A VERY happy lesson report! *pics and videos*

T

Thelwell_Girl

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Well... What a lesson!

Got to the yard, hopped into the office to say hi, and who did I see next to me? TINA! She's been in Croatia for months, I missed her so much! We're in the same group lesson each week, so she went off to get Dawi and I went off to get my lovely Bonnie Coblet :D

B was so good today! After a bit of a saddle slip at the beginning (:o), got on eventually and started walking her round in open order. She felt lovely and forwards, and mostly went from a squeeze of the leg today. We warmed up a bit, w/t/c on each rein, and then started some pole work.

I was used as an example! :D

My instructor, B, got me to demonstrate how to go over the trotting poles best, and also demonstrated jumping position for the younger girl in our lesson. I was so chuffed at this!

After the pole work, we moved on to cantering as a ride. This was SO much fun :D Bonnie was lovely, really went for it! Didnt get too strong, and stopped when I asked her to.

My heels were actually staying down today, and my stirrups mostly stayed on the balls of my feet :) I am going to gradually let my stirrups down, to hopefully keep this up.

To finish off the lesson, we did some work w/o stirrups. Now, I was a bit nervous, as Ive never ridden w/o stirrups on Bonnie. She is super comfy! I just let myself relax, let my legs hand heavy and went! :)

I was SO proud of Bonnie today! She is a lot more forward (I didnt need a whip at all, tbh!) than the last time I rode her, didnt try to bite Dawi or Albert (though she nibbled me a bit :rolleyes:) and just tried her hardest.

It was kind of funny riding Bonnie again. The past few weeks Ive only been riding Dawi and Pally, so Bonnie felt quite low to the ground and bouncy! I just synchronise with her trot, its so comfy for me. LOVE that pony!

Best part? My instructor said 'You ride her really well' !!! :D

As usual, thank you all for reading, CC welcome, and please have some oreos from me!

TG xx
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*beam*
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Love this pic!
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Grumpy pony :rolleyes:
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Videos:
Best video of the lesson!
[youtube]YfBiCwN4284[/youtube]

[youtube]XJ5BqJqeMHo[/youtube]
 
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Looks like a fun lesson! I've seen your other pics of Bonnie, she's adorable. Oh and where did you get the pink crop from? I want!!! :D
 
Wahoo! Sounds like you had a great lesson, you're looking better every time you post a vid.

Please tie your hair back though, you really won't be happy if you get scalped, however unlikely it is.
 
monkeybum13 said:
Well done, sounds like a very good lesson.

On a seperate note your hat looks 10x better with a silk on ;)
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Thanks, I did! :)

And I put that on in the car thinking 'If I dont, the HHO-ers are gonna talk about my egg head again!!' :p

Holly_09 said:
Looks like a fun lesson! I've seen your other pics of Bonnie, she's adorable. Oh and where did you get the pink crop from? I want!!! :D
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Thanks!

As much of a cowbag as Bonnie can be sometimes (!), I love her :D

The pink whip was from my local saddlery, twas only a fiver!


JessandCharlie said:
Wahoo! Sounds like you had a great lesson, you're looking better every time you post a vid.

Please tie your hair back though, you really won't be happy if you get scalped, however unlikely it is.
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I did, and thank you :)

Will put my hair back next time, I keep on forgetting, but I know how important it is :(:o
 
There is no need to keep putting your stirrups down if your leg and stirrup irons are staying in the right place. No point fighting to keep them constantly! I rode v short yesterday because for some reason I was tense through my leg so instead of constantly battling (which I did for the first half hour) I just put them up and rode well with shorter legs!
 
I quite liked the length they were today (another reason why I love Bonnie's saddle - dont have to put twists in my stirrups for my tiny legs!), but did feel that I couldve gone maybe a whole or two longer, as they felt a weeny bit short.

