Pony Club Kicks - Cringe!

Yesterday I turned up early for the last lesson before Christmas,  so I could give out all my Christmas cards! All of them had horses on, for extra dorkiness. I looked in the book and saw I had George. I know I had Bally for three weeks, but I was kind of gutted I didn't have her again! I'd only ever ridden George once and I remember him being quite hard to jump. (He refuses a lot). 
We had an extra person in the group today, she was from the 7.15pm lesson though. She couldn't go to next weeks so decided to have a two hour slot! 
We pretty much had the same routine as last week. We had a slight change in the flatwork though. We did lots of standing in our stirrups, which I still cannot do to save my life! After a few trot strides I just slump back into the saddle. I find I have to grab onto a chunk of mane to keep me steady. I hope by the end of next year I'll be able to do it with no issues! We also did an exercise where we put our left hand into the small of our backs to open our chests more. We did this in standing trot, rising trot and sitting trot. I did ok, but George likes to cut corners so there was a lot of inside leg going on! After the trot work we halved the group for some cantering. Oh my goodness. George is so hard to keep in the canter! This is where my pony club kicks came in. Practically booting him every stride was the only way I managed to keep him from breaking into trot. I felt awful! I looked awful! My upper body was too far forward, my lower leg was slipping back, my feet went too far into the stirrups, my hands were a mess, argh! The biggest challenge was keeping him cantering over the three poles Simon had put out. It was so difficult. I think everyone found it hard, I only managed to keep him cantering over the poles once. 
After our exhausting canters, Simon sent everyone out trotting and set up three small cross poles. I tried to get George cantering between them but he only mustered the energy for it a couple of times. I was trying so hard to get him riled up! Simon popped up the jumps to 2 foot cross poles for myself, Audrey and Lauren, and we went over a few times. I felt so unorganised compared to when I was jumping on Bally. George is really sweet and comfortable, but I always prefer a more forward going horse. One that responds to a squeeze, or a click of the tongue. Simon keeps telling me off for clicking. He says "Kick, not click!" to me about 50 times per lesson. I need to sew my mouth shut! I tried really hard not to do it this week either, I vow that next week I shall not click, but to only KICK! 
At the end of the lesson Simon went round asking different parts of the bridle and saddle, asking everyone to name two parts each. He kept coming to me last, I think he's cottoned on to my boffin side! He also asked everyone to name native breeds. After everyone else had said what I was going to say, I only managed to name one breed! So here is a list of native breeds of horses and ponies that I shall learn for next week:

• Cleveland Bay Horse
• Clydesdale 
• Dales
• Dartmoor
• Eriskay
• Exmoor Fell
• Hackney Horse and Pony
• Highland
• New Forest
• Shetland
• Shire
• Suffolk Punch
• Welsh A, B, C and D

xx

Finally, cantering! WOO!

As you can probably tell from the title, we finally did some cantering in our lesson today! I had Bally again, third week in a row! I quite like having the same horse, you get used to them and what buttons to press. 

There were four of us in the group today, and we were absolutely freezing our butts off. It was so cold that in the hour my car was covered in ice again! It meant some painful hands and feet today, making me really want to head to Stockley to invest in some warmer gloves. I can't actually get anymore socks on than I did and have my foot fit in my boot, so I'm going to have to work out a different tactic there. I think I saw some battery heated socks on Amazon the other day... 

We started off with flatwork, and Simon brought out the poles straight away. We did some shallow loops and changes of rein in trot, then called myself and Amie into the middle. Audrey and Lauren then got to canter down one long side a few times on each rein. They were both doing quite well, I could tell neither of them had really cantered much though. They both had really good seats so I'm sure they'll be great within a few weeks! Me and Amie then got to go out whilst Audrey and Lauren rested. I found out Bally is much happier on the left rein than the right. On the left rein she transitions really nicely and is very forward. She was very easy to get into the canter. On the right rein she struggles a bit and broke into trot quite a lot. It was so good to finally be cantering though! I know I do it on Bruno, but it's nice to do it on different horses and with the motivation of someone there telling you to do it. She was quite fast in the canter (it felt pretty fast anyway), but I felt like I sat it nicely. My feet need a bit more discipline to stay down in those stirrups though, they're always flapping about again now, so frustrating! We had about three canters on each rein, then had a rest. Simon put up three 1 foot cross poles and we all went out and did them in trot. Bally occasionally cantered but she mostly treated them like trot poles. 

