My Weekly Riding Lesson
I am just about 3 months into my professional riding lessons now This is my 11th week of weekly riding lessons. I think I am improving, in my overall riding. My instructor is very good at sharing with me where I am improving. If I just remember to come home and write down what we talked about during the lesson. I had made a video for my weekly riding lesson tips about writing down what happened at your lesson, so you remember. This is why I have been writing these blog posts, so I will hopefully remember everything I have learned so far!
And today’s lesson started with finding a different horse for my lesson. Ringo, the horse I usually ride was already in the arena when I got to the barn. So I was pretty sure I would not be riding him this evening. So I checked the whiteboard to see who I would be riding, and I was happy to see the I would get to ride Murphy.
Murphy is a very sweet (and tall) quarter horse who will be a permanent resident at the barn. At one time he was going to be sold, but a vet check showed that he had several of his vertebrae that were fused, so he would not be able to show at higher levels. But the fusion doesn’t hurt him, and he is able to continue to be a lesson horse, on occasion. And he is so nice to ride. He is calm and quiet, but when he is asked to change gaits he does it willingly and seamlessly!
Now I have only ridden Murphy one other time. And that was probably like 5 or 6 weeks ago.
The one thing that stood out to me when I was going to get Murphy out of the pasture was the gate. The gate is exactly what I want to make my get look like in my new riding arena. I’m glad I had my camera to take a picture.
Ok, Back To Murphy…
I did remember the pasture he was in, and the blanket, I did remember the blanket he was wearing. I was pretty sure I had the right horse, but when I got back in the barn, and someone walked past, I just confirmed with her that yes, I did have the correct horse.
Having to find a different horse, and trying to find the tack I needed for him proved to take a lot of time took longer than expected cutting into my lesson time. So my 60 minute ride time turned out to be 30 minutes.
But it was a great 30 minutes, and I felt I did get a lot out of this lesson.
Getting The Diagonal
We started of walking, and going into two-point around the arena. And then got right into the trot. I really like Murphy’s trot. It is easy to post too, and some of the time I could feel the correct diagonal. But I did second guess myself more than a few times and I heard the familiar “check your posting diagonal…” I am not quite sure how I am going to get this diagonal thing down, but I am going to get it right eventually, I hope. If I could go through just one lesson without being told to check my posting diagonal, I would be so happy! And I know my instructor would be happy too. So this will be one of my personal goals to work on at home on my own next week.
Pattern Work
We really worked on patterns this week. For example, she would have me do sitting trot on the short sides of the arena, and on the long sides I would do two-point. We did this for a while in one direction, took a small walk break, and then changed directions and did the same routine.
By the time I had done this for about 10 minutes, my legs were jelly again. And I did hear a few “GOOD!” comments from my instructor. I love when I hear that word. It’s not only hearing the word, but how she says it, with such enthusiasm! It really helps me to understand, yes, I am doing this thing right!
Sometimes hearing the word, and associating it with what I am doing right at that moment helps me to repeat the movement. Does that make sense? It’s like my brain can correlate what is the right thing to do because of it.
And after a slight break for me to catch my breath, we started a new pattern. This time, I was trotting over trot poles. And when I would go over the trot poles, I would be in two-point. And after that I would resume my posting trot. We did this going in both directions of the arena, and again I struggled with the correct diagonal. I did catch it correctly several times, but also several times I did not.
Lesson Takeaways
Even though this lesson was relatively shorter than most of my other ones, I really felt I got a lot accomplished within this shortened period. I also could stay trotting for most of the lesson. Which was evident by the amount of sweating Murphy was doing when we were done. It could have been that it was a little warmer too, but I like to think I made him work (as he made me work).
Having something to focus on, like which direction we would be going, or going from two-point to posting trot in between the trot poles helped me to stay focused on the task. And using my inside leg to help steer Murphy back to the center of the pole. I could do this over and over again when I would go over the trot poles. And I got to hear my favorite word from my instructor… “good!” I love hearing that!
What I will Focus On Next Week
Finding the correct diagonal has become my nemesis. I am going to work on getting this correct, every time I am riding either Frisby or Ethan at home this week. And I will not be having a riding lesson next Thursday, at the barn because they are working on the arena. But that does give me the opportunity to work at home with my own horses, and get this diagonal thing down.
I would really like to be able to go back to my lessons and have my instructor say “GOOD!!!!” because I can find the correct diagonal every time.
So even though I will not be riding at the lesson barn next week, be sure to come back, because I am still intending on doing my lesson, but at home, on my own horse, without my instructor…..
This could be interesting!
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