First Lesson
We had our first lesson tonight, and it went swimmingly! I had both been very excited and very nervous about it, but there was no reason to be worried. I talked about my goals with my trainer and our past issues, and then we got to work.
Right away I realized the pace of the trot I ride with Simon is much faster than what S wants me to have. This is familiar, because its the same message that my dressage trainer gave me last summer. Lucky for me, our dressage lessons gave me tools to change his pace easily so we were able to get the speed that S wanted without any fight.
Also she pointed out how much he likes to bend to the outside (especially traveling left) and instead of ignoring it like I usually do unless we are working on serpentines S had me fix it. Every time. No trotting until it’s fixed at the walk.
After working on some spiral ins, we trotted some poles and the cantered some. I learned that while I need to work on a slow trot, I also need to build a longer canter stride while floating so I get used to what the horse strides are going to feel like when we jumped.
And then… We jumped! Some trot cross rails, some trot in canter outs… Nothing super fancy but it felt so good to jump my horse. S picked out a few of my flaws immediately which I will work on, but overall she was very complimentary of my riding. Made me feel good!
The only down side is that S said he looked off at first but 10-15 steps in world out of it. I shouldn’t be shocked, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t put a little feeling of unease in me. I have noticed lately that he rests his RH 90% of the time compared to his LH. Still, the vet says exercise is what he needs for the fusing and if we are pushing him too much with jumping than we will know. So I’ll just keep an eye on things, and he may need injections closer to 3-4 months out than 6. This is a process but it won’t be forever if I listen to him, my trainer and my vet.
22 thoughts on “First Lesson”
Sounds like a wonderful, insightful first lesson. Super awesome that you like your new trainer and that she’s able to pinpoint things and provide feedback in a way that works for you!
Deadly accurate answer. You’ve hit the bullseye!
Simon looks great, seems to be gaining weight well!
As long as you listen to him and watch, he’ll be fine! I love trainers that will show you what you are doing wrong, but don’t do it rudely. The lady at my barn-Ann-has helped me a lot with my flaws, like reining and keeping my hands off the horn and just letting go of my fears of going *fast* and she will tell me what I’m doing wrong, them show me how to improve it. It helps to have someone you actually like! Haha!
He is such a nice looking horse. I have no desire to jump anything more than a log lying on the ground, so I will live vicariously through your blog (and others). Since Ashke also doesn’t want to jump he won’t know what he is missing. (Although he has gotten much better about crossing ditches and going over cavaletti.)
Thank you! I love to jump, but only when someone builds my confidence slowly. If me or my horse feel over faced bad things start to happen.
Awesome! So glad ya’ll are back in action!
Simon is looking great! What a handsome boy.
Yay for a great first lesson!!!
Here’s to many more!!!
Sounds like a great lesson – congrats getting over the hump. Pony is looking super cute!
Yay! So glad your lesson went well 🙂
He’s looking great! Glad your lesson went well. It’s so nice to find a trainer you click with.
Yay for getting back to work! I’m sure it’ll just take time until he builds his strength up again
Yay!
Sounds like a great start with your new trainer!
He looks really good, Lauren! Sounds like you had an awesome lesson!
Yippee! :0)
Such a handsome boy! Glad you had a good lesson!
I hope everything is ok with Simon and that he doesn’t have any small, underlying issues waiting to come to a head! I also love the little meme, it made me laugh 🙂 Goal setting is SO important for me in all aspects of my life, so it resonated!
I’m so excited you get to ride him though! Hopefully he continues to recover and things continue to go well. Sounds like you had a very productive lesson! And Wiz is bad about leaning to the outside, especially tracking left, and when the chiro came she had him bend his neck around to the left in whatever way chiros do that, and it popped literally like five times! I can’t say whether it will help his bending, but if it does, I’ll let you know and maybe you should consider some chiro work. I was pretty impressed with her… While all the ground work helps, there’s only so much you can do when there’s something structurally out of line! And his weight is looking good! He’s so gorgeous 🙂
Sounds like a good lesson. I always like to have lessons and someone on the ground to help pick out the things I could improve on.
Sounds like a great lesson. I know the niggly worried feeling only too well. I hope everything is ok and that Simon copes with the increased work load.
Great news! I always feel so happy for a long time after a particularly good lesson.