A major point! [Archive] - New Rider Message Board

raingodz

7th Aug 2006, 09:55 PM

So I felt that tonight in my riding lesson I had reached a major point with my riding... I was allowed to ride Eric (http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f192/raingodz/cowley/eric2.jpg).

This probably might not mean much to any of you so i shall explain, Eric it the RS dressage horse, and he seems reserved for people who can ride a horse in outline and who are cabable of giving the correct aids and stuff like that.

He is also, at 17hh, the biggest horse I have ever ridden. He is an 8yo (I think) ISH. To help me keep him in outline he was tacked up with balancing reins.

We did quite a lot of ground work (Eric doesn't do jumping). So the first problem I had was accelleration. He needs quite firm aids to get walk and trot, so when we came to do our first canter I assummed that he would need a firm aid for that too, so thats what I did and we shot off down the school at an alarming rate. My RI then said "I should have told you, he only needs a light aid in to canter" :rolleyes:

We then did trot work with circles and serpentines. Erics gates are quite prenounced which took a bit of getting used to, but not to hard to sit to.

Then we did shoulder in and it was so amazing to have a horse that just did what he was directed to do, no second tries, no stropps, no stubbonness, no worrying about weather I was doing the right or wrong thing because when I did the right thing it was so obvious.

we then did some more canter work, working on cantering 20m circles and I had no problem with control and size and shape of the circles at all.

It was really good to be given the oppertunity to ride a horse like this :) I hope I will be allowed to ride him again.

JOJOBA

7th Aug 2006, 09:58 PM

I need me one of them :D
Can you give me the phone number for your riding school please? I think I will book a lesson. Are they very busy? Any chance of me getting in this weekend?

Isnt it nice when you finally get offered a prestigious horse? :D

xxx

raingodz

7th Aug 2006, 10:11 PM

Isnt it nice when you finally get offered a prestigious horse? :D

I know :) I am sure that there are better horses than him at other schools, but for me, he was just amazing :)

acw295

7th Aug 2006, 10:38 PM

Sounds like a lovely ride. I think it really helps my riding when I ride a really well schooled horse that can do dressage correctly, when I feel what it is suposed to feel like when done correctly it gives me more confdence with the less well schooled ones, as I can feel when they are doing things right and when they aren't rather than relying on my RI to point it out!

raingodz

8th Aug 2006, 08:17 AM

... I can feel when they are doing things right and when they aren't rather than relying on my RI to point it out!
Yes, this is the best part. And you know that when it doesn't go right it is becasue you need to modify or improve your aids.

I suppose that the real test of how well I did will be if I am allowed to ride him again soon or not.

jenren!!

8th Aug 2006, 11:12 AM

Ahh, this is the 'real riding' :D. No more observing the RIs comments, but now the horse :D. Nice to hear you're progressing, i cant quite get the grip of shoulder-in but im getting there! He looks a big lad, bet you were feeling a bit light-headed up there, and having to sit to his stride as well :D

Jenny xx

chewitmonster

8th Aug 2006, 11:17 AM

Sounds like lots of fun. Big horses and their big strides! xxx

raingodz

8th Aug 2006, 11:34 AM

Big horses and their big strides!
It felt like he leapped in to canter, it caught me off ballance the first time! And his trot is so pronounced too, not sure how well I'd do with out stirups.

Eric looks so like your silver too :) only a lighter grey.

teabiscuit

8th Aug 2006, 11:49 AM

well done :)
i was allowed to ride my RI's advanced dressage horse...oh boy i was a disaster:o
learned a lot though :)

raingodz

8th Aug 2006, 08:49 PM

So... I have just got back from tonights lesson and it was interesting to say the least.

I was on Eric again, but today we did gymkhana games. This was a bit too exciting for Eric and I at times :eek: and doing realay races round barrals and cones on a 17hh ISH was not easy :eek:

Just goes to show that horses who are good at one thing are not always good at other things.

BeachRiding

8th Aug 2006, 09:01 PM

Well done! I love riding a responsive horse,if you do it right you see the results right away, if you do something slighlty wrong,you'll get a side-pass, 'hey where did that come from?' uh,personal experience...

teabiscuit

9th Aug 2006, 09:30 AM