Amie then did them a few more times by herself with Charlie. Bless Charlie, he always did the first two as trot poles, then at the last jump he'd prick his ears and give a nice little hop over them! Amie got left behind quite a bit on that last jump haha! 

Then Simon put up the jumps, bought Amie back to the middle and sent out Lauren and Audrey. They were both doing really well, Lauren had Sultan cantering the line of jumps every time! I think we are pretty similar level wise, it's really nice to watch her. 

Then me and Bally went out to do the triple on our own a few times. I say a few times, it felt like a million times! I got to the point where my muscles were telling me "No more! Please, no more!", but Simon kept pushing me on. I really enjoyed myself, she does love a jump! I got left behind a couple of times because I have a bad habit of jumping ahead. I found though when I looked straight ahead and didn't focus on the jump, my upper body waited for her to come to me and it all flowed so much better. I'll have to really try hard to remember it for next time! 

I can't wait till next week now! 

xx

Jump, trip, KABOOM!

I had another lesson on Bally today! Such an awesome little pony. There were only three of us in the group so we only had a 45 minute lesson. (I was knackered by the end anyway!)
Simon didn't give us a cantering lesson today, which I thought was fair enough. If the whole group was there we probably would have done some, but we squeezed in loads of jumping instead! 
Simon set up three poles at the beginning of the lesson. I don't think I've ever done a triple before! We did some flat work for 15 minutes and some work without stirrups. He had us put our knees up as high as they could go like a jockey, then open out the knee and stretch the leg back and down to get it in the right position. Shoulder - hip - heel. I can always get that position fine without stirrups, but as soon as the stirrups come back my feet go forward a touch. (I've realised as well that I've developed an annoying habit of thrusting my feet forward when doing a sitting trot with stirrups, ugh, it's going to be so hard to unlearn!) We did some changes of rein, but no circles or shallow loops today. After a while we got our stirrups back and he put up three 1 foot cross poles. Diddy little things! Bally sometimes treated them like raised trot poles, and other times she'd jump them properly. (I much prefer her jumping them properly, what's the point of going into a jumping position for a trot pole?!) Then he asked myself and Lauren to come into the middle so Charlotte could go round a few more times on the smaller jumps. She is really getting better, I think Simon should have let her carry on with us! Maybe it was because she was on Harold, I don't think I've ever seen him put in a proper jump! 
He popped the jumps up to 2 foot cross poles and me and Lauren went round loads! The first time was a bit of a disaster though! We came up to the first jump in a forward trot, to the second jump Bally's trot had gotten considerably faster, and we tripped over it. She still didn't think to canter to the next jump and had an ever faster trot, and we pretty much ploughed straight into it! Oops! Totally my fault, I should have either controlled her trot more with half halts, or pushed her into a canter with my seat.
After our little mishap, Bally was going like a dream! She got into the most beautiful contact (I kept checking it out in the mirror), we always got to the first jump steadily, and almost always cantered the line of jumps! I think we worked out the striding distance together, I just felt so in sync with her, it was amazing! I was sad when he said it was time to turn in to the middle for a rest! 
For the last 5 minutes Simon had us walking around doing different stretches. He came over to each of us to show us the leg stretch from earlier, I was a bit nervous when Charlotte yelped in front of me when he pulled her leg down! It wasn't so bad though, a little painful because he did them one at a time, and my back has been hurting for a few days so I'm a bit tender anyway! We also did some shoulder stretches to open out our chests more. (Tits and teeth, ha!)
At the very end of the lesson we named the parts of the bridle and saddle. I had a Hermione Granger moment again, I recited the parts of the saddle as though I'd swallowed the list!
xx

Wiggly Bally loves a jump!

