Today I had an important lesson with Sid. It was to make sure that my RI and I (and Sid!) are happy with his saddle fit before I hack him in it. So I tacked him up while she watched, mounted him from the block and the steps-by-the-gate, and rode him in the school at walk and trot.
Sid has been a lesson horse for years and it appears that he has Views on how lessons should be conducted. The person in the middle is the teacher and shall be obeyed. If you nap to her, sometimes you can stop working. When she says Trot, you trot.
Also, if the rider asks for trot at a corner once, it means that she is gong to do it every time.
He was unimpressed by my freedom of thought. What? Teacher says "Trot when ready" and you wait? and you make me wait? and then you don't ask on a corner? He humped his back and did little buckity bucks of displeasure. It took a few circuits before he agreed to listen to me and trot when I said, not when he thought he should.
He was very keen, eager to work and happy to trot whenever I liked although it was 28 degrees in the field. I was really interested to discover that I need to adjust my position to get the best out of him using completely different muscles from the ones I used for Ziggy. As usual, when I managed to get my body to do as my RI asked, Sid responded. He wasn't too thrilled about being asked to lift his back and use his abdominals, but he did!
My RI loves him and thought his teeny buckettes were just evidence of character. She gave me the green light to hack in my saddle, so yay! And next time we have a lesson it will be in the proper school with a proper surface and we will work on control of speed and direction at trot.
So exciting!
And afterwards I gave Sid a lovely cool bath - I rolled a big 40l container of clean water from the house over specially - and he loved it and fell asleep.
Sid has been a lesson horse for years and it appears that he has Views on how lessons should be conducted. The person in the middle is the teacher and shall be obeyed. If you nap to her, sometimes you can stop working. When she says Trot, you trot.
Also, if the rider asks for trot at a corner once, it means that she is gong to do it every time.
He was unimpressed by my freedom of thought. What? Teacher says "Trot when ready" and you wait? and you make me wait? and then you don't ask on a corner? He humped his back and did little buckity bucks of displeasure. It took a few circuits before he agreed to listen to me and trot when I said, not when he thought he should.
He was very keen, eager to work and happy to trot whenever I liked although it was 28 degrees in the field. I was really interested to discover that I need to adjust my position to get the best out of him using completely different muscles from the ones I used for Ziggy. As usual, when I managed to get my body to do as my RI asked, Sid responded. He wasn't too thrilled about being asked to lift his back and use his abdominals, but he did!
My RI loves him and thought his teeny buckettes were just evidence of character. She gave me the green light to hack in my saddle, so yay! And next time we have a lesson it will be in the proper school with a proper surface and we will work on control of speed and direction at trot.
So exciting!
And afterwards I gave Sid a lovely cool bath - I rolled a big 40l container of clean water from the house over specially - and he loved it and fell asleep.
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