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Monday's Riding...
Nov. 18th, 2003 03:59 pmI haven't written about last night's riding yet. I probably should.
First off, my instructor, Rick Merluzzo, has his own place in Derry, NH now. He's offering riding lessons and horsemanship lessons. Anyone interested can call 603.432.0778. His focus is on Western riding but he has a knowledge of English riding and has been able to explain some of the differences. He's also an excellent horse trainer.
Enough of that.
I rode Elsie again. Stephen was on King, Chris and Kim were there and a new woman who's name I keep forgetting. Frank bailed again.
Elsie felt funny. I had trouble getting the stirrups to feel right. Either too short so my knees hurt or too long so my feet fell out. After they were too short I readjusted one notch longer and was fine. Don't know what it was. Her trot was a little bouncier than it had been. I didn't need to use a crop but I did need to whack her with the reigns a couple of times. This is difficult since I need to split reign to control her and gathering the reigns up in one hand isn't easy that way. But I got the message across. When she started trotting towards the gate, I started cutting off the last post in the ring. This forced her to turn earlier. I felt I had pretty damn good control. If she failed to listen, I'd get it back. She wanted to cantor and I wasn't ready to, I made her walk. When I said trot, she trotted. About 40 to 45 minutes into the lesson she kept trotting towards the fence and shaking her head all over the place. I think she just wanted her nose scratched. When we stopped for a little bit, she seemed happy and the last five minutes were fine. And she held still while I got off. She's a quirky horse but I'm okay riding her.
My choices are slim. I can no longer ride Brawney. Denmark's height scares me, although I've been told he's no bigger than Elsie. He just seems like it. Maybe I'll try Brawney next week. The other option is King. He's too bouncey and requires posting, although Stephen found a great sitting jog last week and again this week on him. It's not that I can't post, I just can't post for long stretches. One more reason why I'm not riding English. I can sit to Elsie's trot for a nice long time. But I'm not taking her to a cantor until I'm sure I've got full control over her. I thought about it last night, she didn't react quickly enough to my request and I changed my mind. I also felt her headed towards the middle of the ring.
I don't feel like I'm making great progress. Stephen is certainly getting this faster than I but he had riding experience previously. In fact, I have the least experience of everyone in the group so I feel like I'm holding folks back. I do feel like I'm learning and this week was better than last and both better than the week before. Since I whacked my knee, I've been more assertive and confident.
Oh yeah, nice warm leather gloves keep your hands warm, but don't help when holding on to the reigns.
First off, my instructor, Rick Merluzzo, has his own place in Derry, NH now. He's offering riding lessons and horsemanship lessons. Anyone interested can call 603.432.0778. His focus is on Western riding but he has a knowledge of English riding and has been able to explain some of the differences. He's also an excellent horse trainer.
Enough of that.
I rode Elsie again. Stephen was on King, Chris and Kim were there and a new woman who's name I keep forgetting. Frank bailed again.
Elsie felt funny. I had trouble getting the stirrups to feel right. Either too short so my knees hurt or too long so my feet fell out. After they were too short I readjusted one notch longer and was fine. Don't know what it was. Her trot was a little bouncier than it had been. I didn't need to use a crop but I did need to whack her with the reigns a couple of times. This is difficult since I need to split reign to control her and gathering the reigns up in one hand isn't easy that way. But I got the message across. When she started trotting towards the gate, I started cutting off the last post in the ring. This forced her to turn earlier. I felt I had pretty damn good control. If she failed to listen, I'd get it back. She wanted to cantor and I wasn't ready to, I made her walk. When I said trot, she trotted. About 40 to 45 minutes into the lesson she kept trotting towards the fence and shaking her head all over the place. I think she just wanted her nose scratched. When we stopped for a little bit, she seemed happy and the last five minutes were fine. And she held still while I got off. She's a quirky horse but I'm okay riding her.
My choices are slim. I can no longer ride Brawney. Denmark's height scares me, although I've been told he's no bigger than Elsie. He just seems like it. Maybe I'll try Brawney next week. The other option is King. He's too bouncey and requires posting, although Stephen found a great sitting jog last week and again this week on him. It's not that I can't post, I just can't post for long stretches. One more reason why I'm not riding English. I can sit to Elsie's trot for a nice long time. But I'm not taking her to a cantor until I'm sure I've got full control over her. I thought about it last night, she didn't react quickly enough to my request and I changed my mind. I also felt her headed towards the middle of the ring.
I don't feel like I'm making great progress. Stephen is certainly getting this faster than I but he had riding experience previously. In fact, I have the least experience of everyone in the group so I feel like I'm holding folks back. I do feel like I'm learning and this week was better than last and both better than the week before. Since I whacked my knee, I've been more assertive and confident.
Oh yeah, nice warm leather gloves keep your hands warm, but don't help when holding on to the reigns.
