Lesson #11New Trainer

On Sunday almost a week ago i had an assessment lesson with Stacey T to possibly start having lessons with her i was pretty nervous she had a lot of experience and was managing to fit us into a tight schedule.

So i went out and got G all ready to go tacked up and was about to lunge when SURPRISE she was there early and the arena was being watered so i was not able to lunge. Usually this is not a big deal but it was very windy outside so there were a lot of big sounds in the arena which G is usually pretty skittish around.

So Stacey asked me to hop on and warm up how i usually would so i went to get on and wouldnt you know it G decided to pick today to NOT stand at the mounting block, after a couple minutes of fighting with him Stacey came over and held him for me to get the ball rolling.

I hopped on and started our usually walk around the arena in both directions... we made it down the long wall and thats about it G started his freak out in the corner that he usually finds scarey. He was backing and going sideways trying to change direction, he tried everything and was very successful to pull me out of my seat. I was always taught you dont change direction you dont allow them to get out of what you are asking them to do but Stacey requested i try from the other side... same thing spaz attack in the corner.

I tried to carry on and trot him out but he was dropping his shoulder as he has started doing and counter flexing was only helping so much. So Stacey stopped us and asked if she could try, so back to the mounting block we went were again i had to hold him so she could get on.

One in the saddle he immediatly walked off and wouldnt take any sort of contact with the bit, he tried the same stuff he did with me but couldnt get her out of the saddle which of course did not make him very happy at all.

I watched for about 15 minutes as she fought with my horse to get contact and to get him moving forward, he did everything in his power to evade her to ignore her leg. Stacey just went with the flow at some points i felt kinda bad for my horse he is so used to getting away with murder from me and now he is being schooled by a rider that knows what she is doing and is able to make him do what she wants.... eventually.

So things i learned:
           -My horse is not forward.... i finally know what this means... and he is not it
           -My horse is not straight.... i can feel it now how crooked he is

Are these things my fault? Yes and no.

Yes because i have allowed him to develop these bad habits, i have allowed him to get lazy because i am some what lazy and i am not challenging myself or him.

No because i am also very inexperienced and i dont think its fair to myself to beat myself up over something like this or get discouraged, i have a very forgiving horse that is going to help me learn and move past and correct all these habits.

Plan of Action:

I have found a new barn and am transfering by the end of the month, i then will try to have either a lesson every week or every other week with the trainer on site. Now that this barn is closer to my house i will be out there to ride minimum 4x a week. I will start getting over all my irrational fears, i will start jumping again, and i will CANTER MY HORSE. The new barn is very supportive and a lot more like the barn family i have been looking for it may be more expensive but we need to get our butts in gear if we ever want to get to where i want to go.