After an amazing bank holiday it was straight back in to the full swing of things around home in the Midlands on Tuesday.A couple of horses still having livery services keeps some sort of routine for getting up (The majority are now turned out on the grass, and with the lighter nights owners are now able to fit in most things themselves, so livery services always drop at this time of year) and then my usual tuesday morning lesson at the yard. I also had a dog to walk at lunch time and an extra couple of horses to check on in the afternoon, as the owners had gone away for a short break. Once all the work was done and my own horses sorted, I met up with Keith for our Tuesday evening ride.
Now that he has had a taste of riding and seems keen to continue, it was time to get in the arena and take a look at his position and control. I feel I've been a little bit mean here, as he has been feeling rather good about how he has got on out hacking, I've allowed him to get a bit of a false sense of security. In the arena it quickly became clear that keeping your own horse going where you want it to, at the speed you want it to, at the same time as thinking about what your legs and hands are doing and not tipping forward, is actually quite difficult. By the end of the session though, with only a little help from me on the ground, he had his horse mostly on the track, through walk and trot, and just about managed to figure out kicking/squeezing while doing rising trot. He also had a couple of goes at sitting to a canter and it was a very good sit for his first time. A definte success. Everyone learns at different rates and it seems that just as my ability to break down the infinite detail of my riding is helping me pick up kayaking, Keith's kayaking skills are helping him to pick up horse riding reasonably quickly.
Wednesday was mostly livery booked in so I had chance to have a quick look at a few ideas towards my website, this blog, and update facebook posts. The hardest part of being self-employed at the moment seems to be juggling all the roles you have to fill. I'm not just a riding coach/trainer (and groom and pet sitter), but my own PA, accountant, manager, marketing and sales team, web designer, and so on. It's really important to makes sure I'm not only focussing on being the best coach I can be but also keeping myself running as a business. I hit a bit of a wall trying to update something on my website, so instead of achieveing anything I managed to spend about 2 hours chasing my tail on the internet with no success. I've never done a website before and I really know nothing about all the jargon. I'm hoping this will gradually get easier but it still feels like an uphill battle.
After a lesson in the afternoon, which I discussed in my previous post about 'things', I set off to get the livery and holiday care sorted. As I started my car I noticed a light on my dash, the battery light. Quickly checked my hand book. There is a problem with the battery or the charging system (maybe alternator or a belt....). Right, so in order to get everything done, hopefully without the car dying, I'll leave the car running on the car park. Between yards, driving down a narrow country lane which isn't all that familiar, the dash starts lighting up like a christmas tree. The power steering, the brakes and the ABS. Luckily I was already driving quite slowly as I didn't know the road, so I heaved the car round in the next pull in (power steering had stopped working, and you don't realise just how big of a difference it makes until it dies. What might normally have been a 3 point turn was more like a 7 point turn and it made my arms ache). Not wanting to have to use my RAC cover I decided I'd limp the car back home with hazard lights on. And I'd have to figure out how to get to the other horses later.
About half a mile down the lane, *poof*, as if by magic all the lights went off and the car started driving normally. So another 3 point turn, back to the last horses I needed to see, doing what needed to be done with them as efficiently as possible, trying not to skimp on any checks that they needed, then a cautious drive back home. Now, instead of getting more work done on the website and blog, I had an evening of trying to figure out what was wrong with the car. Dad to the rescuse here, because I know less about cars than I do computers I think. After a fair bit of mucking about, it seems that it is only the battery (we hope). We got that on charge so I could get around the next day, and then ordered a new battery too.
An easy Thursday is now looking a bit busier, with a car battery to change and the website work being dragged out. Thursday morning got filled with a visit back to see the other rider from Wednesday's lesson, walk the dog at lunch time again, managed to get in front of the computer for an hour but again I found myself not really achieveing anything with it, physio appointment with accupuncture to make me feel like a pin cushion again, over to see the holiday care client to return key, feeling quite worn out as the accupuncture started to take effect, and return again to finish off the livery clients and work with my own horse. In the eveing plans changed from paddling to climbing as Keith had his daughter for the evening. Climbing felt like a lot of hard work after a few weeks of not going, and with the Alps fast approaching we have both noted we could do with working on our fitness. Another item to add to the ever increasing list of 'things I need to do'.