This is the only picture I could find of the horse I rode yesterday (not me riding). Her name is Bally, she is young, green, and has pretty much just pulled a cart all her life! She very much likes to be with her friends! 
There were only four of us in the group today, which meant lots of jumping! (And yet again, no cantering?)
We did our usual half an hour of flatwork. We did an exercise where we would trot the long side, then walk the short side. Then we did some figure of eights in rising trot and sitting trot. Sitting trot is difficult on Bally, not because she's bouncy, but she's so wiggly and speeds up like crazy when her friends are ahead of her! I had to turn her away a lot, and really let her know we were going where I wanted, not where she wanted! 
I'd seen Bally jumping before so I knew I'd be having some fun! We did a 1 foot cross pole to start with. She was really comfy to jump! Then Simon put a second jump in. Most of the time she'd trot between the two,but there were a couple of times where we got a canter! It's just so much easier! The jumps are at a 4 stride distance apart, so it's really easy to go "1, 2, 3, 4, fold!" in your head. After a few goes round we got called into the middle along with Lauren on Charlie. The other girls (Amie and Charlotte) had a few more goes on the smaller jumps. Amie really struggled on George, he was doing his trick of cantering past all the jumps! And because we haven't had a cantering lesson yet, Amie nearly fell off! She loses her balance because her heel goes up, then her lower leg swings back, sending her upper body forward. Simon dealt with it well though, he led her over the next few jumps in trot, then slowly let her go over them by herself. She was doing fine by the end, not sure if she'll want George again though! Charlotte was doing really well over the jumps! She just carried on trotting around, hop, hop, trot, hop, hop trot. She's really improving fast, it's really good to see. 
Simon then popped the jumps up to 2 foot cross poles and let me and Lauren go round. We were constantly going over the jumps, we must have gone round about ten times, but it was so good! I never did get her going up the long side without wiggling everywhere, but I managed to keep her straight between the jumps by the end of it! 
At the end of the lesson Simon asked us our usual "what colour is your horse?" question. Then he asked us parts of the bridle, then parts of the saddle. Although I know the parts of the saddle, I could only remember the pommel. cantle and knee rolls off the top of my head. Simon asked me to learn all the parts for next week, so here's an annotated diagram of a saddle, if you're interested! 
xx

