I said I'd give riding longer- I mean, how can you decide if you like something when you only give it one chance, right?
So today I woke up early, put on my blue jeans, a t-shirt, my getting-dirtier paddock boots (isn't that awesomely authentic? :) , and grabbed my gloves and helmet. When Kate, my sister, and I pulled up to the stable today, there were a lot more people there. A group of girls was sitting by one ring, talking and watching another girl who was working a horse inside the ring. They all looked to be around my age. But they also looked experienced. Greeeeat. I knew that they'd be watching me, sizing me up, seeing how good (or bad) I was. Yay for me, right?
Well, apparently this made me try harder or something, because today's lesson went somewhat better than Monday's.
Let's see if I can sum up why.
I mounted without trouble again, and started walking the horse. We walked. The instructor, just like last time, instructed me (surprise, surprise right? The instructor, instructing me! Crazy!) to keep my heels down, toes out, hands forward, don't pull on the bit, shoulders back, back arched a bit, and HEELS DOWN!
And I think I'm getting a bit better.
I got the horse to trot today. :D Okay, true, it took a lot of kicking, squeezing, and clucking, but she trotted! She slowed down at almost every turn though, but we're getting somewhere. Especially since this horse has been used a lot lately at the stable's various camps and lessons and leases.
Now trotting while posting and steering is, like I said last time, kind of hard. Only this time, we weren't on a lunge line. We were trotting all around the ring. And I really didn't want her to go to the jumps, because... well, you know what would happen then. :-O
And I could almost (which is a relative term... or is it not? Huh) steer the mare. But there were two orange traffic cones at one end and I was supposed to steer around them. "Supposed" is the key word, by the way. Because half the time, the mare would go around one and cut through the other while I concentrated on the up, down, up, down, up, down beat of the trot, or my posting beat. So that was a slight minus. Oh, and the whole heel down thing, but I'll get that. Apparently my right side has more control (the instructor told me that) and looked to be in better form than the left side, heel and hand-wise. I could see the riders watching me too, trying to see how experienced I was or am. If any of them are reading this, I guess they found out- NOT VERY! :)
Overall though, it was a good day.
But it WAS really really hot. A foreshadowing of later in the day, apparently. Talk about boiling. *PHEW*
You might be happy to know I signed up for more lessons next week. One is at ten in the morning and one is at five o'clock at night. Hope it goes well.
Wish me luck again!! :D
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Riding Lesson 1
After months of annoying, begging, and bargaining with my parents about horseback riding lessons, we finally came to an agreement. We visited a local stable a friend told me about. It seemed very nice and well-organized, with friendly and experienced staff, and right away I decided that's where I wanted to go. So we gave them our number and they said they'd call when they could.
They didn't call.
So we went back.
Nobody was there, so we left a note.
Maybe they never saw it. It was in plain sight, but, who knows, right? So we called them again. Someone answered, said they were very busy and things were chaotic and they'd call and schedule a lesson as soon as possible.
We waited. And waited. And thought about going elsewhere. And waited. And when I was finally realizing they may not want our business and starting to look for somewhere else, they called.
Unfortunately, we were out of the house. So we called back a little later and finally scheduled a couple lessons. *PHEW*
And so I started my riding lessons this Monday. I put on my jeans, paddock boots, classy polo shirt, and tucked my gloves in my pocket, grabbed my helmet, and climbed in the car. We pulled up to the stable, and I got out of the car with my sister, butterflies in my stomach. One of the instructors greeted us, introduced herself, and was off and running. We waited for the horse I was assigned to while she finished breakfast. I tightened her girth (the belt-like strap that holds the saddle in place) and led her out to the ring. I lead the mare to the mounting block and climbed aboard (I was much better than I had been two summers ago). The instructor adjusted my stirrups and commanded about 10 things at once the whole lesson. Shoulders back, heels down, hands forward, elbows relaxed, toes out just a bit, look forward, pull back rein and give with the other, and so on. I was getting severely confused. She asked if at my previous lessons (apparently she thought I was pretty experienced. On the info sheet I had put my amount of experience. Three lessons about two years ago) I had trotted. I said yes. She asked if it was on a lunge line (basically a long lead line used for training the horse or beginner riders) or not. I said not. It might, just might have been a good idea to tell her that it was a group lesson and people were actually helping us around the ring, sort of leading us, at my last lessons when we trotted in two-point and posting. But, stupid me, I didn't.
So after I walk the horse around the ring, change direction, change direction again, and so on, she tells me to trot. I squeeze the horse's sides with my legs. No response. The instructor tells me to cluck. Okaaaay. Cluck cluck. Still nothing. Kick, she says. I do, but it's kind of hard with the stirrups, you know? So I kick, cluck, squeeze. Nope, nothing. No response. By now I'm almost begging the horse to trot and I'm getting a bit embarrassed. The instructor leaves to get a lunge, looking a bit annoyed. Well, I'm sorry, truly. I wish I could've gotten the horse to trot. Lazy thing.
With the lunge line the horse trots, of course. She's too smart- she knew me, a beginner, wouldn't be able to do it. Clever mare, she is. The instructor tells me to post (rise and fall with the 1-2 beat of the trot). I try, I really do. I could do it before!! But Monday was just not my day. The instructor tells me my sitting trot is great, but can I post? Answer: Apparently not. I finally get it a bit, but posting, keeping my heels down, toes out, hands forward, shoulders back, head up, and not falling off was kiiiiiind of hard. And by kind of, I mean really hard, not to mention scary. And I was hardly steering. The instructor kept the mare going in a circle. I just had to keep pressure on the right rein to make the circles wide. So basically I felt like a failure. *Sigh*
And so we trot. Then we slow to a walk (my favorite gait so far!! :) and she takes the lunge off. I walk the horse around the ring and then over some low poles. I dismount and we head back to the stable. The horse was being used again a little later, but the instructor had me take the saddle off and put it in the tack room.
