I'm in pain!

Literally my body hurts and I'll tell you why. 2 days ago I was riding Possum and he was being a little bull headed. All he wanted to do was gallop. I tried jumping and he would gallop through the fences as opposed to listening and jumping them normally. So I said, this will fix you and started jumping him in and out of the gated arena which does not fall down if you knock it and is about 3ft or so. He got the idea quickly and was near perfect. Amazing how they can listen to you when they know they could go ass over tea kettle over a fence that doesn't move when you knock it. I gave him a few pats and as a reward I took him down the dirt road and let him loose.

As I was galloping I was looking at my position and wondered if I could still hike my stirrups up like a jockey when I was a kid. I got back to the barn and dismounted and rolled my stirrups like 8 times. I used the picnic table to hop on and grabbed a crop since I now had no leg aids or even seat. I tell you what, if anyone wants to burn some calories fast ride like a jockey for half an hour. I trotted and cantered and then hand galloped around the arena. I like to think I'm in pretty good shape, but I had to take breaks because my legs would start to burn and then I would loose all feeling. I dared a teenger to ride Possum as she was tooling around on her horse bareback in the arena but she refused. I told her that he was being really good and was fine, but she didn't believe me. I even took a few small 2ft jumps in jockey position and it wasn't as bad as I thought. I could hardly feel the jump. Possum thought it was a good time to gallop the jumps, and due to only having the reins as aids I just let him do whatever instead of hauling on his mouth. The balance in that position is much different. The center of gravity is obviously much higher and I find myself using the neck a lot especially when taking off. Possum also does not have a mane so that can make it hard too. I felt like I was literally over his neck when I was standing up and not crouching. It was very weird and different than what I'm used to.

So I cooled him out and then went to hop down. As soon as my feet started to touch the ground they gave out and I landed back on my ass. The girl riding looked with eyes wide and asked if I had fallen off and I said no I jumped off and my legs gave out. I tried to stand and still my legs felt like a new born foal. It was then that I knew I was going to be very sore for the next few days. Sure enough yesterday when I woke up to pee My legs creaked and moaned in protest, I was pretty sore all day. But today has been the worst, I got up to pee and pain instantly shot through my thighs and to the rest of my body. I was so stiff and sore I moaned out in pain. I quickly shut my mouth and said to myself, "you out of shape loser, suck it up." But Stairs are the worst. I feel like I'm walking peg legged. So as I sit here rubbing my legs and looking at pics of jocks I can have a real appreciation of what true athketes they are. To gallop at break neck speeds on a fit TB and being as small as they are they are truly machines. So kudos to you jockeys and I can feel your pain.