Horsemanship Fail

I've got a mega manky cold today, so when I peered warily over the counter to look in the book and found out I had Dan, I wasn't impressed. I thought to myself, "Right, just get on him and show him who's boss!" 
I never got to show Dan who's boss. 
We got in the school, and as usual, I put my stirrups on, then adjusted the girth. I had another feel of the girth and figured it could go up another hole. 
In all my years of tacking up horses (about 2 ha), I've always let go of the reins to do the girth. I'm a weak armed lady. I need two hands to do it. I've never been told to do it any different, nobody has ever said "Hey, that's the wrong way". So when Dan pinned his ears back and bolted, I was not prepared. I tried to grab the reins but missed, he ran off and gave Shamus a double footed kick! I had no idea what to do, luckily Simon came charging over shouting "I will not have that in my lesson!" I thought Dan would just get a little telling off, but he got one of the girls working there to take him away. I felt awful! I kept apologising and he said it was OK, not to worry about it, but I feel so stupid! 
I went down to the stables where a girl had tacked up Rupert for me. I sheepishly took him to the school where everyone was walking around. I got on and was admittedly relieved I wasn't riding Dan. I'd never seen him flip out like that before! The other times I've ridden him I've done the same thing. Poor Shamus. 
We did a lot of trot work today. We did our shallow loops on both reins, then went large around the school standing up. I still find this so damn difficult! Rising trot - fine. Sitting trot - fine. Trotting without stirrups - fine. Trotting in a light seat - fine. Trotting standing - FAIL! I have to hold onto mane or I plop straight back into the saddle after a few strides. I tried to let go, but plop. Amie was doing really well today, she could stand trotting fine, and while everyone else was faffing around at the C end of the school trying to get out of each other's way, she was happily trotting around the A end. It was funny, but good as she normally doesn't concentrate on what she's doing, so if Simon tells her to change the rein or do a circle, she'll carry on as if nothing was said! 
After a bit of standing in the stirrups we had them taken away. I checked myself in the mirror, and I was sitting to the trot fine, but I sure felt bouncy! Especially down the long side when there's a horse ahead of Rupert! We did the shallow loops again, and I felt a bit wobbly and one sided. I now realise I should have squeezed him to direct him with my leg rather than kick, because when I kick with just one leg in sitting trot my knees pinch and I start to slide! I must remember that for next time... 
Our lesson had got to over halfway through and Simon hadn't made a grab for any poles or blocks, so I was really hoping we'd get a canter! Unfortunately a couple of minutes after I was thinking that, the poles were brought down. It's not that I don't enjoy the jumping, I just really want a canter! I can canter on Ziggy and Bruno, but it's good to have someone watching you and helping you get it right. I'm worried I've picked up bad canter habits because nobody has been keeping an eye on me! We did the jump a few times on the left rein. Such a teeny little jump. A 2 foot cross pole. Most of the horses just treated it as a trot pole! One of the girls had Bally, and Bally loves to jump. Amazingly she kept her in a steady trot over them! 
Our lesson ended 5 minutes early today, 10 if you count the walking around chatting. I do like the end of lesson chats. Simon normally asks us what our horses colour is, their markings, what breed/type they are, how we found the lesson etc. I like it, but I'm a bit of a Hermione Granger when nobody else knows the answers! 
xx

Charlie pants!

I had one of my favourite horses today, Charlie! (How cute is he?) He's a bit funny on the ground but a dream to ride! He loves to pop a little jump and really puts effort into it. 
I went to put my stirrups onto the saddle at the start of the lesson, and one snapped! Damn me buying cheap imported leather... Luckily it snapped nowhere near my holes so I could ride in them, but I will be taking them back to Stockley Trading tomorrow and buying some decent ones instead! 

We did a bit of walking around, then a lot of trotting. We did a circle at one end then went large. I felt like I was doing quite well, because Simon wasn't commenting on my circles, but advising adjusting my position slightly, e.g. turn my belly button a little more, put my inside shoulder back slightly. Nearly everyone else was working on the shape of their circle. It felt nice to feel a little more advanced at the exercise! 
We then had our stirrups taken away, and Charlie is either pretty comfy or my sitting trot has really improved! We did the same circling exercise, and I felt like I was doing pretty well! 
We got our stirrups back after about ten minutes, then Simon got the jump blocks out. No cantering again! I really want to canter into the jumps, but I guess I just have to do what he says!
We did a double of two small cross poles, then after a few goes round he raised them. On one go round, Charlie jumped the first cross pole really nicely, and we cantered to the second one! We got over it really nicely, and I let out a "WOOHOO!", I was a little excited! Half way through our little jumping spree, the lights in the indoor school suddenly went out! Luckily nobody's horse spooked, we all dismounted, and waited 5 or so minutes for someone to fix the power. Poor Amie was only a couple of strides away from the jump! When the lights came back on (it looked really odd and bright), we got to do the double loads of times. I was having so much fun, so when Simon started asking people to turn in to the centre to give their horses a fuss and jump off, I was gutted! I really wanted one more go. One of the ladies I ride with, Audrey, said that I look really neat going over the jumps! (Getting big headed!). 
After I hopped off and was trying to get my stirrups off Charlie's saddle, he turned around and bit me! I have a nice little bruise now, the bastard. 
xx

Flatwork on Bruno!

