Unbridled Joy

That’s a joke…

You’ll get it later. If you don’t, well shame on you.

It was wet again today. Very wet. But we got on with it. And today I rode a real horse. A rather short fat black pony type horse. Named Jack. Oh yes. The mole!

And we jumped. I’ll be honest, for the first three quarters of the lesson I was rather switched off and disconnected. I wasn’t paying any attention to what was going on and I certainly wasn’t putting any effort into my riding. I kinda just sat there. Which explains why he was able to run out from the third jump in the triple. It also explains why I was too far ahead of the movement, and therefore why I came off when he span out. What it doesn’t explain, however, is why when I went down…the bridle came with me!

Poor old jack was standing there looking utterly bemused, his once bridled face completely naked as I sat on the floor looking up at him, bridle in hand. Oops. (p.s. do you get the joke yet?!) I think that falling off was the best thing that could have happened to me during that lesson though. Because it woke me up. I didn’t want it to happen again, and I suddenly got an injection of determination and bloody mindedness. We were going to jump that triple, and the fat man was going to fly through it whether he liked it or not.

And that’s exactly what we did. Borrowing Tillie’s whip, I got him riding straight and true down the line, and clearing them all by the end. I guess sometimes riders need a bit of a wake up call just as much as the horses do. I certainly did today, so I’m glad it happened. Because it didn’t hurt; I’m totally fine.

Following those exciting events, some of the girls and I went out for a sort of farewell dinner this evening. We’ll see each other after half term a couple of times as we’ve all got to head into college to finish off a teaching module and stuff, but it was nice to get together and have an evening to have a bit of a laugh etc away from college.

We went to Chimichanga’s, a TexMex restaurant. I’ve not been to one of those before, so I didn’t really know what to expect. But there were enough vegetarian options to give me some choice, and the dish I went for in the end was super tasty. I think my favourite part was watching everyone else crying over their ‘mild’ chilli sauces.

It was a lovely evening overall, and despite my extreme tiredness I really enjoyed being out with the girls. It’s a shame Amy, Izzy, Poppy and Leah couldn’t make it, to complete our second year group, but to Louise, Hollie, Emma, Ellie and Tillie I say thank-you for a lovely evening. And to George too (Emma’s boyfriend) as he provided much entertainment – he cried the most – and took a really lovely photo for me of all of us.

Happy days.