Casey76
2nd Aug 2003, 02:19 PM
Janet, my regular instructor is on holiday at the moment. I'll forgive her though cos she's getting married next week:D
Anyway I had another instructor today (my first lesson in two weeks as I was at Hickstead last week - as some of you may know, hehe:o :D ;) )... I was riding Lord, who is OK, but has a few problems with dominance - like he thinks I'm a rubbing post - not that he gets away with it, of course:rolleyes: .
I started off just walking around the whole arena, which was OK, then we got onto trot which is where things started to go a bit haywire. Another horse came into the arena to be exercised, and Lord always plays 'follow-the-leader', however I had managed to get him trotting forward until I was supposed to change the rein along the diagonal of the school, when he suddenly planted all four feet and stopped dead. I managed to not fall off, though I ended up with my right foot out of the stirrup and my halfway up his neck :eek: :rolleyes: . We tried again, but how he was set of kollowing the other horse, though we did some nice half-pass as I was trying to walk him down the side of the school (which didn't work). We ended up doing some realy tight circles until he was pointing in the direction I wanted him to go, but my instructor decided that it would be better if I went back on the lunge, and then the 'fun' started!
Lord's stirrup leathers are too long for me even on the last hole, so the are always looped round, which to me, feels like they are in a funny position, and one always feels like it's longer than the other. So we did some trotting, a lot of trotting, and I kept getting told 'hands down'. Usually my hand position is pretty good, although I do confess to 'pram pusher' hands if I'm concentrating a lot on something else, but by the end of the lesson, instead of my hands being 3-4in apart on top of the withers, they ended up being 8-10in apart either side of the withers hovering just above the saddle, which made it difficult to adjust the length of the reins, and felt like I had no contact at all. The we did a lot of sitting trot, which isn't my best and as my stomach/back muscles still aren't that strong I can't flex my back a la HM for very long, so poor Lord was getting bumped about with me trying to 'keep a more upright back' and 'close my legs' whilst 'taking you outside leg back a bit when working in a circle' and 'pushing forward' all at the same time.
Then came the cantering... Lord's canter is much like his trot, quick and choppy and not particularly comfortable, couples with the fact that his saddle twists so that the cantle swings over to the right, makes me feel really unbalanced, especially on the left rein. Today it was particularly difficult to get the upward transition, usually he is pretty good, but today we were both unbalanced, and I felt that he rushed both times on the left rein. It was much better on the right rein, so I figure he is 'right handed' like I am, and two of us trying to do something 'left handed' was not working out.
Then there was the girth... I had to tighten the girth halfway through the lesson, and my instructor had me doing this whilst I was still walking around. Now I've never tightened the girth whilst mounted before, plus the fact the I had new gloves on and I had hardly any grip left in my left hand (death grip on reins whilst holding a whip - why I needed a whil as I was being lunged I don't know, go figure!) meant that this exercise took much longer than it would normally have...
So, what with the near fall experience, a disobedient horse, 45 mins of trotting with (too) much sitting trot, and my 'new' hand position, it was a very tough, but eventful lesson. One good point though (and you should always take away with you one positive thing [so I've been told]), is that I didn't have to be told once to change my diagonal - so I must be learning something, or I could correct it before I had to be told!
Anyway I had another instructor today (my first lesson in two weeks as I was at Hickstead last week - as some of you may know, hehe:o :D ;) )... I was riding Lord, who is OK, but has a few problems with dominance - like he thinks I'm a rubbing post - not that he gets away with it, of course:rolleyes: .
I started off just walking around the whole arena, which was OK, then we got onto trot which is where things started to go a bit haywire. Another horse came into the arena to be exercised, and Lord always plays 'follow-the-leader', however I had managed to get him trotting forward until I was supposed to change the rein along the diagonal of the school, when he suddenly planted all four feet and stopped dead. I managed to not fall off, though I ended up with my right foot out of the stirrup and my halfway up his neck :eek: :rolleyes: . We tried again, but how he was set of kollowing the other horse, though we did some nice half-pass as I was trying to walk him down the side of the school (which didn't work). We ended up doing some realy tight circles until he was pointing in the direction I wanted him to go, but my instructor decided that it would be better if I went back on the lunge, and then the 'fun' started!
Lord's stirrup leathers are too long for me even on the last hole, so the are always looped round, which to me, feels like they are in a funny position, and one always feels like it's longer than the other. So we did some trotting, a lot of trotting, and I kept getting told 'hands down'. Usually my hand position is pretty good, although I do confess to 'pram pusher' hands if I'm concentrating a lot on something else, but by the end of the lesson, instead of my hands being 3-4in apart on top of the withers, they ended up being 8-10in apart either side of the withers hovering just above the saddle, which made it difficult to adjust the length of the reins, and felt like I had no contact at all. The we did a lot of sitting trot, which isn't my best and as my stomach/back muscles still aren't that strong I can't flex my back a la HM for very long, so poor Lord was getting bumped about with me trying to 'keep a more upright back' and 'close my legs' whilst 'taking you outside leg back a bit when working in a circle' and 'pushing forward' all at the same time.
Then came the cantering... Lord's canter is much like his trot, quick and choppy and not particularly comfortable, couples with the fact that his saddle twists so that the cantle swings over to the right, makes me feel really unbalanced, especially on the left rein. Today it was particularly difficult to get the upward transition, usually he is pretty good, but today we were both unbalanced, and I felt that he rushed both times on the left rein. It was much better on the right rein, so I figure he is 'right handed' like I am, and two of us trying to do something 'left handed' was not working out.
Then there was the girth... I had to tighten the girth halfway through the lesson, and my instructor had me doing this whilst I was still walking around. Now I've never tightened the girth whilst mounted before, plus the fact the I had new gloves on and I had hardly any grip left in my left hand (death grip on reins whilst holding a whip - why I needed a whil as I was being lunged I don't know, go figure!) meant that this exercise took much longer than it would normally have...
So, what with the near fall experience, a disobedient horse, 45 mins of trotting with (too) much sitting trot, and my 'new' hand position, it was a very tough, but eventful lesson. One good point though (and you should always take away with you one positive thing [so I've been told]), is that I didn't have to be told once to change my diagonal - so I must be learning something, or I could correct it before I had to be told!