sadie01
28th Sep 2004, 01:45 PM
Hi Everyone
I've never posted on here before, but I do enjoy reading the board - so hello everyone.
I'm 32 and had my first ever riding lesson a year ago, and have tried to ride weekly since (although with children and school holidays etc, I have missed a fair bit)
Cantering has always been a bit of an issue for me as I could never 'find my seat' and all of the bouncing meant I never felt safe, then I would become tense, start overthinking and it would just go from bad to worse. It was so bad in May, that I started to feel sick before I rode, the horse would pick up on it and it was just awful, I ended up losing my confidence all together and was too worried to even try.
Anyway, my brilliant teacher worked really hard with me doing lots and lots of work in trot, loads of corners and turns, then put me on a horse with a lovely canter, and let me use a neckstrap for 2 lessons. I was then fine cantering out on hacks or cantering the long side of the school on that horse, but corners were awful and I worried about other horses.
We had a lunge lesson 4 weeks ago on the horse I was riding when I lost my confidence (she's really bouncy and can be moody) and what a difference!!!! I was trotting with no hands or stirrups, making windmills with my arms. Then started working on canter (with a neckstrap) first one handed then no handed!!! I fell off the first time, and only managed 4 or 5 paces the second time, but it has completely changed something in my head.
The fear that was there has just gone, and now when things are getting out of control instead of blind panic, I can actually think and put into practice the things I've learned, and I feel absolutely in control and have a confidence that I never had before. Its very difficult to describe, but it's wonderful!
Last week we went out hacking, we had 5 really good canters through the fields and one brilliant canter up hill through the woods. And today, I was cantering 20m circles - I can't believe it. I feel like I've just passed all of the A level exams ever set, all at once!!!
Anyway, sorry for rambling, I'm just so happy and wanted to share.
I've never posted on here before, but I do enjoy reading the board - so hello everyone.
I'm 32 and had my first ever riding lesson a year ago, and have tried to ride weekly since (although with children and school holidays etc, I have missed a fair bit)
Cantering has always been a bit of an issue for me as I could never 'find my seat' and all of the bouncing meant I never felt safe, then I would become tense, start overthinking and it would just go from bad to worse. It was so bad in May, that I started to feel sick before I rode, the horse would pick up on it and it was just awful, I ended up losing my confidence all together and was too worried to even try.
Anyway, my brilliant teacher worked really hard with me doing lots and lots of work in trot, loads of corners and turns, then put me on a horse with a lovely canter, and let me use a neckstrap for 2 lessons. I was then fine cantering out on hacks or cantering the long side of the school on that horse, but corners were awful and I worried about other horses.
We had a lunge lesson 4 weeks ago on the horse I was riding when I lost my confidence (she's really bouncy and can be moody) and what a difference!!!! I was trotting with no hands or stirrups, making windmills with my arms. Then started working on canter (with a neckstrap) first one handed then no handed!!! I fell off the first time, and only managed 4 or 5 paces the second time, but it has completely changed something in my head.
The fear that was there has just gone, and now when things are getting out of control instead of blind panic, I can actually think and put into practice the things I've learned, and I feel absolutely in control and have a confidence that I never had before. Its very difficult to describe, but it's wonderful!
Last week we went out hacking, we had 5 really good canters through the fields and one brilliant canter up hill through the woods. And today, I was cantering 20m circles - I can't believe it. I feel like I've just passed all of the A level exams ever set, all at once!!!
Anyway, sorry for rambling, I'm just so happy and wanted to share.