Diary of a Rusty Rider

greymare said:
You go girl, follow the dream - one life, live it!
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Oh don't! I was browsing horsemart earlier :o

Step 1 completed though - OH and I have agreed to stay in my house for a while rather than buy a new (much bigger) one together, which means I have a comfortable budget for ongoing costs :D

Are you viewing any this weekend?
 
Sadly nothing to view although it is totally addictive looking at HM etc! Have established a couple of good contacts who may something for me by next weekend, suprised myself but have virtually given up trying to find an honest private seller having driven miles to view totally unsuitable prospects so now sticking to a couple of good dealers who seem to supply honest but green (in my price range) irish x horses so back on the trail nxt weeknd i hope, following another hack weds eve. New job on horizon too so had to revisit my time and money in this respect but will mahage by hook or by crook. So glad OH supporting you in this, isn't it awful how ones whole life starts to revolve around fitting in the horse!!!! But nothing compares - keep us updated as will I
 
Oh wow, fantastic, how very exciting, well done!!! I wholely agree, will be a big stretch timewise for me to have my own horse again but I want to so much that am prepared to take the chance on being permanently worn out again. Nothing compares to having one to call your own, and its the best and quickest way to improve and get back up to speed. Keep us posted
 
nooo don't say that! honestly I bet any money your next lesson will be a million times better, honestly I had quite a few of those lessons where I thought yeah Im actually gettin the hang of this then next lesson felt like a fool! But I think if you learn from the bad lessons (and don't let them get you down) and want to improve you do! I owe you £20 if your next lesson isn't better lol. Let us know how you get on :)
 
Thanks both. Having slept on it, I was overreacting (as usual!) as it wasn't that bad.

Yes, I felt messy at times, but we're bringing in new stuff such as lots of (intended!) canter-trot transitions and the canter poles. I need more practise at the canter poles, but some of the transitions were quite good.

Hamish, your £20 is fairly safe, as I'm on Mikey tomorrow, and after last week, I have very low expectations!
 
Well hamish1, you don't owe me a penny :D

Bit of an odd lesson, as I rode Mikey for 10 minutes whilst we assessed his soundness, then Harvey for the rest of the half hour, so didn't really do much other than riding large and some circles! But it felt much more fluent than Tuesday.

Sadly Mikey is not going to be my share horse, as he was still stiff and unsound, so I'll continue with just the lessons/hacks for now...

http://www.runningandwhatnot.com/ridingchessington14.htm
 
I'd missed a few, so just spent some time catching up... think about it this way... if the share with Mikey was meant to be then it would happen, if it's not, it's not and something else will come along!

I'm impressed that you can cycle 20 miles, have a lesson and still find the energy to cycle 20 miles home! Id be dead after the first cycle!
 
jenhunt said:
I'd missed a few, so just spent some time catching up... think about it this way... if the share with Mikey was meant to be then it would happen, if it's not, it's not and something else will come along!

I'm impressed that you can cycle 20 miles, have a lesson and still find the energy to cycle 20 miles home! Id be dead after the first cycle!
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It's 10 miles each way, think I'd be impressed myself if it was 20, lol :D

I just need to be patient. They know I'm looking for a share or even buy (they deal there too), and I want to stay at that yard, so something will come up. And in the meantime, I'm getting regluar lessons and improving all the time. A bit :o
 
exactly, and in a way you're more likely to get the right horse to share the more they see you riding, improving and taking it seriously. They're unlikely to want to put a horse on a share to someone who's half hearted or unreliable!! keep it up, good work.

I misread the comment about the distance! OH cycles to work a couple of times a week, and that's 25 miles of the North York moors best hills each way! My cycle to work is a comparatively puny 6 (flat) miles each way!
 
jenhunt said:
exactly, and in a way you're more likely to get the right horse to share the more they see you riding, improving and taking it seriously. They're unlikely to want to put a horse on a share to someone who's half hearted or unreliable!! keep it up, good work.

