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