Weekend Wrap Up: Learning

Something that I knew going into the “buying a baby horse” adventure was that I definitely wanted to lesson on going horses and continue to improve and advance on my own as a rider. 

There have been a few road blocks to that general goal but I finally got to have a lesson again yesterday with a really great trainer. She isn’t local but she’s worth the drive! 

She totally nailed all of my main issues within the first 10 minutes. She called out my nervous habits (not in a mean way but more as a hey you’re doing this) and really gave me tips for how to correct the problem. There may be hope for my equitation and effectiveness after all!  

Sonny and his new GF

 
The horse I was riding was a won’t take any lies kinda guy. If you asked wrong he wasn’t about to do it correctly. I appreciate and respect that though because a lesson would be much less beneficial if I was riding a horse that allows me to get away with murder – even if that would be easier!
My primary take always were:

  • Shoulders up and back – don’t let my nerves get the best of me and have me crouching forward in a guarded position 
  • No swinging legs! Legs at the girth are better for sending messages and more secure
  • Hands up – you can’t do very much when they are in your lap
  • Ride my outside aids more effectively
  • Learn how to ask for lead changes again… Dur (luckily I was able to get my stuff together toward the end)
  • I have more time than I think I do between fences and don’t need to be rushed
  • Don’t second guess myself – when we started my first distance attempts were pretty ugly… I would get it right and then last minute nope and go for the long spot PULLS HAIR! I need to do lots of pole work and get my eye back and gain confidence again

I am really grateful that I was able to take this lesson and hope to have many more in the future. 

Lots of stuff going on for us so I apologize for the radio silence. Hopefully I will be able to open up about some of the news later this week 🙊.  

baby horse is a free jumping star

 

On the Annie front the baby horse continues to impress me. She had a definite ginger tantrum last week but honestly it was expected to happen eventually… Instead of getting intimidated or scared as I would have 3 years ago when I was bringing Houston along I just trucked along and continued the ride. It made me feel very solid that I made be right decision and that I can infact bring along a green(er) horse again myself (with help of course). 

14 comments

  1. KateRose says:

    I feel you on the lesson on a schooled horse! So helpful. My brain almost exploded. Although I was too wimpy to do flying changes… the instructor said I could but I was like “uhhh it’s ok”.

    Annie sounds like such a good girl (we all have a tantrum here and there haha).

    I’m excited to hear your other news 🙂

    • Equestrian At Hart says:

      I was really happy to find someone that didn’t berate me for being nervous. It’s been awhile since I had someone that’s helped so much. My friend that teaches is great but I haven’t worked with her in over a year and a half!

  2. Kat says:

    So happy things are going well with Annie. Can’t get a mare without a little drama 😉 Isnt it amazing how many ways we show how we really feel without noticing, pinched knees, overly closed hip, hunched shoulders. But you don’t even feel nervous.

  3. Nicku says:

    I like this plan & did something similar! I leased a trained horse while I got Pongo going. I was able to jump, take lessons where we worked on me, show and it was really helpful. It also helped me ‘wait’ to do things with the baby horse since I was getting my jumping/showing fix and what not. Have fun!

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