What did you think of my seat? It felt a lot more secure today, but I just watched the videos again and I seemed to bounce about a bit in canter :o

Thanks for the advice guys, I really do appreciate it!
 
Cant watch video so cant tell you about bounciness but your position in the stills looks better so I'd imagine it was in canter too!
 
Well done
Echo the comment on the stirrup length. Don't alter it yet. Make sure your leg is really secure & gets to the point where it almost feels to short. Then let them down. No point in fighting & struggling to keep the stirrup as your whole balance will be affected. Because i am not riding much & haven't for the past 3 years, i am riding 3 or 4 holes shorter now than i was when i was riding every day & competing. I know once i get back in to it fully i will be able to drop them down over time. But right now i want to feel secure & shorter stirrups do that for me :D
Well done & keep up the hard work
x
 
Maletto said:
yay! you look fab in that pic, very nice and straight :D
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Thanks :)

pippipony said:
Well done
Echo the comment on the stirrup length. Don't alter it yet. Make sure your leg is really secure & gets to the point where it almost feels to short. Then let them down. No point in fighting & struggling to keep the stirrup as your whole balance will be affected. Because i am not riding much & haven't for the past 3 years, i am riding 3 or 4 holes shorter now than i was when i was riding every day & competing. I know once i get back in to it fully i will be able to drop them down over time. But right now i want to feel secure & shorter stirrups do that for me :D
Well done & keep up the hard work
x
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I just meant that, once Im secure like this, Ill see how I go a bit longer. My legs need stretching on a rack or something!

Ta x
 
You look so much better much more upright.

Just a bit of constructive Crit (please take it as such)

If I was teaching you I would much prefer that you gave your horse one tap with the whip just behind your leg rather than the pony club kicks (lesson part 1), as moving your legs off to kick puts your position out and pitches you forward.....try to keep that heel down and wrap your legs around Bonnie then when you want her to increase speed squeeze your legs if she ignores you tap her with your whip and at the same time squeeze with your legs...she will get the message I promise and eventually will realize you mean business and react to your legs.

I know it is really hard on a lazy pony.

You are doing really really well keep it up.
 
Hehe, thank you Kokopelli! And that canter was the fastest Ive ever gone on Bonnie, I think! :eek: She legged it! I loved it :D

If you look into Video Vault, theres a Sticky thread at the top telling you how :)
 
Chavhorse said:
You look so much better much more upright.

Just a bit of constructive Crit (please take it as such)

If I was teaching you I would much prefer that you gave your horse one tap with the whip just behind your leg rather than the pony club kicks (lesson part 1), as moving your legs off to kick puts your position out and pitches you forward.....try to keep that heel down and wrap your legs around Bonnie then when you want her to increase speed squeeze your legs if she ignores you tap her with your whip and at the same time squeeze with your legs...she will get the message I promise and eventually will realise you mean business and react to your legs.

I know it is really hard on a lazy pony.

You are doing really really well keep it up.
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Thank you for the advice :) As we went on through the lesson, Bonnie became much more responsive (didnt use my whip more than a couple of times when she was being stubborn, and deciding that corners we the hardest thing in the world :rolleyes:) , and was eventually going just off a squeeze. I do find I lean forward as well, any tips you have on that would be very much appreciated!

Thank you for the clear and helpful advice - I really do appreciate it! x

ETA: As lazy as she can be, I know it is my job to get her going forward when I ride her! I'm also working on really getting her into her corners and bending, and she does tend to cut them off, which for a smaller/less strong rider could be off putting.

I am finding the bending part difficult with her at times, tbh. We did a couple of nice circles, just to give us some more space from the rider in front, but she would fall out and go a bit woooo :o
 
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You've improved no end in such a short period of time... look so much more secure in the saddle... And for once you're smiling whilst riding - always a good sign! :) AS the saying goes "if you're doing it and not smiling you're doing it wrong..."

Blitz..

PS Have you lost weight? cos you look like you have.
 
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