I misread the comment about the distance! OH cycles to work a couple of times a week, and that's 25 miles of the North York moors best hills each way! My cycle to work is a comparatively puny 6 (flat) miles each way!
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Yes, there are a couple of horses available to share now, but I'm not good enough for them. Yet...

And I used to bike to work too - it's a mile away! Though I used to make a few detours on the way home to get some more mileage.
 
Don't despair you def want to find the right one to buy/share and it is just soooo difficult, and i know and its not for want of trying. I have to keep consoling myself with thinking obviously the right one has still to come to me. Just wish it would hurry up before the summer goes!! its so normal to feel rubbish one day good the next, sometimes i try one out and think maybe i should just give up - but just think of all the experience we are chalking up!? We must both keep up with the lessons/hacks and one day one hopes it will all just click into place.
 
JenJ - I've really enjoyed reading your blog as I've recently started having lessons again. I feel very rusty too after not riding for two years but before that only hacking with my now sadly deceased mare. Keep the updates coming and sorry to hear about the horse you where thinking of sharing but perhaps it was meant to be xx
 
Thanks both. Yep, que sera sera and all that.

As for the good/bad days, I've got my first group lesson on Thursday, and I'm wondering if I should hope for a bad day on Tuesday to try and ensure Thursday goes well!
 
Oh and I saw a notice up at the yard about a TREC course, on two Saturdays when I am actually free!

Has anyone done TREC before? I'm not planning on following it through to competition, but thought it might teach me some handy skills?
 
Just read your latest diary! Nice one! Im also a much more confident rider jumping than on the flat! Strange isnt it! Sounds like you're doing so well :)

What is TREC? Not heard of that before....
 
Cavblacks said:
Just read your latest diary! Nice one! Im also a much more confident rider jumping than on the flat! Strange isnt it! Sounds like you're doing so well :)

What is TREC? Not heard of that before....
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I asked about it today, apparently you do things like a timed walk (the faster the better) a timed canter (the slower the better) and an obstacle course. Think I'll sign up for it, as it's actually just one session, which they're doing twice. If I enjoy it, I may sign up to the second one too!
 
Funily enough we were discussing this on my lovely hack last night. My friend/instructor has done lots with her horse in the past and highly recommends to sharpen skills and have lots of fun. Look forward to hearing how you get on. Hoping a certain horsey is still available for me to try on saturday, have secret high hopes he might be right for me as 7 and a little more established than most I have tried and my lovely Father sent me a suprise chque in the post today which would mean i could stretch to him!! Fingers crossed ..... again!!
 
I'll just type directly on here I think in future, it's easier to read and I've got a spell check on here!

So today was my first group lesson at Chessington, and I had been really nervous about it since I first started riding lessons again two months ago. I hadn't ridden in a group lesson since I was 14 (a long time ago!) and wasn't sure of the etiquette and also didn't really know the movements. I can handle a 20m circle, but a reverse half-circle? WTF?

But in the event, it was absolutely fine, and I should probably moved up to it ages ago to speed up my improvement. Having watched the lessons so many times after my private lesson, I was more familiar with the movements than I'd realised, and as Steve knew I was unsure, he took time to explain it and make sure I'd understood. Plus I was at the back so I'd seen everyone else do their bits before it was my turn.

Except for the main bit where the back (me!) peeled off to do individual bits first. But even then, we'd done it a couple of times as a group and it was fine. I really really enjoyed the lesson, and think I'll really benefit from riding hard for an hour rather than the 30 minutes of the private lessons.

I was on Champ, a horse I'd not heard of before, and was initially quite worried about as I'd been expecting to ride Patchwork, who is as good as gold and comfortable to sit to without stirrups! Champ was a bit smaller than the usual ones I ride, maybe only 15.3hh, but I actually felt really comfortable on him. He was lovely to ride. Slow in walk, in fact lazy in general, but did move forward when asked, but need to be ridden constantly.

