Horsing Around with Lucky Number Seven

I walk slowly, very slowly, from the GoTrain towards the stable. 

 “You can do this” I tell myself.  In fact, I really want to do it…I just wish all of my leg muscles weren't screaming in unison.   Today is my second consecutive horseback riding lesson.  Since riding Sky six weeks back, I have been obsessed.  For the last three weeks I have been riding once a week.   This is my absolute favourite thing to do. 

I get up to the Horse Palace and open the huge front door.  As I pass through, I’m like a character in a children’s novel that crosses the threshold from one world into another.  I become a kid again, a young girl that’s in love with magical creatures.  


I walk on and breathe in that horse stable smell.  I pass by one of the grey kittens, not sure if it’s Charles or Owen, playing with something.  He stops what he’s doing, his eyes narrow, he watches me as I go by.   I find Seven, my horse for today’s lesson.  

A chestnut Belgian Cross mare with a white blaze in the shape of the number seven, she has become my friend over the last three weeks.  I greet her and look in into her great brown eyes.  She puts her head down and tries to find treats in my pocket.

After brushing her auburn coat and combing her blond mane, I put on her saddle.  I struggle a bit.  She’s not happy with me when I put the girth on her.  She lets me know.   Later, when the instructor tells me that I have put it on backwards, I think back and wonder if at that moment, she was trying to tell me I was doing it wrong.   Horses and I are still learning to communicate.

Finally it’s time to put on the bridle.  Like a royal princess bestowing an act of kindness on a peasant, she lowers her majestic head for me.   I feel privileged that this regal beast has agreed to let me ride her.  

The clock indicates the top of the hour. I enter the ring.  Once inside I meet Faith, my instructor for today.  I mount up. Seven and I walk around the ring.  Then we trot.  My legs are taking a while to get warmed up. They ache like crazy but I want to succeed at this more than anything I have tried thus far.  I push through and keep going.  Finally the blood starts circulating.

For the next hour we work on developing strength and balance in the way I ride.  We work on communicating with the horse. We work on my confidence and we even work on the two point position-- the position riders take as the horse jumps. It requires leg, core and glute strength.   This is a tough one for me.  To get past myself, I try and imagine Matt, my trainer, yelling at me.  “Come on Mary, squeeze your butt, squeeze your quads, suck in your gut--squeeze everything.”   And after a few unsuccessful attempts I suddenly I hear Faith, not Matt, with her English accent, saying, “that’s it Mary, you’ve got it. 

I exhale.

As our lesson comes to a close I come into the centre of the ring.  I pull Seven to a halt and dismount.  I am so tired that my legs nearly buckle underneath me, but I make it out of the ring and deal with Seven’s tack. Before I leave the world of the stable, I go back and say good-bye. 

On my way toward the big door into daily life, I think about how happy I am and how riding, while being a great work out for the lower body,  gives me that full mental escape I need.  I reach the door and put my hand in the middle of the long bar that runs the entire width. As I push down I am breathing a little easier and smiling a little more than I was an hour ago. Sore but rejuvenated  I take that step across the threshold back into reality. 


Never quit, 

Mary

Coming up:  I face the ultimate test...trying to stay on track during the holidays