Ahh little Bruno-bum. My adorable part loan! I had a friend come up the yard with me yesterday afternoon, so I could finally get a video on Bruno! The weather was terrible, but he was an angel for me! I'm very proud of this video, I feel a lot worse than I look it seems! I have my lesson tonight, I'm very pumped for it! I'm using too many exclamation marks! 
xx

1 foot jumps on a 16.1HH horse!

Yet another lesson where we jumped but didn't do any cantering! I had the gorgeous Elliot today, he was very forward for our flatwork but I wasn't doing so well at getting him forward over the jumps. Well, I say jumps, the largest was 1 foot. So for big old Elliot, it was a raised trot pole!
I bought all my own stirrup bits today! I bought some second hand bent leg irons at a tack sale the other day (along with a cross country top and a show jacket, getting a bit ambitious I think!). Then I bought new treads and leathers today. It looks like I'm going to have to punch some new holes for jumping in my leathers though, I had them on the highest hole for the flatwork today. I did have them a hole lower, and although they were fine in the walk, trotting was really hard work, so I had to pop them up a little. 
We all had the usual shambles warming up. It'll now take me less time to sort out my stirrups seeing as I know what length I need now. The problem we all have is getting in each others way.  It isn't made any easier by the horses all going at different speeds. I suppose it's easier if your horse is slower, you can just keep plodding along whilst everyone has to move around you! Elliot was on a bit of a mission today though so I had to turn away a lot.
A big chunk of our lesson today was devoted to shallow loops on both reins. First in walk, then in trot. Then we had the stirrups taken away. I really think I'm going to have to invest in some better fitting boots and leather gaiters (Christmas present?), as I have issues with my Dublin Pinnacles when I ride stirrupless! Riding with stirrups is perfectly fine in them, so when I look after horses I can do my yard jobs then ride. I don't tend to ride without stirrups with the horses I look after. I haven't got quite used to Bruno's trot yet, and with Ziggy I'll either ride with stirrups or bareback. My main issue with my boots is that they slip off my feet a little, so I'm concentrating more on shoving my feet back into them than on the riding! The top of the boots also catch on the saddle, which makes it very hard to keep my legs in the right position. Again, I concentrate on wiggling my leg out of the saddle catching than the riding! Oops! I think until I get some nice new riding boots I will ride my lessons in my manky old jodhpur boots and suede half chaps. Now to convince someone to get me a Stockley Trading gift voucher for Christmas... 
I struggled a bit with Elliot's trot when I didn't have my stirrups. I was really annoyed about this because I was doing sitting trot on him with stirrups really well! I also had a very successful sitting trot with stirrups session with Bruno yesterday! So I'm blaming the boots! 
When we had about 20 minutes left Simon set up 2 poles and when we'd gone over them a couple of times he changed them to 1 foot cross poles. After we did that on each rein a few times he changed the first jump to a 1 foot vertical. I wish we could do them in canter, I find it much easier as the jump is like another canter stride. Trotting into jumps is just awkward! We hit them a few times because I couldn't get enough umph into Elliot's trot. The biggest horse there and he was the only one to knock them down! Haha!
Can't wait for next week!
xx

Jumping yet not cantering?

