Mood Food and Four Faults

I slept so well last night, even though the relentless storms off the Atlantic (so generously donated by the Gulf Stream I assume) resulted in further thundering lashings of rain on the lorry roof – have you ever slept in a horse lorry for days at a time?

Final day here for our team and this dedicated sixteen year old son of my friend. He’s learning so much about performing under pressure, how to move on from errors of judgment so they don’t cloud the rest of your day, how to stay positive with your horse because 90% of mistakes made at this level are due to rider error rather than that of your horse.

I had a banana for breakfast and museli covered yoghurt, all of which was most healthy and the monk would be pleased with my choice as it accompanied a vision that when I get back home, I wish to start exercising again. Hence my body needs the correct fuel to help it do that. (By the way, that was the most polite banana GIF I could find).

To knock a pole from the final jump of the final class on this horse on his final day is disappointment personified, ’tis true. However, when he rode such brave lines to save time in the jump-off phase (final 5 jumps) having gone ‘clear’ over the first few, and his time would most definitely have placed him in the lead, we will encourage him to see the positives in the experience rather than only focus on what went wrong. Rider position on the approach to that final jump, plus the possible excitement of feeling like he ‘had it in the bag’ may have led to a lapse of concentration but better to learn this now when the prize money is three figures than wait til he’s riding Grand Prix and the money is four figures. He is sixteen let us remind ourselves…. and when many of his peers are glued to sofas and Xbox, I for one, am very proud of Will Lewis. This is a name to keep an eye on in the future 🇬🇧.

I think this experience can be translated into all areas of life. Certainly my monk friend would say so wouldn’t he? I may not have added thousands of words to my manuscript but I’ve kept my brain ticking over with blogging, I’ve spent quality time with a friend who I don’t see very often, I’ve had a break from work at home, I’ve been useful to the team and proved I’d not forgotten my yard skills 🤣, and I’ve rested as I’ve meandered around this beautiful and permanent showground at Vilamoura Equestrian Centre.

Happy Days 🥂

<a href=”https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/meander/”>Meander</a&gt;