Friday to Sunday I had been booked in for a house sit which had since been cancelled so I essentially had a long 'weekend off'. Keith had an appointment with work down in Portsmouth on Friday, so asked if I fancied a day trip to keep him company on the drive. I decided to take the opportunity as I haven't been to Portsmouth before. On the journey down I did a little prep towards my blog, trying to both 'enjoy the moment' having a day trip and be efficient by doing something towards my business, however small. I did a little more while Keith was at the appointment, and then after seeking some reccomendation from the locals, we went to Hayling Island for the afternoon. We had a stroll along the beach, I tried to build a sand castle but it wasn't a very good one as it's a mostly rocky beach, we played around balancing on the wave breakers, and then found ourselves in 'Funland'. The big kids that we are, we decided to get some tokens and have a go on a few rides. However, Keith is not that great with heights and spinning so we didn't go on too many. We wandered back along the beach again, taking in the sound of the sea. We got some fish and chips for lunch, and sat on the beach to eat, wanting to make the most of the 'slice of paradise' feeling.
After a long drive back we were too late to get our kit ready to join the first river session of the year with WFCC but, being on the committee decided to show our faces and watched for a few minutes from the river bank. After a light dinner and a shower, we both woke back up again and ended up talking long in to the night. Not to worry Saturday was a really quiet day. I made sure I did just a little something on the computer again in the morning, and then spent the afternoon with Keith and his son Lewis. They came over to my parents' for lunch in the garden, then we went round to Keith's sisters to enjoy the sunshine in the garden there (he is house sitting while his sister is away), and after a lot of bouncing on the trampoline with Lewis I was worn out! Being a weekend, we ended up staying up late again. We should have gone to bed earlier, as we had arranged another 'Intro to White Water day' with the club for Sunday, but I was enjoying the evening far too much to suggest it.
In the morning then we got ourselves up, (a little slowly but not feeling as tired as expected) and headed off to meet the others at the Club. All the boats, kit and people divided between a few cars, the group headed down to Symonds Yat. Parking paid and kitted up we were ready to go; after a quick brief of the days plan, and what to expect for those who hadn't been before, we got on the water. I opted to get on via the steps again this time, not quite feeling ready to go straight for a big seal launch at the start of the session. I had been paired up with Sam today as she wanted to try a little coaching and it would be good for me to learn a little from a different perspective. We warmed up with a paddle up stream today. The more experienced paddlers looking for a rock that had been mentioned by some friends as a good place to seal launch from. Unfortunately when we got to the rock there was goose nesting on top and it was decided we wouldn't disturb him, so we headed back down stream for the rapids.
Pulling in at an eddy with Sam, we had now sorted of split from the others as the others were all pretty much ready to go straight for playing at the top of the rapids, we had a look down stream to make a plan. We decided to go for paddling the run through all the way to the bottom, and then work our way back up from the calmer water as I got my confidence up. The water level today made everything so much more friendly. My confidence didn't take long to grow with Sam's help and by the end I was doing some ferry gliding and S turns in the top waves and eddys with the rest of the group. Today I noted that although there were a couple of waves that gave me a little wobble, a bump in to a rock as I only just made one eddy, and a few heart racing moments as I pushed my limits a little, they were just moments, rather than an almost continuous feeling of panic.
Before we headed back to the get out, there had been the suggestion of doing some throw line practice. We all got out of the boats in the eddys river left, and stood out on the groyns (Rocks arranged to give the eddys in the rapid section). A few of us then had a go at being a swimmer or rescuer. It's good to practice in a controlled environment, what you should do if you unexpectedly get seperated from your boat, or what to do if you see someone else in that situation. I know most of the paddlers I go with have throw lines, and could guess sort of what to do, but I might have come unstuck with where to throw as the person is obviously moving, and different ways to be able to then pull them out. The flow on the Wye at the time was quite gentle, and yet it was still not that easy to pull the person out of the flow in to an eddy, so they could stand and get out of the water.