I've been very busy the past couple of days (looking after a horse on box rest) so I completely forgot about my riding blog! 
I was very sad to miss last weeks lesson, but time passes fast! There were seven people in the group this week! One girl was just sneaking into the lesson as she had been working at the yard all day, but still, that meant the group is actually up to six people! This means they will not be cancelling it! 
I went into the yard office feeling a big sleepy - I had returned from my holiday at around 2am, then had a 6.30am start looking after the horse, went and did yard chores twice more that day and did a load of house chores. Then I got told I had Dan! I figured I would be sleeping very well that night.
The starts of the lessons are always a bit of a nightmare. Everyone is working out their stirrups and girth, then when people start warming up their horses people are getting in each others way. Part of my plan to make this time for myself shorter is to buy my own stirrup irons and leathers, that way I can always quickly adjust them to my perfect height. (I might even tippex flatwork and jumping length markers on them). I'm going to a tack sale tonight, and I have bent iron safety stirrups in mind, so fingers crossed I find some! 
Dan at the start of the lesson was his usual, lazy self. I had my determined hat on today though with a "Don't you dare, I'm not taking crap today" attitude. And for the majority of the lesson he was really well behaved! (For Dan) We had a few moments where he just walked into the walls, but I was pleasantly surprised that he wasn't too difficult to handle. He was probably having a good day, but I'll pretend it was all down to my determined riding. 
We did about half an hour of trot work to begin with. At one point we all waiting in a line whilst one person would go sitting trot to the back of the ride. It was a good opportunity to check out everyone's riding. Most people seem to be at my sort of level, and there are a couple who are a little less skilled so far. Everyone had a go though! 
I was really excited to see Simon bring out the jumping blocks halfway through the lesson. Then I stopped and thought "but we haven't even had a good cantering lesson yet, or been taught a jumping position". We all just walked over a pole in a jumping position first, then trotted over the world's smallest jump (I'm not even joking, it was 20cm, tops). Some of the girls (no offence to them) are really not ready for jumping. I don't really understand why Simon is teaching jumping before cantering. Maybe because they were so tiny and pretty much raised trot poles. I'll admit I struggled with the jumping rhythm a little, I think partly because it was in trot (so much easier in canter), and partly because any jumping I've done this year has been preceded by riding in a light seat, whereas Simon was teaching us from rising trot.  
I'm hoping we will canter next lesson, I haven't cantered in a long time now! (Around a month). I'm riding Ziggy today but I will be riding my usual bareback, and I'm still working on my bareback trot with him. I'm not quite brave enough for the canter to trot transition bareback...
I've already posted a picture of Dan previously, so here's a photo of the horse I'm looking after, Barney!
xx

Rupert the Bear!

Well, he's pretty much a bear. I love Rupert! I'm in a very happy mood from my lesson today. There were four of us again, we have a new person (cannot remember her name, oh no!) but Gemma from last week didn't come. (That will be me next week... although going on holiday makes up for missing a weeks worth of riding!)
One of the girls (Amie) had Dan... poor girl! I think I've made better friends with her than anyone else in the group, maybe because she's closest to my age. (Well, six years younger than me, but I'm young at heart!)
We finally had the indoor school to ourselves! (Insert dance). 
I was so pleased! I asked the instructors before the lesson if we'd always be sharing the school, and they said it was just due to the bad weather we'd been having. (Sigh of relief). 
To begin with we did a lot of walk - halt work. We did some of this on each rein, then did the same but without stirrups. It amazed me how much I rely on them, when I asked Rupert to stop my legs swung forwards and my shoulders back, in a poor, incorrect attempt to get my message across! I quickly sorted this out, and did every walk - halt - walk transition much better after! 
After about 20 minutes we began on trot work, and Rupert is fantastic for working on your position in trot, as you barely need to move him along! He has a wonderful, springy trot that only needs a squeeze every few beats just to keep going. Then our stirrups were taken away. And oh dear. I felt like I was one of those rubber balls attached by elastic to a ping pong paddle. And the only time I had the swinging motion perfect, I was looking down! I was so annoyed with myself, that has to be my worst habit that I NEED to improve! I am terrible for looking at the horse! (And somewhat my crotch, I guess looking at my hips pushing with the trot motion helps?) Simon suggested to think about how I drive my car, because I certainly don't spend my time driving staring at the bonnet! It helps a lot in the indoor school that they have mirrors at one end, so going down one long side you can check your position and focus on one point at the end.
We did lots of circles and changes of rein, I am getting a lot better at using my legs to direct the horse around the circle, just using the reins to point their head in the right direction.  
I was hoping Simon would squeeze in a canter each at the end of the lesson but I suppose he wants everyone to have sitting and rising trot nailed, and lower legs strong before we all move on to cantering. (I hope we do the week after next though, and not next week, so I can be there to see everyone's canters!) 
I only get to ride once more before my holiday, but I don't post about the other rides I do on this blog. I look after an 18 year old, 13.3HH new forest gelding on Mondays called Bruno, and ride an 18 year old, 13.1HH gelding on Fridays called Ziggy. (What is it with me and 18 year olds?!) Both are wonderful ponies, so I may post about them from time to time. 
Is it sad that I'm really upset that I'm not going to be able to ride for a whole week? Because I'll be lying on a beach? Something tells me I'm going to be booking a ride in Majorca... 
xx

Exhaustion, sweatiness, and biting my tongue.

