SaddlePsych'D
Well-Known Member
Well the hacking report will come tomorrow but I'm throwing a mention in now because I am soooo excited about it 
I was offered to ride this horse a while ago when I still had my share but as I'd lost quite a bit of confidence, I decided to wait until RS reopened to get a few lessons in on a familiar horse (turns out I ended up riding a new pony at the RS without realising it oops!) The lessons have gone really well so far and so tomorrow I'm venturing out with a friend for the first time in around 2 months.
Today was RS lesson - back on little cob B. We returned to our leg yields today and we got sideways movement straight away, hurrah! Last week he actually pushed into my leg on the one rein but today we had some good sideways travel. Still losing a shoulder, bit quick, not straight - but we have progress. Maybe my new schooling whips is magic?
I asked specifically to work on 'anything good for my balance/stability' so we did some no stirrups work. I'm 5'7" and B is 14.1 so I kind of feel like my legs would go all the way around him (they definitely won't but the sensation of running out of horse was there!) It was helpful to spot a bit of knee gripping, which I know I do in my canter transitions sometimes as I lose my stirrups. Feeling pretty secure in trot so maybe need to challenge myself and go for some canter with no stirrups next.
Canter wasn't quite so good this week. Great on the long sides, I'm remembering to count to stop myself holding my breath and got feedback that my lower legs were nice and still. I got a bit ambitious and asked for a slightly tighter circle in canter, forgetting that last week we went for bigger than 20m as B finds it hard to do. This resulted in a bit of a wobble and an apology to B for going 'oh crap where are we going!' and a bit of communication breakdown! We recovered and finished off with a nice walk to canter transition.
What's so great at the moment is for the first time in a very long time, I feel like I can set some goals and things I want to work on now/towards in the future. No I'm not very brave, but I watch people doing XC (like, tiny XC not proper!) or cantering out on hacks and think actually that does look fun and I'd like some of that. Baby steps, baby steps!
I was offered to ride this horse a while ago when I still had my share but as I'd lost quite a bit of confidence, I decided to wait until RS reopened to get a few lessons in on a familiar horse (turns out I ended up riding a new pony at the RS without realising it oops!) The lessons have gone really well so far and so tomorrow I'm venturing out with a friend for the first time in around 2 months.Today was RS lesson - back on little cob B. We returned to our leg yields today and we got sideways movement straight away, hurrah! Last week he actually pushed into my leg on the one rein but today we had some good sideways travel. Still losing a shoulder, bit quick, not straight - but we have progress. Maybe my new schooling whips is magic?
I asked specifically to work on 'anything good for my balance/stability' so we did some no stirrups work. I'm 5'7" and B is 14.1 so I kind of feel like my legs would go all the way around him (they definitely won't but the sensation of running out of horse was there!) It was helpful to spot a bit of knee gripping, which I know I do in my canter transitions sometimes as I lose my stirrups. Feeling pretty secure in trot so maybe need to challenge myself and go for some canter with no stirrups next.
Canter wasn't quite so good this week. Great on the long sides, I'm remembering to count to stop myself holding my breath and got feedback that my lower legs were nice and still. I got a bit ambitious and asked for a slightly tighter circle in canter, forgetting that last week we went for bigger than 20m as B finds it hard to do. This resulted in a bit of a wobble and an apology to B for going 'oh crap where are we going!' and a bit of communication breakdown! We recovered and finished off with a nice walk to canter transition.
What's so great at the moment is for the first time in a very long time, I feel like I can set some goals and things I want to work on now/towards in the future. No I'm not very brave, but I watch people doing XC (like, tiny XC not proper!) or cantering out on hacks and think actually that does look fun and I'd like some of that. Baby steps, baby steps!