We started off trotting circles from E and B as a group, then individually with a canter coming out of the circle to the back of the ride. This is where I first hit a hurdle with Champ, as when the horse in front of me moved off the track to circle, Champ just stopped dead and didn't want to move. I'd not been anticipating it, so it took a few seconds to get him going again, but for the rest of the lesson I was prepared, and I'm pleased to say that was the only time he did it, despite been ridden away from the rest many times.

After we'd had a breather, we took away stirrups and then rehearsed the individual ride a couple of time. A reverse half circle from M then across from H to F and a circle at A, all trotting for now. I was to go first, as I was at the back and peeled off from the ride at M. Champ was a bit wobbly heading in a slightly different direction to the rest of the group, but I was expecting problems on the half circle when he would be going away completely from them, but he was really good.

I made sure to ride him into the corners and inclines properly and he was so lovely to sit to at the trot that I felt I could have carried on forever. Which was good as we were trotting as a group without stirrups for a long time while we each went through the exercise - I'm sure I'll feel it tomorrow.

Then another breather when we got our stirrups back, and repeated the exercise mostly in canter, trotting on the rein change. Again, it went quite well.

Finally, to round off the lesson, we all went over a couple of jumps, starting with crosspoles, then on to an upright. Champ was really sweet, and although I'm still out of practice with jumping, having only done it again on Tuesday, I'm looking forward to doing more, rather than getting nervous as I usually do.

In fact, I'm not getting nervous about much now with riding. My confidence has gone from zero to competent in the last two months. Now I just need to get my technical ability to match :o
 
greymare said:
Funily enough we were discussing this on my lovely hack last night. My friend/instructor has done lots with her horse in the past and highly recommends to sharpen skills and have lots of fun. Look forward to hearing how you get on. Hoping a certain horsey is still available for me to try on saturday, have secret high hopes he might be right for me as 7 and a little more established than most I have tried and my lovely Father sent me a suprise chque in the post today which would mean i could stretch to him!! Fingers crossed ..... again!!
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Yes, I thought it would generally be good for me to pick up some new skills. And fun!

Hope it goes well on Saturday for you.
 
JenJ said:
Yes, I thought it would generally be good for me to pick up some new skills. And fun!

Hope it goes well on Saturday for you.
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Thanks Jen and so glad the group lesson was such a success, you are a real inspiration each week, gives me hope for my rusty skills too!
 
Ha! I don't ache at all today!

I have developed good recovery from running and cross training though, so that may be why. Either that or I'll get DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness, an official term!) and it'll kick in tomorrow...
 
Fabulous ride today!

I was on Tom, who I'd ridden a couple of times previously, fairly unsuccessfully, and who'd just come back from a 3 week holiday in the field. This meant he was full of beans, and to start off with was extremely joggy. I have to confess, although I know it's naughty, I love joggy horses. Especially the ones where they stop with the slightest squeeze of the reins, as Tom did today.

Leon was leading, on Chloe, and another client, Helen, was on Champ, who I'd ridden the other day. We went over to the proper bit of Esher Common, and I was gobsmacked by how lovely the scenery was - proper beautiful heathland with sandy tracks - as I'd seen nothing like it on my previous couple of hacks. I then realised I'd run in exactly the same area during the Punchbowl Marathon in January.

This hack was much more sedate than the others, and for almost the first hour we'd only trotted and cantered the once. But once we hit the sandy tracks on the common, that all changed, and we had a couple of nice longish gallops and some steadier canters. Tom was absolutely brilliant. Really willing to go, but with a lovely soft mouth (rubber straight bar snaffle!) and no pulling. It's odd that on my last hack we had loads of cantering when I was on a strong horse, and today we had hardly any when I was on a horse with perfect brakes.

Tom was pretty much perfect the whole way. Forward in the walk, joggy in parts, minor spooks a couple of times, comfortable, willing, just lovely.

Got back late, so we ended up riding for about 2 1/2 hours, but I could happily have ridden all day. Washed him off, had a drink, booked the TREC course for two weeks time, had some cuddles with Tom, and biked home.

I love Tom, I love horses, I love riding at Chessington, I feel like a horse mad 13 year old again :D
 
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