Ohhhh my goodness I had Dan for my lesson yesterday. Dan's a pony, by the way. He might look like a sweet little angel in the picture but one ride on him and you'll change your mind. This was my third ride on him. Let's just say Dan is the laziest horse you could ever meet. And if you try smack him with your whip he'll run into the wall. What a nightmare!
I was incredibly excited though because two new people have joined the group! Two girls, one named Amie and one name Gemma. (I'm better at remembering names than our instructor haha). 


However.
Brat patrol come along as usual. 
Only two this time (yay they must be outside!)
It' raining a little (drizzle compared to what we rode in last week)
Mummy comes in with that bitch smile, and they split the indoor school in half.
I hate bitch smile people. It drives me insane. You can't deliver bad news, knowing you have the power and there's nothing anyone else can do about it, with a big fat smile on your face. I know one other person like this. Everyone hates her too. I'm yet to meet a bitch smile man. Maybe it's a woman thing. 

So two in one half of the school and four in the other? With an empty outdoor school? Doesn't that just sound like the fairest situation anyone's ever come up with? 
All I could hear for their half hour lesson was their instructor yelling at them to pay attention, pull on their reins, turn, pay attention again, etc etc. Then one of the boys started crying, and everyone ran over with comforting words. All I could think was, "if you're going to sit there crying like a brat, then fuck off so we can use the school instead!" Then when they left, our poor instructor had to put all the dividing poles and blocks away! Rude!
This lesson was just exhausting. I can't think of another way to describe it. Constant trot work with constant nudging, then kicking, then booting, then smacking for an hour. I could have wrung the sweat from my t-shirt after. The other girls were fairly novice, but you can see their potential and that they have been taught well so far. Unfortunately there was a bad mix of horses in the group, two super slow, and two super fast. One of the fast horses kept going up everyone's butts, and the girl riding didn't realise she should turn away or circle in this situation, and poor Rupert ended up getting kicked! Another reason why a tiny schooling space is not a good idea.
A huge dinner and a glass of wine was most definitely needed in the evening. 
I'm sorry, this blog post is just incredibly whiny and ranty. I just can't understand why the yard owner has made a new group that conflicts with another lesson. I just can't work it out. It's moronic, either put their lesson half an hour back, or move ours half an hour forward. Problem solved.
Shame she won't care what anyone has to say. Maybe we should all go in as a unit and not back down to her. Work as a team against her ;)
xx

A suitable horse name for the Autumnal season!

