The Right Direction... Sort Of

I had the best lesson ever yesterday.

I was really bummed though, because Julie couldn't join me this week, either. She threw out her back, so she really couldn't come. It makes me sad! I miss her. And I know she misses her lessons.

I rode Porsche. She's great. I think if I was going to lease, I would seriously consider her. She was a little grumpy yesterday, since she had been worked pretty much all day. Not hard work, though. Basically she went at a walk with kids riding her for a long while, so she was a little frustrated by the time I got on.

I saddled her today, which I was really happy that I got to do. I didn't cinch it tight enough again, though. The saddle was sliding all over. Note to self: the cinch has to be really tight! Next time I'm going to see if I can put the bridle on too. Speaking of which, I was riding with a western headstall yesterday! It was interesting. The reins are connected, but they aren't a circle. There's a bit of rein past where they connect, if that makes sense. You control the reins with your non-dominant hand, and hold the end in your other hand, on your leg. You pull on the end of the reins with your dominant hand to shorten them. It's a bit complicated to explain, but it made sense after playing with it for a little bit.

Porsche was kind of stompy when I hopped on. She was okay for most of the lesson though. We walked circles around the round pen and practiced turning. DeDe had me look, turn with my shoulders, use the reins, and this time she also had me push Porsche through the turn with my outside leg. It took a lot of leg! I was really surprised at how much pressure I had to apply to get results.

I also learned about "working her from underneath." I've heard the term before, but I didn't really understand what it meant. DeDe explained that when Porsche is walking, she should be taking long enough steps that she puts her back hooves into the hoof prints left by her front feet. She told me to squeeze Porsche with my calves to get her really moving. It felt very different once she responded. Much faster, and a slightly choppier, less ambly shambly gait. DeDe told me that it rounds out her frame... or something. Something good that I didn't quite understand.

We then practiced moving up into the jog. I'm getting much more comfortable with it! From Porsche's faster walk, it was much easier to ask her to trot. There was less of a jarring, lurching feeling moving into the trot than when she's dragging her feet. DeDe didn't have me on the lunge line this time. I let the reins hang loose and held onto just the horn, and let her do her own thing once she started jogging. I'm feeling much more comfortable with the idea of it. This time I was able to think about what to do while I was riding as well: keeping my heels down, looking where we were going, etc. DeDe asked if I wanted to try canter, but I wasn't feeling brave enough. I'm kicking myself for it now!

Porsche was sort of acting up toward the end of the lesson, though. She kept trying to open the gate, and she didn't want to turn the direction that I would want her to. She would stay too close to the rail and bang my feet on it, or too far in and try to get to DeDe. She just didn't want to listen. DeDe ended up getting on her and "tuning her up" for me. She just let the horse know who was in charge, because it's dangerous to have her trying to get out the gate and whatnot. I got back on and went around once or twice, so Porsche would understand that she has to listen to me. We just went around the pen twice, and she listened when I asked her to get on the rail. We ended the lesson ten minutes early, since she was obviously frustrated. I was really proud of myself for not getting freaked out at her acting up. I didn't even realize it until DeDe mentioned it. I must be gaining confidence :)

I untacked her myself this time. It wasn't too hard, just unwieldy! So many things to do at once, especially while removing the bridle and putting on the halter. I got all mixed up, and if Porsche wasn't such a good girl, she might have taken off on me. One day I'll be good at this!

I was really happy with how my lesson went yesterday. DeDe and I discussed taking a break from the arena next week and going on a trail ride instead. I really hope we can do that! I feel like it'll be a really good lesson in itself. DeDe also told me that Julie and I should take a lesson with her with her dressage teacher sometime. I know dressage teaches lots of fundamentals that you can't learn anywhere else, so I think that would be a really great idea.

I'm only getting more excited about this whole horse thing, when I thought it was going to start to calm down. Does that happen?