Pony Tales: Showjumping... and Falling Off

This will be somewhat of a mini post for two reasons - one, I am extremely tired. Two, I have an awful headache due to a very... acrobatic fall earlier today.
Since the start of the year, I've managed to get some showjumping practice in nearly every week. I'm a bit rusty, so my focus at the moment is to get into the correct position over some smaller fences and work on my approach to the jump before upping the height.
Last week, we managed to get to around 2 ft 6 / 2 ft 9. It was really enjoyable and gave me a lot of confidence, even if my position still wasn't perfect.

25.01.2015

Today was not so great. Ernest was feeling quite fresh, as he's not been out for nearly four weeks due to bad flooding, and it was windy. Something clearly jumped out of the bushes behind him while we were jumping a small cross pole, as he shot off across the school upon landing, bucking furiously. Suffice to say I went somersaulting over his shoulder and landed in a heap. I think I hit my head on him, which explains the bad headache. My knees are also very painful and I have a bruise in a very unusual place when I bashed into the saddle during my rapid exit. Diagnosis: ouch.
However, as all riders know, you have to get back on straightaway if possible. Maxx picked me up (literally), helped me back on, and I jumped the cross pole again before taking Ernest for a hack.
What's frustrating is I also think he became a bit silly because we were jumping with friends, unlike last weekend. He became overexcited in the warm up arena at a clear round showjumping event in November and bucked me off then, too. Perhaps I need to practice with friends more, perhaps on both the aforementioned occasions he was just overjoyed at the thought of jumping again. Either way, I'll try to do a couple of fences this week to make sure I don't lose confidence.

01.02.2015

I went Bouldering!

Today, I went bouldering with my cousin. I thought we were going rock climbing, with ropes and hats and people watching to ensure all was safe - but I was wrong. Bouldering is similar to rock climbing but without the hats and ropes - it's curiously primitive, scaling walls and jumping back down, and is one of the hardest activities for your forearms!
At first, I was a complete wuss. I was scared! More scared than I thought I'd be. I'd start to climb, with plenty of direction and encouragement from Cousin P and his friend, but then freak out about being 'high up' (suffice to say I wasn't high up) and have to come back down. A couple of times I ended up dangling and just couldn't let go, so Cousin P and friend lowered me back down. 

Cousin P taking on the wall

The thought of falling really frightened me, possibly more than the height, but after about 30 minutes I was trying harder and taking the boys' advice on how to move up the wall. I'd started to enjoy it by this point and didn't feel silly as the boys were really patient - my cousin is a good teacher! He made me feel good about going a little bit higher each time, so it made me want to get all the way up the next time.
This is unlike any other sport I've done before. I was out of my comfort zone, but exhilarated when I managed to complete a climb - or 'problem', as they're known in the bouldering world, although the level I did was more solution than problem. In terms of a workout, this certainly tested my ability to pull myself up and grip with my fingers, and I can already feel the ache in my arms.
I'm excited to go again!