Week 1 Over

Hello friends WowIt's feels so good To take the time to sit down with a cuppa and writeThis week has been hectic to say the least Early mornings Long days Very early nights Lather, rinse, repeat Before I started the course I deliberately didn't think about what I was letting myself in forIgnorance is bliss and all that I decided to take it day by day And hour by hour if necessaryThe first half of the week was spent in the classroom doing assignments It was very laid back and relaxed No pressure at all Thursday and Friday are spent in the stables All week I was looking forward to working with the horses On Thursday morning We gathered in the centre And caught a bus out to the stablesI had my gear with me So I was good to go First we went up to the class room To do some theory That lasted about half an hour Then it was down to the stables And time to muck out I don't know about you But I have never in my life kicked out a stable And let me tell you It is not easy First I worked with one of the other girls And she explained things to me Basically You get yourself a wheel barrow A pitch forkAnd a brush You remove all the horse poop And any of the bedding that is wet But Jesus H Christ Did I have trouble doing thatThe pitch fork itself is heavy And I am quite a little person So I found the actual mucking out really hard Then of course the horse is in the stable So you have to maneuver around himAnd try and get him to go where you want him to go So when I had filled my barrow I had to bring it around to the dung heapAnd boy did I struggle with that The barrow was so heavy I was sure it was going to topple over If you can imagine I was walking forward Pulling the barrow behind me Coming out of the stables There was a slope And I swear to GodI nearly got run over by my own wheel barrow!Then I had to go around to empty the barrow To what I can only describe as a quarry of horse poopI had to go right to the edge And honest to God There were many times when I thought I was going to be pulled over the edge I literally don't have a lot of strength Grainne is the name of the woman in charge in the stables And she is one hardy buck When she saw me struggling with the barrow She said she hopes I don't driveHa!Of course the funny thing is that I do But I definitely find using the barrow tricky The other new girl was there too on Thursday But because she has worked in a trekking center before She knew a lot more than me So I felt way behind everyone elseThen it was time to groom the horses And that was niceIt was around then that I realised that I wouldn't be riding that day I can't lie I was really disappointed But I figured this week was a trial weekSo no riding for me We breaker for lunch for an hour And no one had told me that there are zero facilities to get something to eat and drink I had nothing So one of the girls very kindly shared her lunch with meAfter lunch The others had their riding lesson And I did more grooming And learning about the tack and all the gear I have to admit It was pretty overwhelming There was so much information thrown at me It was mind boggling By the end of the day I felt physically and emotionally drained And unsure whether this was for me We finished up in the afternoonAnd I asked our tutor Joanna if I could speak to her I was honest I told her I felt a bit overwhelmed And that I was recovering from an eating disorder And was still quite weak She was nice to me Told me not to compare myself to the others And to work at my own pace She also said that if at any to me I needed to take ten minutes for myself that was okShe also told me to really think about if I want to do this course And what ever decision I came to was okI left the stables feeling very tired It was really hard work But the positive is that I got to spend time with so many beautiful animalsSo that made it all worthwhile My day wasn't over yet though When I got back in to town I was walking over to get my bus When I saw a woman holding a bird And was trying to cut something off the bird Curious as ever I asked her what she was doing She showed me that the birds feet were all tangled in fishing line And there was a fish hook through its clawShe held the bird And asked me to pull the hook out As you may know It's not easy to get a fish hook out cleanly I tried to pull gently But the bird started to bleedBut I kept trying And finally managed to pull it out The woman said she was going to bring the bird to the vet So I left her to it Honestly How do I get myself in to these situations?But hey I was glad I could help
Yesterday We were out in the stables againBut just for a half day I was slightly dreading the mucking out partAnd I prepared myself for the fact that I probably wouldn't get to rideAgain We started in the classroomBefore heading to the stables This time Joanna kept a good eye on me And helped me with everything Which was good of her I mucked out and groomed a beautiful pony called Blue He was a real pet A gentle little thing Then Grainne came over and asked me if I had ridden beforeI said I had done a little bit And explained about the equine assisted therarpy She told me to rack up Blue And that I could join the lessonI was super excited!And Joanne helped me tack up I led Blue in to the arena with the others They all looked so confident And I felt so nervous I mounted Blue And took myself to the back seat of the line The minute I was on his back I felt right at home Then it was straight in to riding trot No warm up or anything Blue was a joy to ride And really looked after me We did a few rounds of trot Then we did something called the jumping position Which I'm presuming is the position you take when jumping a fence I just had to learn quickly and copy the others I am so glad that I had the experience I had As I was really thrown in at the deep endThen some of the others did a twenty meter circle Again I was glad that I knew what that wasAnd I was able to keep up Then some of the others did a canter One by one I was at the end So Grainne told me just to trot But Blue had other ideas And broke in to a canter What a buzz!!I loved it!And Grainne actually said 'Good Girl'Which is praise indeed from herI thoroughly enjoyed the lesson And it really made all the hard work worthwhileAll too soon The lesson was overSo I brought Blue in Untacked himGroomed himAnd out his rug back onThen it was lunch time And we were finished for the day And the week
This morning it felt so good to wake upAnd realize that I had no where to be And nothing to doIt was a tough week But I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it And I think I am going to do itIt's funny When I was doing the horse therapy I literally used to turn up Ride Star And go home I had no clue about all the work that went in to looking after horse And boy are they a full time jobI'm so glad to have a few days off thoughTo recharge my batteriesAnd catch up on myself I am so lucky to have the support of my family though My Mam looks after the dogs during the day So I don't have to worry about them at all Right I'm off to make a cuppa And watch Masterchef Hope you enjoy your Saturday And see you on the next post....