kavanagh. Atlantic Jewel may well provide me with another great horse to love. She was incredible. I am pleased I was there for it. And it was really great seeing all my friends and colleagues at the track. I still have a lot of images to go through, and must get cracking with it. And on Saturday evening, my sister organised a belated birthday dinner for me at her house, and my dad and his wife came over, as did my aunt and uncle. It's a hardship having Paul in your kitchen.. I love to think of a day when he and Bron will come and see our new house and come and rescue me in my kitchen, and turn one of my cooking disasters into something that only he can create.
It felt nice yesterday knowing that it was officially the 1st day of Spring. After getting home yesterday morning, it was all clean, clean, clean for the inspection, and as such, I haven't done all that much with the images from the weekend. And I've been in and out all day today too, and so still haven't looked at them today either! I did spend a very pleasant 40 minutes out on my front steps in the surprisingly warm sunshine with Maxie though before having to dash out again.
48 hours the anti inflammtory drugs have done their work and my neck is almost back to normal, and I can almost turn properly from side to side. Speaking of Snips, I miss him desperately. I had a jumping lesson with Grant this morning (yes, I know, I know, sore neck...) and I rode a school horse called Brandy. He's a good, honest horse, but he felt like a carthorse next to Snips and I didn't enjoy the lesson nearly as much. I know riding any horse is still good for my riding, and that I'm currently inclined to be moody, but it just wasn't nearly as much fun. His canter was also rough and jarring too, and like I said, I didn't like it a much. But Grant and I talked more about Snips and when he comes back from Josie's farm I'll continue to work with him, and it's nice to know that there won't be any pressure from Grant's end. I do like him though..... I asked Grant how he thought Snips would cope being a paddock horse. Better, he said. And then I said I was probably like to do more dressage than jumping on him. All fine he said, because like me, he feels Snips has talent. I know (rather gloomily it feels tonight) that my hopes and dreams for Snips could all be absolute pie in the sky.
Having said that, I had a slightly humorous and illuminating session with my pain physiologist (who I'm seeing for my poor dodgy sore neck) today. He talked about the human's capacity for stress and worry. He says we fixate and over think things in a way that no other animal does. His example was the mouse, who gets all anxious when the cat comes into the room. When the coast is clear the mouse goes back to thinking 'now where's the cheese??'. The mouse doesn't spend it's time after the cat has gone thinking 'gee, did you see that cat?', 'I wonder if the cat is coming back?' 'do you think there's more than one cat?' 'what about the size of the cat!!!' So I'm telling myself firmly that I can do absolutely nothing about the situation now (particularly while Snips is out at the farm, and when he comes back I am likely to be in Melbourne for school holidays, sigh....) and that I will just have to be patient (hah!) and wait and see what happens and what is possible. What I liked about the session this afternoon was that my pain psychologist didn't frown at me for getting on the horse, and he actually seemed quite pleased.
The weekends in front of me are suddenly looking full, and I don't expect to be home all that much. This weekend we will go to Sydney to see my mum before she goes overseas to Italy for 5 weeks, and I'll work at Randwick. There's some very good horses running this weekend in Sydney and I won't have all that many opportunities to be in Sydney over the next couple of months.
As a result I spent the weekend dosed up to the eyeballs on anti inflammatory drugs to get it to settle down. Of course the weather was gorgeous that morning, and in true stubborn fashion, despite the fact that my neck was hopelessly sore, I said to Lyn 'let's just saddle one horse, and we'll play about with him'. She looked at me dubiously, and said "Bronnie, I'm not sure you should be riding!!", but I can be stubborn when it comes to horses. So she got on and warmed him up first, then I said 'bugger my neck' and then yes, on I got! He's a nice horse! Lyn and I are excited about riding together in future. She wants some help with her horses. I am still very keen on getting Snips, but realise that there is a chance that this may not prove possible. So it's good to know that there is a perfectly good fallback option of 2 lovely horses (3, the little grey galloway Cadet will be perfect for Jessica and Heath) that I can help her work if my plans for Snips all fall apart in a screaming heap.
The day at Caulfield was a lot of fun, although pinched nerves are fatiguing and it made shooting a little problematic. I was disappointed about Miracles of Life, delighted for Samaready and Mick Price, pleased for Peter Moody because he had a good day, and truly, truly happy for Mark Kavanagh. Atlantic Jewel may well provide me with another great horse to love. She was incredible. I am pleased I was there for it. And it was really great seeing all my friends and colleagues at the track. I still have a lot of images to go through, and must get cracking with it. And on Saturday evening, my sister organised a belated birthday dinner for me at her house, and my dad and his wife came over, as did my aunt and uncle. It's a hardship having Paul in your kitchen.. I love to think of a day when he and Bron will come and see our new house and come and rescue me in my kitchen, and turn one of my cooking disasters into something that only he can create.
It felt nice yesterday knowing that it was officially the 1st day of Spring. After getting home yesterday morning, it was all clean, clean, clean for the inspection, and as such, I haven't done all that much with the images from the weekend. And I've been in and out all day today too, and so still haven't looked at them today either! I did spend a very pleasant 40 minutes out on my front steps in the surprisingly warm sunshine with Maxie though before having to dash out again.
48 hours the anti inflammtory drugs have done their work and my neck is almost back to normal, and I can almost turn properly from side to side. Speaking of Snips, I miss him desperately. I had a jumping lesson with Grant this morning (yes, I know, I know, sore neck...) and I rode a school horse called Brandy. He's a good, honest horse, but he felt like a carthorse next to Snips and I didn't enjoy the lesson nearly as much. I know riding any horse is still good for my riding, and that I'm currently inclined to be moody, but it just wasn't nearly as much fun. His canter was also rough and jarring too, and like I said, I didn't like it a much. But Grant and I talked more about Snips and when he comes back from Josie's farm I'll continue to work with him, and it's nice to know that there won't be any pressure from Grant's end. I do like him though..... I asked Grant how he thought Snips would cope being a paddock horse. Better, he said. And then I said I was probably like to do more dressage than jumping on him. All fine he said, because like me, he feels Snips has talent. I know (rather gloomily it feels tonight) that my hopes and dreams for Snips could all be absolute pie in the sky.
Having said that, I had a slightly humorous and illuminating session with my pain physiologist (who I'm seeing for my poor dodgy sore neck) today. He talked about the human's capacity for stress and worry. He says we fixate and over think things in a way that no other animal does. His example was the mouse, who gets all anxious when the cat comes into the room. When the coast is clear the mouse goes back to thinking 'now where's the cheese??'. The mouse doesn't spend it's time after the cat has gone thinking 'gee, did you see that cat?', 'I wonder if the cat is coming back?' 'do you think there's more than one cat?' 'what about the size of the cat!!!' So I'm telling myself firmly that I can do absolutely nothing about the situation now (particularly while Snips is out at the farm, and when he comes back I am likely to be in Melbourne for school holidays, sigh....) and that I will just have to be patient (hah!) and wait and see what happens and what is possible. What I liked about the session this afternoon was that my pain psychologist didn't frown at me for getting on the horse, and he actually seemed quite pleased.
The weekends in front of me are suddenly looking full, and I don't expect to be home all that much. This weekend we will go to Sydney to see my mum before she goes overseas to Italy for 5 weeks, and I'll work at Randwick. There's some very good horses running this weekend in Sydney and I won't have all that many opportunities to be in Sydney over the next couple of months.
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