Turns
9th Feb 2004, 04:25 AM
After gaining my confidence and coming along nicely with my instructor, I decided I wanted to persue a western style and ride on a loose rein.
3 weeks ago I changed to a new instructor that would be able to accomodate this type of lessons (unfortunatley my old instructor is only the dressage/jumping type).
After riding soley in an arena for the last 6 months you can imagine my joy when my new instructor explains that to really get my confidence up and learn to relax I needed to have an ever changing learning environment and go outside the comfort zone the arena provides me. Yay I was on the loose.
So for the last 2 lessons we have gone out on hacks, just nice plodding walks. As I had never ridden on a really loose rein I knew it was going to be a challenge, especially because my instructor breaks in horses for people and they are the horses he likes to take out on our hacks to expose them to new things too (read flighty horsies, prone to jump at almost anything) Luckily the horse I ride in my lessons is a lovely solid QH that only jumps at really scary things and then its only up in the air not sideway.
My last lesson was the best I have ever had, ride down the road past scary dogs, other horses hanging over the fence, cars, roadwork signs and even over a weir. All this with the nutty 3yr old my instructor is riding, whom he tells me has only been ridden 5 times and this is its first time out.
By the time we turned for home, I was riding along, one hand on the hip the other holding the buckle in the reins, just crusing along. I really felt relaxed, I haven't enjoyed riding this much since I was about 10yrs old.
I am now obsessed with my lessons and almost count down every day until my next lesson like a child counting down how many more sleeps there are until santa arrives.
To make things even better, it looks like I have found my dream horse, a lovely 5 yr old Anglo Arab gelding with a beautiful nature. The owner is a friend of mine who bred him and his trained him thus far, but will not sell him over to me yet not until we have had a lot more time together. But there is light at the end of the tunnel.
I have really found my zest for all things equine again.
3 weeks ago I changed to a new instructor that would be able to accomodate this type of lessons (unfortunatley my old instructor is only the dressage/jumping type).
After riding soley in an arena for the last 6 months you can imagine my joy when my new instructor explains that to really get my confidence up and learn to relax I needed to have an ever changing learning environment and go outside the comfort zone the arena provides me. Yay I was on the loose.
So for the last 2 lessons we have gone out on hacks, just nice plodding walks. As I had never ridden on a really loose rein I knew it was going to be a challenge, especially because my instructor breaks in horses for people and they are the horses he likes to take out on our hacks to expose them to new things too (read flighty horsies, prone to jump at almost anything) Luckily the horse I ride in my lessons is a lovely solid QH that only jumps at really scary things and then its only up in the air not sideway.
My last lesson was the best I have ever had, ride down the road past scary dogs, other horses hanging over the fence, cars, roadwork signs and even over a weir. All this with the nutty 3yr old my instructor is riding, whom he tells me has only been ridden 5 times and this is its first time out.
By the time we turned for home, I was riding along, one hand on the hip the other holding the buckle in the reins, just crusing along. I really felt relaxed, I haven't enjoyed riding this much since I was about 10yrs old.
I am now obsessed with my lessons and almost count down every day until my next lesson like a child counting down how many more sleeps there are until santa arrives.
To make things even better, it looks like I have found my dream horse, a lovely 5 yr old Anglo Arab gelding with a beautiful nature. The owner is a friend of mine who bred him and his trained him thus far, but will not sell him over to me yet not until we have had a lot more time together. But there is light at the end of the tunnel.
I have really found my zest for all things equine again.