Friday, October 8, 2010

Temporary Insanity

First, Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians!! I hope you are able to spend time with your families this weekend. I certainly have a lot to be thankful for, and I am grateful every day.

So, my last lesson was all of 20 minutes. I actually left work early and got to the stables 1/2 hour before my usual arrival time. As I started to get out of my car, my cell phone rang. One of my co-workers was trapped in the hallway of our building. Let me explain..... our offices are on two floors of a professional townhouse with a hallway on the main floor that also allows access to the basement where the bathrooms and kitchen are. The offices on each floor lock individually. My co-worker was down in the bathroom, the other employees left locking up the offices behind them. They assumed my co-worker had a key to lock the front door as he left. Nope. So I drove back to the office through rush hour traffic (45 minutes), locked the door and drove back to the stables (45 minutes).

I am not good with rush hour traffic at the best of times, let alone having to face it 3 times in one evening. You see, I have a condition.....there's no flowery way to say this.....and I am little ashamed to admit it......I turn into lunatic. Put me on a crowded road, crawling along over a period of time and I unravel. My happy demeanour starts to slip away. My patience level diminishes to zero. Yes, I am the one yelling unflattering names at the person that is stupid, inconsiderate or pushy. Granted my yelling is done through my windshield, but I exaggerate my pronunciation so that the person can clearly make out what name I am calling them if they look at their rear-view mirror. Fargin Icehole!!! Fargin Bastage!!! Throwing my hands in the air or shrugging my shoulders is also part of this display. What the.....??? As my frustration escalates, my hand somehow finds its way to the horn. Yep, I may even accentuate my yelling with a little horn blowing. I am sure a vein starts to pulse on my forehead at this stage. I wasn't always like this..... there just seem to be more incompetent rude drivers out there now. So for my own peace of mind and to avoid looking extremely unattractive, I don't drive in rush hour. My personal office hours are 9:30-6:00 p.m. :-)

Needless to say that by the time I arrived back at the stables, my face was pinched, my lips thin lines. My lesson was well underway. LA had saddled Gem up and was sitting on him when I arrived. I still felt like the top of my head was going to blow off. She asked if I was going to get on my pony and I replied no. I just wasn't in the right frame of mind. She gently insisted that I get on him, so I brought my mounting stairs to the centre of the arena and got on Gem. He didn't move as I mounted. HE DIDN'T MOVE AS I MOUNTED. Now, it could have been because LA was standing basically in front of him. It could have been that he knew I was still suffering from temporary insanity and was anticipating some sort of awful repercussion if he didn't behave. Or, it could have been that he was just being a really good boy. Frankly, it didn't matter why. HE DIDN'T MOVE AS I MOUNTED. I sat on him for a minute, giving his neck and mane a good rub and thanked him.

We didn't participate in any of the loping. Instead Gem and I walked around on the inside of the arena while my classmates waited for their turn to trot or lope on the rail. We did some limbering up; small circles, 90 degree turns. I did not chat with my classmates (my new rule) and continued to focus on being with Gem, keeping him moving. I could feel the tension slipping away and I could feel my body melting into the saddle. My pleasantness returned. When LA asked me what I wanted to do, I said I wanted to try to do a side-pass. What?! Yep, a side-pass.

LA coached me on rein position and leg position and on the fourth try, Gem and I did a side-pass from the middle of the arena to the rail. :-) It wasn't the straightest example, but it was a side-pass none the less. Good boy!

So within a 3-hour period, I managed to go from office manager to lunatic driver to saviour to lunatic driver to Zen rider. Yes, I am woman and I am amazing. Geez, I sure hope I don't have to go on this emotional roller coaster on a regular basis, though. It's exhausting!

What was I thinking....?

10 comments:

  1. Good deal - horses always make it better!

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  2. Hmmm... glad I don't have to cross your path in rush-hour traffic ;o) Having my kids with me in the car does curb my need to swear like a sailor but I do tend to frown & glare a lot!
    Well done Gem for being such a good boy for his mama right when she needed it. Sounds like you made the right call by only doing what you wanted. Side pass, eh -- way to go, Wolfie & Gem!!
    Happy Thanksgiving & have a fab weekend! xx

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  3. I believe our horses are such a super way to make us relax, and forget about our other worries.
    Well done you, and side-pass too - congratulations!

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  4. Nothing worse than rush hour traffic to stress you out and nothing better than some time with the horses to destress you I find.

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  5. I can say that it's a good thing we don't ride together. I'm not very tolerant of stupid rude drivers either!

    So glad that you did get to ride and calm down. Gem was such a good boy at the mounting block for you and then the side passes, woo hoo! Congratulations on being able to focus and do what you wanted to do.

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  6. Good for you!
    I'm glad both you and Gem were able to enjoy the lesson, especially after having to drive in traffic 3 times. I'd be fit to be tied myself, I have very little patience for bad drivers, and they seem to be increasing. Just people being totally clueless, and not thinking of anyone but themselves. The worse is the ones whose heads you can see looking down, clearly texting!! ok, I won't rant here, lol!

    have a great day!
    betty

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  7. Good morning!

    Well, I am glad to see that I am not the only one that reacts to stupid drivers! ;-) While I was definitely "riding under the influence", I am glad that, with Gem's help, I was able to snap out of it.

    Kate - you are absolutely correct!
    Joy - I didn't want to put myself in a situation with Gem where I asked (lope) and he didn't do as I wanted, which would make me crankier. So sidepass was new and I had no expectations.
    HoC - It was by no means the most coordinated effort, but he was crossing his feet and moving sideways!
    JanLou - Horses are magic....I would say that they are as good as a vodka soda when it comes to de-stressing!
    GHM - I know! I didn't realize he hadn't moved until I was in the saddle.
    Pink - I see you share my pain. :-) Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

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  8. YUK RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC! I am so glad I live in a small country town and really don't have to deal with that!

    Side Passing - WELL DONE!!!!

    HE DIDN"T MOVE WHILE I MOUNTED! - AWESOME DUDE! :)

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  9. Whew, you are busy lady. I need a nap now just reading about that roller coaster.

    I also lose my bits when stuck in rush hour traffic. I have to physically restrain myself from shooting the bird at the idiots around me. It never goes well if they see you do it. Fortunately I work in a very small city so I don't have to deal with bad traffic that often.

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  10. Nina and Shannon - you are so lucky that rush hour is not a big deal for you. I can handle just about anything but that. Grrrr!

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