We have brace-off!

I held my breath as Mr James brought my x-rays up for assessment. 'All looking good' he said. 'Just remove the brace for longer periods of time over the coming 3 weeks.' 'Anything I shouldn't do?' I asked, a little flippently. 'What, you mean apart from parachuting or horse-riding?' he joked. Hmm.
Three more months before I re-mounted was his advice, to make sure my core stability was good enough to stay onboard. I walked out of his office with other ideas - what did he know about horses anyway? I excitedly began planning my next  ride on Wilbur. I rang Henry and told him my thoughts about getting Wilbur ridden over the coming weeks. As I did, a little voice in my subconscious shouted, 'you know what happens when you plan - life sends in a googlie!' I pushed the voice aside. I contacted friends and family to let them know that my back had healed well and dismissed their concerns about be 'being silly and doing too much too soon'.

Of course - the Universe clearly had other ideas. I should have remembered my earlier life-coaching sessions with Kevin Watson -  the reason behind the mug! Kevin listened intently to me and then summed up what he'd heard. He had me to a tee - the ultimate planner! And  hadn't I realised yet that life does not go according to schedule?
So, having established an exercise plan for Wilbur and picked up a wonderful saddle from Kay Humphries, he has come in from the field with a puffy foreleg. Clearly, Wilbur knows me far better than I realise and certainly doesn't want me rushing into things before I'm ready. You can't really argue with that can you? Thank you to Karen Bush for talking such sense this week and for giving me a much needed kick up the jacksy. After all, what is the rush here? Why don't I just enjoy owning Wilbur for who he is, and make the most of the time I have to work with Wilbur in-hand? And, with the help of Karen and TTeam, I can build a really solid partnership with my beautiful horse so that we are both physically and mentally strong when the riding work starts again. One day, I will learn to go with the flow and enjoy the moment, rather than fight it. Let's just say that's work in progress!