Yesterday I spent the day working with Sarah at the barn. She has horses to go to a show in Ky. in 15 days. Three horses that have never been to a show, and are "green" as spring grass.
My body is telling me that I am another year older and probably two decades behind the times. I mostly groom, get horses bitted, watch the horses work in the arena, give my opinions, then help untack them and hose them off, put them away and get the next one ready. The aisleways are cement and the arena is deep sand. My legs are now used to the walking back and forth in the sand and the cement. But my arms and shoulder (the right one) ache all the time.
I feel like the first day after the first day of spring. You know the day you walk around outside, the sun is shining and you start bending over and picking up sticks in the yard. Then you pull leaves out of a flower bed, trek across the lawn bending and picking up, bending and picking up. That next day you can't move. Muscles and tendons, ligaments and joints are protesting in a loud and violent way. My hands are swollen, fingers don't close, they look like gourmet (you thought they would look like plain old sausage?) sausages and my muscles burn.
Well, welcome to the world of the "assistant groom". When I go to horse shows and look at all the farms participating, I think the average age of a groom is about 20. I am going on 70! I know it will get better with time as my muscles acclimate to the physical stress but gheez louise, every morning my body complains!
But boy oh boy, am I aching now. Even though I have been doing this for several weeks now, I still have arguments with my torso and limbs.
My friend Jo Ann has been excersing every day for 30 mintues for the last eight to ten weeks and is losing weight and getting really trim and fit. I haven't heard her complain!
Me? Still flab and sloppy! My legs don't hurt however, so I guess that is a good sign.
Photo at right: The real Athlete...Sarah Vas!
Wait now, is this what they mean by "getting to the burn"?
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1 comment:
Remember, there's a sign in my kitchen that says "$5 Fine for Whining" -- otherwise it's dawn til dusk. We're discovering our bodies again, finding muscles we had forgotten we had. I was just as happy before I found them, weren't you?
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