We made our way out then, taking in the short seal launch as we got back on the water above the rapids, and before we got out at the car park, a couple of the group practiced their roll technique. I decided this time that I had done enough and just practised a little edging and support strokes before I got out. The standard after paddle visit to the pub followed and then we all made our way back home.
It's been such a nice weekend I really felt like I didn't want it to end, but with work for us both in the morning, we got to bed before midnight. The effects of the late nights and active days hit me Monday morning... Even though we hadn't been too late to bed, I was completely out for the count, slept through Keith's alarms, him getting up and switching lights on. So I have spent today in my own little world, on auto pilot, and the time has just slipped away while I've got very little done other than this blog! I doubt very much I will get to paddling this evening as planned, and instead will be having an early night!!!
In the morning then we got ourselves up, (a little slowly but not feeling as tired as expected) and headed off to meet the others at the Club. All the boats, kit and people divided between a few cars, the group headed down to Symonds Yat. Parking paid and kitted up we were ready to go; after a quick brief of the days plan, and what to expect for those who hadn't been before, we got on the water. I opted to get on via the steps again this time, not quite feeling ready to go straight for a big seal launch at the start of the session. I had been paired up with Sam today as she wanted to try a little coaching and it would be good for me to learn a little from a different perspective. We warmed up with a paddle up stream today. The more experienced paddlers looking for a rock that had been mentioned by some friends as a good place to seal launch from. Unfortunately when we got to the rock there was goose nesting on top and it was decided we wouldn't disturb him, so we headed back down stream for the rapids.
Pulling in at an eddy with Sam, we had now sorted of split from the others as the others were all pretty much ready to go straight for playing at the top of the rapids, we had a look down stream to make a plan. We decided to go for paddling the run through all the way to the bottom, and then work our way back up from the calmer water as I got my confidence up. The water level today made everything so much more friendly. My confidence didn't take long to grow with Sam's help and by the end I was doing some ferry gliding and S turns in the top waves and eddys with the rest of the group. Today I noted that although there were a couple of waves that gave me a little wobble, a bump in to a rock as I only just made one eddy, and a few heart racing moments as I pushed my limits a little, they were just moments, rather than an almost continuous feeling of panic.
Before we headed back to the get out, there had been the suggestion of doing some throw line practice. We all got out of the boats in the eddys river left, and stood out on the groyns (Rocks arranged to give the eddys in the rapid section). A few of us then had a go at being a swimmer or rescuer. It's good to practice in a controlled environment, what you should do if you unexpectedly get seperated from your boat, or what to do if you see someone else in that situation. I know most of the paddlers I go with have throw lines, and could guess sort of what to do, but I might have come unstuck with where to throw as the person is obviously moving, and different ways to be able to then pull them out. The flow on the Wye at the time was quite gentle, and yet it was still not that easy to pull the person out of the flow in to an eddy, so they could stand and get out of the water.
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| The throw line we used was the HF Weasel - You can find out more detail and purchase by clicking the picture. It is definetley a good buy as it's an 18m line, being suitable for the majority of situations, packs away easily in to the wide opening bag, but still packs down quite small, so it's not a bulky item for the boat. |
It's been such a nice weekend I really felt like I didn't want it to end, but with work for us both in the morning, we got to bed before midnight. The effects of the late nights and active days hit me Monday morning... Even though we hadn't been too late to bed, I was completely out for the count, slept through Keith's alarms, him getting up and switching lights on. So I have spent today in my own little world, on auto pilot, and the time has just slipped away while I've got very little done other than this blog! I doubt very much I will get to paddling this evening as planned, and instead will be having an early night!!!
Very little done? Apart from writing a 2,263 word blog!!! And knowing how many times you re-read and edit your posts I can see where your day has gone! lol - It has been an action packed and fun few days..!
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