The True TESTament of My Ability

Last night's lesson... was eventful.

I wasn't sure who I was going to be riding, but I was fairly certain that it would be Max (picture still to come). But there was nothing on the board, and the weather was pretty bad, but B and I perservered this time. Debbie drops the bomb.

I'm riding... Gillian.



Sigh. At least she's inside right? I really try to like this mare. I was happy in the cross ties, I was happy getting on her, I was exuding happy thoughts. But this mare, she's just so... mare-ish. We were walking around just fine, and then I asked her for a trot and she's gone. Doing tiny circles in the middle of the arena (at least we weren't stuck in the corner..). So Debbie gives me a whip to help Gillian keep her left shoulder up, and omg. Did that ever work. Not fool proof, because she took off at a raring-to-go trot that I had a hard time stopping... I finally got her on a circle, and Debbie was helping me out. One way (to the left), I got it. It was amazing. I had her moving off my leg and body, and she was stretching out towards the contact, and I was able to relax and be light. But.. to the right. She would go ok for awhile and then decide to duck out on me. And take me all the way to the other end of the arena. This horse, she is FAST. I think the fastest horse I've ever been on. It's not just that she has speed, she also has this MONSTER stride that just eats up ground. I have zero reaction time. By the time the 3-second reaction time ends, she's already at the end of the arena and you're left wondering how you got there. Especially when she decides to canter to get there. Needless to say, I think I got one good circle before she decided to take off on me.

The other part of my lesson was that because it was raining and warming up a little, the snow on the roof kept falling off. Which kept freaking her out. So she had one good take off (which I managed to get under control faster than I could any other one) and a little smaller one. The middle of the arena also had some trot poles and the tiniest jump ever. Barely a foot. Well, guess who got to jump over that beast? Yup. Me. I managed to avoid it twice before I caved. The first time, I made her go over the trot poles instead. The second time, we missed the trot poles and she tripped/jumped a block. The third time, it was either jump or crash into it. I decided that we should jump it. I believe that as I made that decision, I said "Oh for the fucking love of God" *jump* (B afterwards said that this was hilarious because she heard it... She heard most of what I *thought* I was muttering under my breath... aka cursing at Gillian.) After that jump she kept trying to do it all the time, but I managed to get her to listen to me enough that we didn't try again. It was a definite work out. As I write this, I can feel my back ache and my core feels weak with exhaustion. Just another day after a lesson. My shoulders are all tight, and achey and I definitely didn't get enough sleep last night. To any random person who doesn't ride, this probably sounds like torture. Or at least enough pain to ask "Why does she put herself through that?" The main answer? It's a love. And it's rewarding as hell when you can actually get the horse to co-operate with you. When you both are working together and as one. Plus it's one hell of a work out. I've never worked so hard with my body while riding as I do with dressage. It's like people who run, or like pumping weights. I don't get it, but to each their own right?

At least I'm learning. As Debbie says, Gillian is the best teacher for teaching you to be light on the reins. If only it was easier... But riding Gillian will at least give me an interesting blog post every week.

Til next week,

xoxo

Private Lesson

Oh man. It was soo good.

B was sick, so she didn't ride, but she still came up and watched. Which is a good thing because a) she gave me a ride :P and b) she still learned stuff! Plus it's always nice to be able to watch and see what something is supposed to look like (or try to look like).

It felt so weird to be in the arena all by myself. It made it seem so much bigger than normal! I was riding Tiffany again (who knew that I would love a mare so darn much. She's adorable) and we were working on getting her collected and in a frame. Which is really difficult. It's funny because we were working on the canter, and it was so good. Debbie commented on the fact that when I canter I'm so much more together. My outside rein is consistent and my inside rein gives and takes. I have give in my own elbows, and it's just better than the trot, where I'm constantly losing what I try to do. She said that that's usually the opposite of what people do and are comfortable with. I think it's because at the trot there's just so much more going on. I'm bouncing more, I have a harder time keeping my reins even and she's not as rhythmical at the trot as she is at the canter. Plus I think that the canter is the same as the Western lope and jog because I don't have to think about anything other than frame. I don't have to worry about posting and losing whatever frame I get when I post. But I was able to keep the canter for more than half a circle which is good, and I've been working on my transitions from walk-trot-canter.

It was a good hard lesson. We had a short little break after cantering so Tiff could catch her breath back, and then we started trotting again, and working to get the frame back and have her relax into it, and not resist me. So we started doing transitions and leg yielding. Leg yielding feels so strange for me, I have to fight my own body to resist using a rein of opposition while doing it. So bad. I just have to keep in mind that even though my body feels twisted beyond belief and it feels SO wrong, it doesn't look as bad as it feels. B said that it looked cool and had the look of what is to come. I think because in Western, it's so not as big, and more straight that it feels so off to me. I think dressage horses lead a little more with their shoulders just so that they can get the big stride lateral instead of the tiny little ones that western horses take.

Dressage Leg Yield

Western Leg Yield

Until next week, the Holiday Barn party is this weekend!!

xoxo