Why My Husband Is More Awesome Than McLain Ward, Times Ten
Michael wanted to ride on Sunday night, so we headed up to the barn and he got Dino ready while I cleaned stalls, threw hay, and brought the horses in. Teamwork!
While grooming Dino the WonderPony, he had some sort of bizarre allergic reaction to... something... and was suddenly severely wheezy and itchy and scratchy. I tossed my hubby a Benedryl and left him to fend for himself while I raced the setting sun in my attempt to get all the horses in before dark. I got back to the barn to check on Michael, and he was pretty miserable. His voice had lowered about five octaves, his nose was running, and his breathing sounded terrible. I asked him if he could ride.
Trooper that he is, Michael said "Yes."
Unsure as to whether or not he would actually be capable of riding without collapsing, I ran off to settle the last few horses in for the night while leaving Michael to warm up on his own. I got back to the arena, and there he was, trotting around without a care in the world, and not looking like he was about to die.
So far, so good.
He proceeded to do a great job on his flatwork, and then informed me that he wanted to jump. I was a little bit surprised, as Michael had spent the last half an hour or so telling me how crappy he felt. The guy who hasn't jumped in over a month also told me he wanted to jump the oxer. Okie dokie, then. I made him start off by trotting and cantering a cross rail a few times, and Dino was sparing no effort over the tiny fence. Pony LAUNCHED it and snapped his back every time, knees-to-eyeballs.
What really made me proud, though, was that Michael stuck with him every. single. time. He let Dino jump up to him, followed through, stayed balanced, and most impressively of all, didn't have his confidence shaken by Dino's enthusiastic jumping. Not too long ago, a back-snapping effort would have totally freaked him out. When I put the jump up to a 2' oxer, Dino took a bit of a longer spot, and Michael was able to count out his rhythm and know exactly when Dino was going to leave the ground. Amazing. Here he was, galloping around and flying over jumps, having a blast, even though he was having some sort of weird allergic reaction. When he finally gets his own horse, Michael is totally going to kick my butt in everything.
He also rocks because he MADE ME SOMETHING AWESOME. There will be photos soon. For now... I will leave you to wonder what it is!
While grooming Dino the WonderPony, he had some sort of bizarre allergic reaction to... something... and was suddenly severely wheezy and itchy and scratchy. I tossed my hubby a Benedryl and left him to fend for himself while I raced the setting sun in my attempt to get all the horses in before dark. I got back to the barn to check on Michael, and he was pretty miserable. His voice had lowered about five octaves, his nose was running, and his breathing sounded terrible. I asked him if he could ride.
Trooper that he is, Michael said "Yes."
Unsure as to whether or not he would actually be capable of riding without collapsing, I ran off to settle the last few horses in for the night while leaving Michael to warm up on his own. I got back to the arena, and there he was, trotting around without a care in the world, and not looking like he was about to die.
So far, so good.
He proceeded to do a great job on his flatwork, and then informed me that he wanted to jump. I was a little bit surprised, as Michael had spent the last half an hour or so telling me how crappy he felt. The guy who hasn't jumped in over a month also told me he wanted to jump the oxer. Okie dokie, then. I made him start off by trotting and cantering a cross rail a few times, and Dino was sparing no effort over the tiny fence. Pony LAUNCHED it and snapped his back every time, knees-to-eyeballs.
What really made me proud, though, was that Michael stuck with him every. single. time. He let Dino jump up to him, followed through, stayed balanced, and most impressively of all, didn't have his confidence shaken by Dino's enthusiastic jumping. Not too long ago, a back-snapping effort would have totally freaked him out. When I put the jump up to a 2' oxer, Dino took a bit of a longer spot, and Michael was able to count out his rhythm and know exactly when Dino was going to leave the ground. Amazing. Here he was, galloping around and flying over jumps, having a blast, even though he was having some sort of weird allergic reaction. When he finally gets his own horse, Michael is totally going to kick my butt in everything.
He also rocks because he MADE ME SOMETHING AWESOME. There will be photos soon. For now... I will leave you to wonder what it is!
So cool! Go Michael!!
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