Today was a day to regroup, both mentally and physically. This after being out in the wilderness with all those people and all those horses. Pete and I pretty much spent the day cleaning and getting our gear back in order. Our dirty clothes are now in a pile beside the washing machine. And sleeping bag and whatnot are in a heap on the porch chair.

“Have you seen . . .?” or “Have you seen. . .” is now the rallying cry. Pete can’t find his black windbreaker and I can’t find my hairbrush. I woke up fearing that we’d lost our horse/human first aid kit, but this morning it did materialize.

I had to clean the chicken and goat pens. This was something that we did not ask Mimi, our house-sitter, to do. As always, the goats forgave me for letting this lapse.

I woke up and realized that my back felt better. But as the day progressed, it began feeling achy. Couldn’t not do chores. Someone had to do them, and that someone was me. The horses settled right in when yesterday, we released them into the pen. They know this place is home, especially Raudi, who never fails to roll after being out on a trailer ride.

I didn’t go riding today – I was too busy sorting stuff out. The sky was overcast, the air a bit nippy. If the sun had been shining, I might have thought otherwise. But then again, my back wasn’t up for this.

I did some reading this evening – I am slowly internalizing the information in Daniel Stewart’s Pressure Proof your Riding. As he did in his class, he did in his lecture and does in his book – stresses the positive. This has got me to wondering if being positive promotes quicker healing. It is for this reason that I have just been of the mind that yep, my back is on the mend, and yep, I’ll be back in the saddle soon, and yep, soon enough my back will feel like it did before I came off my horse.

Stewart has this cool exercise – you fill your pocket with paperclips, and when you think of something negative, you move the clip from one pocket to the next. I am going to have to try this.

I had verified today what I believed to be so yesterday. Indeed, Raudi and I came in first place in the June online agility competition. We got a score of 96 – lost a few points for her having trotted too slowly through the streamer trellis, and lost a few points for her lifting her nose off the cone too soon. But all else was just fine.

Our high score was in its own way significant. This is because Pete and I did not spend that much time filming – we said “good enough” even though the trot through the curtain was slow. Also, this counters my doubts that I do not know what the hell I am doing when it comes to agility. Now time to build the July course.

Next: 175. 7/8,/5: The Harder we Fall, Part II