Time management

For the past five months, I haven't been the primary rider on my horse.  My trainer has been the primary rider.  While I ride 3 - 4 times a week, she's been riding 4 - 5 times a week and none of those are spent wandering around in the town forest getting lost.  However, that phase of Fiona's training is coming to an end.  My spring quarter has wrapped up and starting tomorrow, the princess is off of full training and I'm back in as the primary rider.  It will be my keister in the saddle for her upcoming events.

Fiona at the GPC 3-Phase

I'll admit, it's been pretty luxurious having her in training.  If I'm kept late at work, I don't have to feel guilty about Fiona sitting in her stall idling away.  I rode when I could manage it and it was exclusively to keep myself in shape and on the ball.  The princess was getting work regardless of the level of distraction I had going on.  It was also awesome to have my trainer getting to know my horse that well.  It makes a huge difference in a lesson if your trainer knows how your horse feels, all of the unique little quirks, and how they will probably react to an exercise.  Her dressage in particular has progressed by leaps and bounds over the past five months.

It was awesome, but I'm ready to get back to work.  I've learned a lot about myself during this phase and while it was perfect timing and made perfect sense, I was frequently frustrated and it actually discouraged me from riding.  Without that sense of responsibility, I didn't fight to make time to go to the barn.  It was easier to just stay at home or sleep in rather than working early so I could head to the barn after work.

Of course this means that I'm back to juggling my full time job, my one summer class, and a very athletic mare with a full competition schedule.  The nice part about summer is that there are a lot of teenagers hanging around looking for extra ride time.  It should be easy to bribe one into helping out with keeping the princess fit.  Even if it's just one day a week, that takes some pressure off of me for those weeks when work is eating me alive and I have homework due and the husband is insisting that I actually see him once in awhile.  Husbands are so funny that way.

Sleep isn't actually necessary.  I survived college without it, I can do it again.