Normsrp
Active Member
Bit of a pointless post, but just really wanted to get this out... feeling particularly disheartened after a schooling session today. I've noticed that schooling my boy will go one of two ways: I come out of the arena feeling completely disheartened and frustrated or feeling on top of the world and so proud of how well he went. Unfortunately today was the former, meaning he rushes almost constantly in every gait and fights me by flinging his head in the air when I try to slow him down (although he does comply if I use my voice). Meanwhile I bump about on his back in canter, get more heavy-handed the more frustrated I get, my posture and seat falls apart and I pretty much just make everything worse. A lot of the time when I school him I just can't seem to get him to relax. If I do lots of walk and trot transitions he becomes agitated in walk and marches along, jogging every few strides and trying to trot. Today I decided to try to slow down his canter by doing more trot-canter-trot transitions but only succeeded in speeding up his trot and throwing everything off balance. I don't hold anything against him because I know its all my fault and I just wish I was good enough to bring out his best (because he is a lovely horse and I feel so lucky to have him, despite how awful I'm making him sound
). For better or for worse (or just for worse) I spend a fair amount of time on social media when I'm at home and it seems like everyone else my age who rides has it all together -- competing every other weekend, riding beautifully and with horses always on the bit (the bane of my existence -- we spend more time on the horizontal than on the vertical). My horse at the moment (loaned) is my first horse coming off of riding school horses/ponies, so of course I know I won't compare to people who have had horses since the age of 5. I suppose just don't take this post too seriously, I'll probably be back on top of the world after my next lesson with an instructor (which always go 100x better than my sessions alone), but even so I can't help feeling like I'll never be able to achieve what I want to. I'd love to take him showing or try a dressage test but I honestly think we'd be an embarrassment to ourselves -- I really can't get him on the bit to save my life, and then there's the head throwing and rushing around and my poor seat...