Wednesday 14 March 2012

nothing like a bit of pain...

so i was feeling a lil under the weather yesterday... i was once again questioning my decision to be based in this desert country, far from my family, friends and all the things that i'm comfortable and familiar with. i missed all the good (and not to mention cheap) food back home, i missed driving, i missed my best friend's wedding...


and i was particularly bummed when i couldn't think of anyone to ask along to the oliver! musical that's making its way here next month! am i really friendless here? none of the people i know here share the same passions for the things i like.  i get weird looks when i tell some people that i do horse riding, and i'd have so many friends who would go to the oliver! musicals with me if i'm back home.


so with my mood being so cloudy, i had half a mind of not showing up for my riding lesson after work yesterday. but then i thought about all the money that i've paid for my lessons and if i don't show up, the lesson would be burnt coz we can only cancel a lesson one day earlier.


but my mood changed when i arrived at the riding school, with the horses and riders, and just being outdoors. the weather nowadays is at around 28-ish deg C, so it's really a perfect time to be out of doors. anyway, i got a brown mid-sized stallion named bahrain yesterday, and he was a dream! i think he's new at the school, coz i've not ridden him before and all the trainers were paying close attention to his performance yesterday. he seemed a bit naughty at first. when i was standing next to him stroking his cheeks and neck while the groom was tightening up his girth and getting him ready, he kept trying to get his mouth near my hands. i gave him my upturned palm to show that it's empty, but he still tried to bite my gloves. even when i stepped away from his head and closer to his body, he'll keep turning his head around and trying to bite me. so i thought he's gonna be a problem but when i asked my trainer (i got a lady trainer yesterday), she said, "he's ok, unlike sebastian" (i fell off sebastian AGAIN last week! - i'm blacklisting him now).


anyway, once i've mounted bahrain, he's just so responsive and did all the things i wanted him to do effortlessly. and he's so easy to ride! i love him! but then disaster struck... we were going through our exercises and after a  fast and long canter, my trainer gave the cue for us to trot. i was just starting to rein bahrain in when suddenly one of his front hooves tripped on the sand! his head fell forward and as i was having a tight hold on the reins, he pulled me forward as well. i lost my balance, leaned forward onto his neck but couldn't hold on tight enough and sort of rolled off his neck onto the ground! argh!!!


it was not a really bad fall, nothing serious... just made me a little sore in the rump. i got right up, remount and continued on with the lesson.


after the lesson, as i was walking towards the metro station with a slight muscle sore, i was quite surprised when i realized that my spirits have lifted. i'm not moody anymore, but was actually smiling and feeling quite happy! weird, huh?


hmm... maybe it's the adrenalin rush that came from exercising and sweating out buckets, but i have the suspicion that it's also due to the muscle aches and pains that made me feel alive again. maybe this sensation reminded my subconscious that however numb we've become, we're still capable of feelings, both physically and mentally. then dunno why, suddenly a saying cropped into my mind: "we're all spiritual beings going through a human experience". so we should appreciate and enjoy this experience, the whole sweet, sour, bitter and spicy of it, an experience which only a human can go through.


maybe a bit of pain is not so bad after all! :)

4 comments:

Biow said...

That's why exercises (the sweating type) are recommended as de-stressing activities and make us healthier..

Guess it's true.

stargal said...

:)

gina said...

I think animals sort of have therapeutic effect on humans. That is why, they used dogs to ease the pain of people who are sick, or children with autism problems. It seems, autistic children could relate well to dogs and the canines somehow could assist them to develop a better social skill.

I am not saying you are sick (but you were!), old or childish.. but I think animals are there for a reason - food (unfortunately) and companionship. :D

Not many people love musicals lah. I enjoy musicals but I am not THAT into them. But of coz, you must watch Wicked. I almost catch it when I was in Melbourne 4 years ago tapi tak jadi coz the time slot not ngam.

stargal said...

yeah, animals are really therapeutic... i read this about horses somewhere: "while dogs look up to you and cats look down at you, horses look into you". kinda blew me away, this statement.

omg, i LURV musicals so much that i'll try to go to as many as i can afford! hahahaha...