The proof is in the pudding!

Just to prove that the TFT therapy has had an impact - the picture below was taken at the weekend and is us cantering round the gallops. What makes this even more of an achievement is that on our last attempt before this one Sam lept sideways when he noticed a new paddling pool that has been put in by the track (if I was paranoid I would think someone had done it on purpose!). But instead of this putting me off it just made me all the more convinced that I can happily handle Sam when he plays up (hurrah :)

One step forward, one step back ...

With my new positive mental attitude (PMA for Shell types who love their acronymns) Sam and I have been going from strength to strength. We now have fun cantering on the gallops, schooling and molesting each other in the stable (have discovered if I scratch Sam under his neck he nibbles me on the head, it is very cute :) Plus Sam has a new friend who he loves dearly - they are complete opposites (see below) and it is very amusing to watch Sam tear round the field whilst the cob lollops along after him.





But (not meaning to be a smug pessimist) the good times have taken a bit of a bump, the fly has got into the ointment, etc. etc. I had my usual lesson last week and we found that no matter what was tried Sam was not willing to canter on the left lead (no matter what the rein). My instructor said that it would be worth getting a physio out just to check that there were no issues with his back. So yesterday a wonderful lady called Anna Johnson came round to give him the once over. She is the official physio for the British riding teams and so I was utterly star struck when she casually chatted about being at the last Olympics or sorting out William Fox-Pitts issues - rrrrr.

Sorry lost focus there. Anyway, she checked Sam out and came to the conclusion that he is very tight along his left rear side. This could be due to two things - 1) general wear and tear after years of racing or 2) he is lame in his left hind and this is showing in the muscles. So she treated the muscle tightness (with a very entertaining tool that made his bottom twitch) and will be coming back in two weeks. If he shows improvement then it is just wear and tear but if it is no better then the vet has to come out to do nerve blocks to work out where the lameness is. So fingers crossed he feels better in a fortnight.

Highs and Lows (part II)

Things have been a little hectic recently hence it has taken me a while to add anything new to the blog (although there is me assuming that people have been reading this thing in the first place!). Anyway, following from my last post my nerves and general stress about my hopelessness got worse and worse. As I said the book started to help but the real break through came through a combination of a wonderful woman called Jo Cooper and my ever brilliant instructor. I found out about Jo via the Horse & Hound forum when I posted a feeling sorry for myself note. She is a thoughtfield therapy practioner which involves tapping on acupressure points while focusing on worries in order to remove them. It sounds daft but the effect is incredible - for each worry you have to say from 0 to 10 how bad it made you feel (10 being the worst). Then you go through the tapping sequence and then say what the number is again. I found that a number would just swim into my view at the end of the tapping and it only took a couple of goes to come down to zero on most of my worries. I won't say that it has turned me into miss positive (will take a miracle for that) but it has stopped the downward spiral that had been happening where I worried that Sam would spook and then (not surprisingly) he would. He is still on his toes but now I feel much better about it and accept the fact that 99% of the time I can handle him fine whatever he does. This has also rubbed off on our cantering on the gallops - I now feel much better about it which means I am much more in control. It is certainly true what they say about positive mental attitude.

So the combination of Jo and my instructor being as positive as ever has meant that I am feeling really good about my riding at the moment and Sam and I seem much happier together. My big lesson out of all of this is the realisation that there will always be better riders than me but that it doesn't matter. Sam is my beasty and he is happy whatever we do as long as I keep giving him the carrots!

By the way, for those interested Jo's contact details and more info can be found at www.jo-cooper.com

Highs and lows - positive mental attitude

Well this week has been one of real highs and lows. I got back from my travels last Sunday and went straight to the stables to ride Sam. When I got there the three grooms who had been riding Sam immediately started telling me how wonderful he was, how easy to ride and how much fun they had taking him for a spin round the gallops. With all this ringing in my ears I went out on to the gallops and it was a complete nightmare. Sam got wound up which set me off, so with me getting more edgy our attempts at a quiet canter turned into a full on fight. So I came back into the yard feeling rather sorry for myself and convinced that I did not deserve to have lovely Sam as I was such a rubbish rider. Being me I then mulled over the whole thing all night and by the Monday morning was thoroughly miserable about my (lack of) riding ability and how Sam would be better off without me. Thankfully though salvation came in the form of a book I ordered ages ago from Amazon - Sport Psychology A Riders Handbook - that arrived on my desk that morning and helped turn my thinking round completely by the end of the week.

To be continued ...