I had my second lesson yesterday, on the gorgeous little Conker! It's very clearly Autumn right now. Raining pretty much every day... needing a coat on to go outside... Christmas already appearing in the shops! It's ridiculous, I used love Christmas so so much, but when it's around in September (3 1/2 months away from the damn day), by the time it actually gets to Christmas day, I'm bored of it! I want nothing more to do with it! Let it be over! It's a shame that I love it for the food and present part of it, rather than the magical. It stopped being magical when I popped to the loo at around the age of 7 to discover a man that was definitely not Santa Claus drinking the brandy and eating the cookies. And then that same man woke me and my sister up later by accident, bringing in stockings. Goodbye magic, hello reality. 
Anyway, my lesson! It started with me retrieving Conker from a little girl in the indoor school, where I stood and waited holding him thinking, "Yes, we're in here and not in the rain!" Insert the three little brats. What was I thinking, of course I wasn't inside...BRATS! It looks as though their lesson is going to be a weekly thing. If it is, and they continue forcing our lesson outside in the rain, I'll be talking to the yard owner. I don't think it's right to start up a new group lesson when the little brats are around. Because they'll get the special treatment. If this group gets to three people, then who will get the special treatment? I will be intrigued to see how this pans out.
So yes, I got sent outside, again. In the rain, again. And oh look, a new rider in the group! That makes it up to a colossal 2. God I hope more people join. The new rider is named Audrey, she seemed really lovely, but I didn't get to talk to her or pay much attention to her because I was concentrating too much on my lesson. Again, we did a lot of trot work. I love this instructor. He will have you trotting pretty much the whole lesson, and because we are adults and not whiny children, we push through the "I NEED TO REST" barrier, and carry on. It's going to do wonders for my riding fitness! I also found out he precedes all horse names with the word "young". I thought he called Elliot "young Elliot" last week simply because he was only 8, which is pretty young! But he was calling Conker and Rupert (Audrey's horse for the ride) young, I had to stop myself laughing, it was adorable in a way!
We carried on with lots of trot work, and transition work to get the horses listening better. The rain came down hard, and I was glad to have a peak on my riding hat, it disguised some of the downpour! My legs were telling a very different story though, they were cold and soaked through! Another instructor came up and offered to split the indoor school in two, but Simon declined... I have a feeling he's not the only one that thinks the three little kids are brats... 
We had a couple of canters on each rein, and Conker was brilliant at transitioning when I asked him to! I think Audrey was having a bit of trouble cantering Rupert because they knocked over a jumping block and it threw her confidence out the window. But that was pretty much all I noticed she did all lesson, I felt bad, I wanted to see if we were at the same sort of riding level but just didn't get a chance. 
I am hoping for at least two more people next week. Please let us be a larger group than the brats! Please let it rain on them! Please let there be a traffic jam and they don't make it on time! 
xx

A new instructor - A new start!

Since the beginning of this year I have gone down from a riding lesson once per week, to a riding lesson once per month. This has not done my riding any good! 

I went from a strong, steady lower leg, capable of 2 foot jumps, to not even being able to keep a hold of my stirrups in trot and canter! My semi private lesson riding buddy is sadly moving away, and I saw a flyer at my riding centre advertising a new weekly group lesson, for older teens/adults, that can rise to the trot and are learning to canter. I thought, hmm, I could get a bit bored, but my riding level has deteriorated so much I thought aw heck, I'll go from the bottom up! I turned up today half an hour early (oops), and got told I would be on Elliot, a gorgeous 16.1HH 8 year old, (pictured here). I absolutely love riding Elliot, he has great paces and is very responsive to your seat and leg. He hasn't been booted by enough riding centre children to have "dead sides" yet! Elliot is, by far, the best horse at Arundel. He's just so willing, innocent, and hasn't been ruined. He is wonderful!
My new instructor is called Simon, he was lovely! He sounded very posh and I was a bit worried, but he was very friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. He taught me a couple of things I didn't know or understand, (such as pointing your belly button in the direction you want to turn, as this keeps you balanced, and that my floppy stirrup problem is partly because I've developed a habit of pinching my knee!
I suppose to get to know me, we just did trot work. The yard owner made me go in the outdoor school, which is pretty small...honestly I was a bit miffed about being moved outside...not for me, but for Elliot! He is a big big horse, and there were three kids on ponies in the indoor school, which is a far more suitable size for Elliot! But one of the kids was the son of the riding school owner... and him and his friends were having a "lesson". (More like pissing about). It just seemed unfair that these little brats got special treatment when they can ride any day of the week so it doesn't conflict with other people, but the paying customer got shoved out in the rain! 

Apart from getting a bit damp it was a very successful lesson, with lots of work on the sitting trot (ouchie), and getting that lower leg strong! 

I can't wait for next week! I'm really hoping some other people join the group, as, although I loved the private lesson, with more people we can claim the indoor school, and those little brats can go outside! Haha! 
xx