My friend wanted to take a riding lesson after taking some riding lessons at camp when she was younger. To be clear, that would have been about 20 years ago for her. I arranged a semi-private where we could ride together, and my amazing instructor managed to teach both of us simultaneously.
Her lesson largely consisted of working students switching off leading her at the walk and trot while she worked on posting. She did some airplane hands and also went over a tiny crossrail (re: crossed ground poles) to find her balance. By the end she was getting that posting thing! She's super athletic (like me, hehe) so I saw her go through the same thought process I always do to learn new things:
1. Relax the body
2. Correct the posture
3. Feel for the rhythm/find the moment you need to act on
4. Tell your body to do the thing!
She will be joining me again in a couple weeks, and I'm so excited to have a friend to drive up and ride with. It's something I've never consistently had. I think a lot of people love the barn for the friends that come with it, and I've always wanted that.
I have this issue with dropping my shoulders - as I was learning to canter (ok, still a bit when I ask for the canter) and going over new jumps. So it was interesting to see her doing a similar thing when put in a new situation. I know you can learn from people who are better than you, but there is something about seeing the mistake you make magnified in a beginner that can teach you, as well.
For my lesson we worked on jumping on angles. This definitely falls into the category of your own mind creating the challenge. The horse's job is the same as taking a jump head-on, it's up to me to figure out what the path should be and where the takeoff is. I was riding the pony, and she likes to drift left, which meant missing the center of the jump. So I had to learn to reeeeally see that angled path to the jump, know where to look beyond the jump to get it right (in other sports I call this the follow through - like in tennis, softball, golf. It's interesting that there is a followthrough in jumping, especially complicated since your body has to follow through while your mind thinks about the next jump).
Riding the pony was fun, but I had some technical issues - the saddle didn't fit her quite right, so it shifted, so my stirrups were uneven, so I'd lose a stirrup - etc., etc. And I'm finally starting to understand what it means if a saddle is too small for you. I would never have noticed before, but as we're getting to working on more precise stuff it's manifesting as an issue as I go over jumps. Then again, I try to avoid excuses and always assume you should be able to jump perfectly no matter what - because I know a really good rider could overcome that sort of thing... But it got me thinking, maybe I need to move away from riding the pony (and jumping around from horse to horse, for that matter) and work on things with one horse that fits me. Something to discuss with the instructor.
In true style, I promptly left for 2 weeks to go to Italy for a wedding and to see some cities and haven't ridden since. I'm looking forward to the end of summer meaning regularity in my riding schedule. And a jumper show is coming up! I may end up riding the same classes I did last year, since it's literally the only jumper show I've done, but I know I have improved and hope it comes through in my performance.
Her lesson largely consisted of working students switching off leading her at the walk and trot while she worked on posting. She did some airplane hands and also went over a tiny crossrail (re: crossed ground poles) to find her balance. By the end she was getting that posting thing! She's super athletic (like me, hehe) so I saw her go through the same thought process I always do to learn new things:
1. Relax the body
2. Correct the posture
3. Feel for the rhythm/find the moment you need to act on
4. Tell your body to do the thing!
She will be joining me again in a couple weeks, and I'm so excited to have a friend to drive up and ride with. It's something I've never consistently had. I think a lot of people love the barn for the friends that come with it, and I've always wanted that.
I have this issue with dropping my shoulders - as I was learning to canter (ok, still a bit when I ask for the canter) and going over new jumps. So it was interesting to see her doing a similar thing when put in a new situation. I know you can learn from people who are better than you, but there is something about seeing the mistake you make magnified in a beginner that can teach you, as well.
For my lesson we worked on jumping on angles. This definitely falls into the category of your own mind creating the challenge. The horse's job is the same as taking a jump head-on, it's up to me to figure out what the path should be and where the takeoff is. I was riding the pony, and she likes to drift left, which meant missing the center of the jump. So I had to learn to reeeeally see that angled path to the jump, know where to look beyond the jump to get it right (in other sports I call this the follow through - like in tennis, softball, golf. It's interesting that there is a followthrough in jumping, especially complicated since your body has to follow through while your mind thinks about the next jump).
Riding the pony was fun, but I had some technical issues - the saddle didn't fit her quite right, so it shifted, so my stirrups were uneven, so I'd lose a stirrup - etc., etc. And I'm finally starting to understand what it means if a saddle is too small for you. I would never have noticed before, but as we're getting to working on more precise stuff it's manifesting as an issue as I go over jumps. Then again, I try to avoid excuses and always assume you should be able to jump perfectly no matter what - because I know a really good rider could overcome that sort of thing... But it got me thinking, maybe I need to move away from riding the pony (and jumping around from horse to horse, for that matter) and work on things with one horse that fits me. Something to discuss with the instructor.
In true style, I promptly left for 2 weeks to go to Italy for a wedding and to see some cities and haven't ridden since. I'm looking forward to the end of summer meaning regularity in my riding schedule. And a jumper show is coming up! I may end up riding the same classes I did last year, since it's literally the only jumper show I've done, but I know I have improved and hope it comes through in my performance.
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