My old trainer T is leaving soon for Vancouver and has been getting really busy with her new students at her current barn so it has been getting harder and ahrder to get in to have a lesson with her at my barn which is partially why i had switched to my new trainer M, i still wanted more than anything to have T out to see how much progress we have made and i finally got that on Tuesday night.
G was on his best behaviour it took very little time at the mounting block for me to get on which was nice. So we started our warm up going around the arena in both directions doing little circles at each letter after we did this both ways we started the lesson.
T has always pushed me because she knows what i can do and as my best friend she knows that i hold back sometimes that i let my fear get a hold of me, she doesnt allow me to do that she will push me and push me until i get annoyed and i just do it, she knows how to motivate me and push me past everything and i love her to death for it.
She set up cones in the arena and wanted to work with me on a 20m circle, for some reason i am HORRIBLE with distances so it was something that we needed to start working on if i am hoping to be able to do a few training or intro shows at the end of this summer. So we started working on a circle and T was trying to teach me that on a circle i should be using my inside leg to push G's hind end over and my outside leg and rein to prevent his shoulder from bulging out and the inside rein should be lose aparently this will give him a nice bend in his chest... wtf? for some reason at a walk i couldnt grasp this concept i still cant i know with time it will become habit and i will rely less and less on my inside rein but im still sitting here writing this being like uggghhhh? At the Trot we were for the most part able to do what she was asking which was make the circle bigger and smaller using this technique but she still had to keep reminding me to give away the inside rein.
We did about another 10 minutes at a posting trot changing directions and asking for circles. Then as T always does she wanted to challenge me and asked if we had cantered yet... i told her no and gave her a bunch of excuses about how we were waiting till we were really comfortable in the posting trot and had more control.... blah...blah...blah yeah she didnt buy it she gave me a look like i was crazy and said point blank "im not going to push you but i think you guys are more than ready to canter" i knew she was right and i was holding back because of my fear that is still there down in the pit of my stomach, but i trust G and new that no matter how crazy it was he would not try to hurt me or put me in danger so we went for it.
We went counter clock wise and it was beautiful his canter is so smooth his transition was quick, there was no fast trot or anything like that he opened right up into a canter (my transitions still suck going back down in the gaits) when it came to slowing him down it was a little clumsy but we survived and made it to a walk (he didnt pick up the right lead btw). I figured that was GREAT lets try the other side, disaster, i dont know what happened but i lost my stirrup and was bouncing all over the place trying to keep myself on... but i did realise at that point... i could probably ride a trot without stirrups because i didnt fall off instead of completely panicking like i would have previously i wrappped my legs around my horse and tried to keep my shoulders back and not collapse into his neck... i wish i had a video of it... because even though it was a disaster i did REALLY good at NOT falling off lol.
I think we are going to wait to canter until i can get him to slow down by using my seat lol but all in all it was a great lesson i have some stuff to work on definatly but i am getting a lot more consistant in my riding and in the work that i am doing. Hopefully this weekend i can get Alex out to take some videos of my riding... maybe then i will post a comparision video that i have been hiding on my computer lol..
Happy trails everyone!
G was on his best behaviour it took very little time at the mounting block for me to get on which was nice. So we started our warm up going around the arena in both directions doing little circles at each letter after we did this both ways we started the lesson.
T has always pushed me because she knows what i can do and as my best friend she knows that i hold back sometimes that i let my fear get a hold of me, she doesnt allow me to do that she will push me and push me until i get annoyed and i just do it, she knows how to motivate me and push me past everything and i love her to death for it.
She set up cones in the arena and wanted to work with me on a 20m circle, for some reason i am HORRIBLE with distances so it was something that we needed to start working on if i am hoping to be able to do a few training or intro shows at the end of this summer. So we started working on a circle and T was trying to teach me that on a circle i should be using my inside leg to push G's hind end over and my outside leg and rein to prevent his shoulder from bulging out and the inside rein should be lose aparently this will give him a nice bend in his chest... wtf? for some reason at a walk i couldnt grasp this concept i still cant i know with time it will become habit and i will rely less and less on my inside rein but im still sitting here writing this being like uggghhhh? At the Trot we were for the most part able to do what she was asking which was make the circle bigger and smaller using this technique but she still had to keep reminding me to give away the inside rein.
We did about another 10 minutes at a posting trot changing directions and asking for circles. Then as T always does she wanted to challenge me and asked if we had cantered yet... i told her no and gave her a bunch of excuses about how we were waiting till we were really comfortable in the posting trot and had more control.... blah...blah...blah yeah she didnt buy it she gave me a look like i was crazy and said point blank "im not going to push you but i think you guys are more than ready to canter" i knew she was right and i was holding back because of my fear that is still there down in the pit of my stomach, but i trust G and new that no matter how crazy it was he would not try to hurt me or put me in danger so we went for it.
We went counter clock wise and it was beautiful his canter is so smooth his transition was quick, there was no fast trot or anything like that he opened right up into a canter (my transitions still suck going back down in the gaits) when it came to slowing him down it was a little clumsy but we survived and made it to a walk (he didnt pick up the right lead btw). I figured that was GREAT lets try the other side, disaster, i dont know what happened but i lost my stirrup and was bouncing all over the place trying to keep myself on... but i did realise at that point... i could probably ride a trot without stirrups because i didnt fall off instead of completely panicking like i would have previously i wrappped my legs around my horse and tried to keep my shoulders back and not collapse into his neck... i wish i had a video of it... because even though it was a disaster i did REALLY good at NOT falling off lol.
I think we are going to wait to canter until i can get him to slow down by using my seat lol but all in all it was a great lesson i have some stuff to work on definatly but i am getting a lot more consistant in my riding and in the work that i am doing. Hopefully this weekend i can get Alex out to take some videos of my riding... maybe then i will post a comparision video that i have been hiding on my computer lol..
Happy trails everyone!
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