Introducing...Practice rides!

The barn down the street from the one I lesson at is allowing me to practice ride on a young horse (I think five?) named Calvin! The barn manager will keep an eye on me, but really just leave me to work on what my instructor, D asks me to focus on. I really enjoyed my evaluation lesson to find the right horse - I actually ended up only trying one because Calvin was so intriguing to me. He's young so he has a short attention span that the BM is looking forward to me working on (we see it as a win-win). He also has a really bouncy trot - At first I thought to myself, will this not be a good horse for me to learn my sitting trot on? But then I realized - BIGGER challenges are good! Sit his trot and I can sit any, seriously. Even sitting a beat before canter was bouncy.

The other thing I like about him is he has a really smooth jump. I mean, we only went over a cross rail, so he didn't jump, but I'm TOLD he's smooth and I also didn't feel him jump over that crossrail at all. He tripped badly at one point (he's still learning how to not be an awkward teenager) and I didn't feel like I was going to fall off." I guess, to summarize, feeling confident on a horse that hasn't gotten it all figured out yet is a great feeling!

My bf came with me and so I had the rare treat of getting footage! I'm sorry if it's cringeworthy - I am a beginner after all! I took one look and thought, "Does my foot need to be that far back to keep him going? Why can't I sit back more?"

...Which I guess is the point of videoing yourself!

I did another group lesson yesterday and am realizing it takes a lot of skill to ride different horses and anticipate when they're going to go off course. For example, we were all trotting in a circle doing a game called "Carousel" - you pick a partner and trot exactly across from them while not getting too close or behind the person in front or behind you. And we were supposed to depart from the circle one at a time, canter around the ring and fit back into the circle with perfect timing. But when I left to canter, Pan just started cantering back towards towards the circle (Basically cantered a wide circle and tried to rejoin the herd). I need to be 110% focused on where I want to go so the pony doesn't see an opening.

I also need to learn to sit back during the sitting trot. Add that to sitting back at the canter. And probably just sit back in life. Oy.

Posting without stirrup(s)

I joined the awesome 1-hour group lesson again because I had work-overload on Tuesday. It was basically bootcamp! I rode Pan, the short-stirrup superstar who does anything you ask. We had to do bicycles with our legs out of the stirrup for warm-up. Then we:

• With feet out of stirrups, lifted knees up and kicked outwards and then left our legs dropped in a controlled motion. D says this puts our seat in the right place in the saddle
• Put one foot in the stirrup and kept one out and posted at the trot. This is done in both directions for each side. It's not only a workout, but supposed to teach you to not rely on the stirrups for balance. The more difficult side is the one you rely on too much.
• Posted with out stirrups, also at different beats (up two, down one)
• Got into jumping position without stirrups at the trot
• Collapsed in exhaustion

I had a lot of trouble with no-stirrup posting - I would scoot the stirrup-less knee up only to have it slip down. I think I just need to be exposed to it more!

I missed a trot to canter transition once, I think I wasn't sitting back properly. Other than that, trot to canter back to trot and down to walk are really coming along! But then, Pan is so push-button, don't know how much credit I can take.

I have some exciting news! One is that my old barn invited me to come to a Fun Show down there on one of the horses I used to ride! It will be sort of a production to get down there but well worth it!

And even more exciting news! I found a trainer with horses who offers very affordable partial leases that could allow me to do weekend rides! 50% of the battle was sending an email that showed I had thought the whole thing out. I mentioned how I am committed to my lesson barn (named barn and trainer for reference), but they didn't have opportunities for practice rides, and I would love to do an evaluation lesson to prove I am capable of leasing. I have an eval half-hour lesson on Saturday and will meet the horses they have available! Trying not to get my hopes up too much, but this trainer rents out stalls at a reputable barn so I'm pretty optimistic! Also, the eval lesson is, like $20 cheaper than my typical lessons, so if there is a horse that fits, I can feel confident about future affordable opportunities with this trainer!

Half seat's half-way there

Yesterday's lesson was on Pan, another special champion pony. I really appreciate how all the horses at this barn have amazing show records. Anyways, Pan likes to fall in...to the right! Yay, Pan, you are different from the other two ponies that fall in to the left! I was doing a terrible job of combatting it, because as much as my head understands it, my body refuses to believe that keeping my right elbow where it's supposed to be with feel of the bit will and closing the right rein will keep Pan from falling in if I use right leg as needed and open the left rein a bit. It just seems so counter-intuitive! Finally, a barn dog ran into the ring and upset Pan a little bit and Danielle made me turn us around and do the long side over, being extra insistent he trot past the trouble spot. It was the importance placed on the task that convinced me to do it.

