Strong swim, rough ride

Had a great swim this morning. I did the same 6 lap per stroke workout as Tuesday, but it felt much better, both cardio and technique. I think I'm ready to bump up to 10 laps per stroke and add back in the pyramid I used to do back in my college days. Of course, more laps means more time so this means I'll actually have to be at the pool at 6:00am to get done by 7 and make it to work on time. No more lazy mornings.

I rode Virginia's horse "Waco" tonight. Whoa...completely different, but once again a good exercise for me seeing that I will have to be able to ride unfamiliar horses in the pentathlon. Waco is a polo pony like Eli and thus has similar characteristics...he reacts much quicker and stronger than Pet Step ever does. Waco isn't a school horse at all, so any of the dressage moves I tried took a lot of work. We also had a different bridle on Waco, so he had to get used to it as well. All these variables meant that the trot was miserable...for me and I think for Waco too. It was obvious that he - being a polo pony and all - preferred the faster gates. We suffered through and got it to work finally though. But oh the canter! Smooth as a shot of cold vodka! Waco's canter was wonderful, like sitting in a lazy boy. I could definitely play some polo with a horse like this...maybe even be able to concentrate enough to hit the ball rather than fretting about staying on the pony. The night may have started out rough, but boy was it good by the end.