So the lesson was pretty... okay.
The thing is, I knew almost EVERYTHING the instructor was telling me. At least, I knew the theory of it. The theory of how you should put the bridle on, how you should post, how you should dismount, and so on. I knew why you should look ahead (the horse can feel the weight shift), why you lead and mount from the horse's left (it's said that knights had to mount from that side because they had swords strapped to their left sides, so they couldn't lift their left legs over the horses), why you keep part of the bridle or halter on when transitioning between the two (so if the horse moves or tries to run, you can grab it) and so on. I've read enough books and seen enough horse tv shows or horse shows themselves, plus played enough games to tell you these things.
But I don't have the experience of actually doing it. Yet.
And I don't know how long I'm going to keep horseback riding lessons, but I at least have to give it some time. The longer to do it and the harder you try, the better you get. The better you get, the more fun you have. Meghan loves fun. So I'll give it some time. Starting with tomorrow at 9 AM.
Wish me luck!!
They didn't call.
So we went back.
Nobody was there, so we left a note.
Maybe they never saw it. It was in plain sight, but, who knows, right? So we called them again. Someone answered, said they were very busy and things were chaotic and they'd call and schedule a lesson as soon as possible.
We waited. And waited. And thought about going elsewhere. And waited. And when I was finally realizing they may not want our business and starting to look for somewhere else, they called.
Unfortunately, we were out of the house. So we called back a little later and finally scheduled a couple lessons. *PHEW*
And so I started my riding lessons this Monday. I put on my jeans, paddock boots, classy polo shirt, and tucked my gloves in my pocket, grabbed my helmet, and climbed in the car. We pulled up to the stable, and I got out of the car with my sister, butterflies in my stomach. One of the instructors greeted us, introduced herself, and was off and running. We waited for the horse I was assigned to while she finished breakfast. I tightened her girth (the belt-like strap that holds the saddle in place) and led her out to the ring. I lead the mare to the mounting block and climbed aboard (I was much better than I had been two summers ago). The instructor adjusted my stirrups and commanded about 10 things at once the whole lesson. Shoulders back, heels down, hands forward, elbows relaxed, toes out just a bit, look forward, pull back rein and give with the other, and so on. I was getting severely confused. She asked if at my previous lessons (apparently she thought I was pretty experienced. On the info sheet I had put my amount of experience. Three lessons about two years ago) I had trotted. I said yes. She asked if it was on a lunge line (basically a long lead line used for training the horse or beginner riders) or not. I said not. It might, just might have been a good idea to tell her that it was a group lesson and people were actually helping us around the ring, sort of leading us, at my last lessons when we trotted in two-point and posting. But, stupid me, I didn't.
So after I walk the horse around the ring, change direction, change direction again, and so on, she tells me to trot. I squeeze the horse's sides with my legs. No response. The instructor tells me to cluck. Okaaaay. Cluck cluck. Still nothing. Kick, she says. I do, but it's kind of hard with the stirrups, you know? So I kick, cluck, squeeze. Nope, nothing. No response. By now I'm almost begging the horse to trot and I'm getting a bit embarrassed. The instructor leaves to get a lunge, looking a bit annoyed. Well, I'm sorry, truly. I wish I could've gotten the horse to trot. Lazy thing.
With the lunge line the horse trots, of course. She's too smart- she knew me, a beginner, wouldn't be able to do it. Clever mare, she is. The instructor tells me to post (rise and fall with the 1-2 beat of the trot). I try, I really do. I could do it before!! But Monday was just not my day. The instructor tells me my sitting trot is great, but can I post? Answer: Apparently not. I finally get it a bit, but posting, keeping my heels down, toes out, hands forward, shoulders back, head up, and not falling off was kiiiiiind of hard. And by kind of, I mean really hard, not to mention scary. And I was hardly steering. The instructor kept the mare going in a circle. I just had to keep pressure on the right rein to make the circles wide. So basically I felt like a failure. *Sigh*
And so we trot. Then we slow to a walk (my favorite gait so far!! :) and she takes the lunge off. I walk the horse around the ring and then over some low poles. I dismount and we head back to the stable. The horse was being used again a little later, but the instructor had me take the saddle off and put it in the tack room.
So the lesson was pretty... okay.
The thing is, I knew almost EVERYTHING the instructor was telling me. At least, I knew the theory of it. The theory of how you should put the bridle on, how you should post, how you should dismount, and so on. I knew why you should look ahead (the horse can feel the weight shift), why you lead and mount from the horse's left (it's said that knights had to mount from that side because they had swords strapped to their left sides, so they couldn't lift their left legs over the horses), why you keep part of the bridle or halter on when transitioning between the two (so if the horse moves or tries to run, you can grab it) and so on. I've read enough books and seen enough horse tv shows or horse shows themselves, plus played enough games to tell you these things.
But I don't have the experience of actually doing it. Yet.
And I don't know how long I'm going to keep horseback riding lessons, but I at least have to give it some time. The longer to do it and the harder you try, the better you get. The better you get, the more fun you have. Meghan loves fun. So I'll give it some time. Starting with tomorrow at 9 AM.
Wish me luck!!
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