And with that, we were free to work on my half seat. It's not good, guys. And the little ponies really show that, as Danielle pointed out, because there isn't much to hold on to. I'm frustrated because I only have so much time to practice. I talked to Danielle about getting extra rides in, but there's no space for any sort of rides on Saturday for me. My only option would be a half lease and they are way to expensive at this barn. I'm going to stew on this, and in the meantime, do some serious ab exercises to stablize my core. It's the only thing I can think of to work on half seat when I'm out of the saddle!

Falling In: A Work in Progress

Yesterday, I got to ride this really sweet 20-something pony named Jo that was MAYBE 14hh and was once legendary in the short-stirrup hunters (rumor has it, she occasionally comes out of retirement to sneak-attack a win at local shows).

Joy is not a complicated a ride, but she falls in to the left all. the. time. Walk, trot, canter, it doesn't matter, why go straight when you can have diagonal swag? I did serpentines at the trot (I was going A to V to B to S and then along the rail back) and I kept missing the mark at B because she would fall to the left. I was told going from V to B that I should be able to see her left eye, which only confused me more, doesn't seeing her left eye mean she's turning left even more?! But keeping my left leg on was supposed to prevent that.

Joy was also good at teaching you that you can't rely on your reins for stearing. If you pull on the right rein, she'll go left, because to her that means you are closing the right rein. I had to bring my left elbow back so that she wouldn't fall in to the left, but it felt to me like I was asking her to turn left. Not the case, once I trusted D's advice, I felt her butt swing right when I brought my left elbow back. Keeping my left leg on and my left elbow back allowed me to finally go from V to B able to see her eye and hit the target.

A work in progress! I also got my own riding crop. I was skeptical because it was a little longer than what I wanted, but I choked up on it and actually found it helped me to use it when I needed (I was pretty whimpy with the crop and this was just easier to use because I didn't have to move my hand back as much. It's the Fleck Soft Grip Crop in case you are curious - it's the only one they had at SmartPak that wasn't sparkly...I also got treats and am finding having an arsenal of treats is pretty awesome for showing lesson ponies love.

First bareback ride evahhhh

No, I don't have a Boston accent, being from a rather waspy suburb, but I threw it on the end of this title for emphasis. I had a group lesson yesteday for my make-up and started on Chewie, but then switched to Blake. Blake is like a larger version of the young quarter pony Chance. He is wiggly, but he's also got a lot of...animation?... to his gates. He walks a mile a minute, and has the bounciest trot and canter. But he means well and would never hurt anyone.


Here's a run down of the activities:

Straightness exercise: Started this exercise at a trot. 2 groundpoles are set up to guide you straight down the midline towards D, who would at the last minute point left or right for you to continue down the longside and loop back. Not only did this work on straightness (it was obvious when Blake drifted right and I also couldn't anticipate a turn and cut a corner), but also communication in the ring, since people ended up going in different directions and approaching the turn to the midline at the same time.

Then we did the same exercise, but this time, people who were told to go left (or later, right) had to canter going into their turn. At which point I learned that Blake canters like a larger, more powerful version of Chance and will just fall in into a collapsing doom-spiral. I didn't get enough of a chance to correct myself on that one, but maybe another time I ride him.

The lesson ended with 15 minutes riding bareback, which I'd never done before. It was so awesome feeling the horse's movements under you! D gave permission to everyone except me to try trotting (she said it was because Blake is too bouncy, but I think it was partially that and partially my inexperience). Only one person attempted it, though. By the end of the walk, I kind of wanted to try, but I let the experience end there (what's the worst that could happen if I garb a little mane, right?!). Blake's pasterns and hoofs need to be kept really clean, so I was instructed after the lesson to scrub the socks until they turned pink. I love taking care of the horses, but it really empahsized how much work goes into being a groom or owner!

The other riders in this group had been riding longer, but were solid once-a-week lesson ladies, so they were kind of cool to connect with. One had been riding weekly for 9 years at this same barn and done the trip to Iceland and ridden the Icelandic ponies. Another had been riding for 4 years off and on through injuries. I asked if they did practice rides, but they said they don't. I'm sort of curious to ask if D thinks I'm ready for the occasional Saturday practice ride. I suppose it depended on what horse and how busy the ring was! I could, at least, let her know that it's a goal of mine.