kusha
18th Jun 2008, 07:43 PM
Today was the day I had booked to go to the beach with my friend and have my first gallop!!
I said to the ride leader that I had never galloped before and she said that's ok we will just canter. I said I really wanted to try and she said Oh well we'll see!!!
Anyway off we went. It is an hour hack down to the beach with lots of roadwork. On the way there is a park that has a brideway in it so we were able to have a canter. Everything was going great until a bird flew out and my horse spooked sideways and gave a buck. I lost my stirrups and it was sheer determination that I stayed on. Had a big smile on my face after that as I felt a bit of an achievement that I hadn't splatted on the ground!! :eek:
Once we were on the beach we set off into canter. OOOOhhhh it was a bit faster than I thought. Turned the horses round and set off again, this time mine wanted to go to the front and overtake ride leader and I was trying so hard to hold her back so thought I would try to circle.
What I never realised of course was that when I circled her away from the others, she was thinking hey where's my pals?? So circled ended rather promptly with her doing a quick turn (spin?) to join in again. And yes I NEARLY lost my balance...but didn't!!! :D Sigh of relief. At this point I was quite happy not to try a gallop so settled for another couple of very very fast canters where I made a huge effort to stay right behind the ride leader. Got a bit sandblasted on my new jods. So enough excitement on the sand we set off for home.
This time on the road there was a building site where they were knocking down a house. Just as we went passed what sounded like a concrete cutter (or similar) started up just as we were passing - 4 very unhappy horses!! They were all going sideways - I was thinking OMG they're going to take off but was saying into myself - keep calm. Well we made it passed without any mishaps.
All in all I had a great time. Makes me realise just how different hacking is to riding lessons in the arena. Especially as the horses well all pretty forward going. I feel the couple of incidents I had today shows me just how vigilant you have to be and think I have learnt a lot (and still have a lot to learn).
Probably the biggest lesson I learnt was that I should have worn gloves!! I had reins that were made of webbed fabric (don't know if that is how they are described) and now have an enormous blister at the base of my ring finger and little finger on my right hand. :mad:
If you read all this - thanks. Kusha x
I said to the ride leader that I had never galloped before and she said that's ok we will just canter. I said I really wanted to try and she said Oh well we'll see!!!
Anyway off we went. It is an hour hack down to the beach with lots of roadwork. On the way there is a park that has a brideway in it so we were able to have a canter. Everything was going great until a bird flew out and my horse spooked sideways and gave a buck. I lost my stirrups and it was sheer determination that I stayed on. Had a big smile on my face after that as I felt a bit of an achievement that I hadn't splatted on the ground!! :eek:
Once we were on the beach we set off into canter. OOOOhhhh it was a bit faster than I thought. Turned the horses round and set off again, this time mine wanted to go to the front and overtake ride leader and I was trying so hard to hold her back so thought I would try to circle.
What I never realised of course was that when I circled her away from the others, she was thinking hey where's my pals?? So circled ended rather promptly with her doing a quick turn (spin?) to join in again. And yes I NEARLY lost my balance...but didn't!!! :D Sigh of relief. At this point I was quite happy not to try a gallop so settled for another couple of very very fast canters where I made a huge effort to stay right behind the ride leader. Got a bit sandblasted on my new jods. So enough excitement on the sand we set off for home.
This time on the road there was a building site where they were knocking down a house. Just as we went passed what sounded like a concrete cutter (or similar) started up just as we were passing - 4 very unhappy horses!! They were all going sideways - I was thinking OMG they're going to take off but was saying into myself - keep calm. Well we made it passed without any mishaps.
All in all I had a great time. Makes me realise just how different hacking is to riding lessons in the arena. Especially as the horses well all pretty forward going. I feel the couple of incidents I had today shows me just how vigilant you have to be and think I have learnt a lot (and still have a lot to learn).
Probably the biggest lesson I learnt was that I should have worn gloves!! I had reins that were made of webbed fabric (don't know if that is how they are described) and now have an enormous blister at the base of my ring finger and little finger on my right hand. :mad:
If you read all this - thanks. Kusha x