Lesson #4 and #5

I am sad to report that Winston, has been sold. I was very sad over this, because I loved him. He was such a sweetheart!

So instead of riding Winston, I began riding a beautiful dapple grey mare named Gillian. She's really nice, REALLY trained, and so far... A major C-H-A-L-L-E-N-G-E.  For me anyways. I've had one really amazing lesson on her. It just worked. I had her doing what I wanted, not the other way around. Shocking, I know. I have no idea what I was doing that worked SO well, but I can't seem to get it back. Oh, trust me, it's not for a lack of trying. She tricks me, this mare. She'll do it off right and then I relax and she takes me where she wants to go. *shakes head* The good thing, is that Debbie got on her last night (I froze on the ground though. November is too cold for me already) and she was surprised at how bad she was. It was really cool to see Debbie ride though. It showed me how she rode, what she did to correct, and what it's actually supposed to look like. Also glad to know that it wasn't just ME who was being mentally handicapped when it comes to riding her. (Not that Debbie was, but I found out that she's ridden by 3 other people, and that she wasn't giving her ribcage at all, so it was more difficult than usual to do anything with her). I also realized that this week, she wasn't ridden before me, so she didn't have all the time to warm up.

A couple weeks ago, Bridget and I had our first Lunge Lesson. We had never really had one like this before at all. I was SO tired afterwards. My legs died. It was so intense, but it allowed me to try Kermi! It was so good. I got a canter out of him, and it was fun doing no reins, no stirrup work. So much easier when you don't have to worry about where your horse is going to end up! It was nice to be able to not think about other stuff that had to be done and just FEEL.

It's nice because I finally think that the other girls are warming up to us! They actually talk to us a little bit. I always hate being the new person in a barn. It's like school... So intimidating!

xoxo