The up side of not riding?

My riding life is on hold right now while I visit the U.S. and while my horse J. undergoes the annual ordeal of her horse sickness vaccination. I didn't know about horse sickness before I started riding in Kenya -- it's a terrible illness, often fatal, and the vaccine is no joke either. It's a live vaccine, and horses receive two injections three weeks apart. For three weeks after each injection, it is important that they avoid raising their internal temperature. So no riding above a walk.

Every year I get a little frustrated about the inevitable loss of fitness for J. and, for me, the inevitable loss of that fragile sense that I know what I am doing on horseback. Somehow, after this longish break from riding, every fence seems higher, every shy out on a hack seems bigger, my legs seem to swing like pendulums (pendula?), and that lovely sense of being deeply, securely in the saddle evaporates.

But I need to remind myself that J. and I both need our vacations. It's easier for me to be here in the U.S. visiting family and enjoying reconnecting with friends when I am not also thinking, "I could be galloping through the coffee fields right now." And yes, I am that petty. But the fact is, the best J. and I could hope for if I were in Kenya right now would be a quiet walk down our road, keeping pace with the dog walkers and the moms pushing strollers. A pleasure, certainly, but one that can easily be deferred.

As for J., when I'm able to keep to my ideal riding schedule (5 to 6 rides a week, including 1 dressage lesson, 1 jumping lesson, 2 to 3 hacks and 1 to 2 schools -- an ideal I manage to achieve at least once in a millenium), I'm pretty sure that there are days when she sees me coming and the thought in her mind would not translate to "Hooray! More work!"

So, it's kind of nice to think of her loafing around grazing in the boma with her best friend B., or snacking on the avocados that are falling from the trees right now (and let me say that free access to avocados makes for a very shiny coat and some very interesting bright green slobber that will challenge your laundry skills to the max).