Second Lesson

I just got finished with my second lesson with Amber.  I feel great!  Well, my legs and butt don't necessarily feel great, but I feel great about how it went.  We worked on leg yields. According to Amber, Lexxi, the draft I'm riding, is big so she's pretty pushy, on the ground and when I ride her.  I can completely see this.  So, whenever we get to the end of the arena, Lexxi was trying to turn around and mess me up.  (I don't really know how to describe a lot of this... basically, she was testing me. She can tell I don't exactly know what I'm doing and can take advantage of that.)  So to keep her on the rail, I have to use my leg in the correct way.  Amber had me come to a halt beside her, and had me try to move her with her using her hind legs only.  So I would kick her or use leg pressure, but without her moving forward or moving backward. Just sort of moving in a circle around Amber, just moving to the side using her hind legs.  It was difficult, but after a few tries I was able to do it pretty well, at least on the right side.  Amber told me to try to incorporate this into my riding, so that when she would try to be off the rail or whatever, I can get her to move back to the rail and she knows I'm in charge, etc.  By the end of the lesson I felt good about what I was doing, and I could feel that with the little work we had done I was already having more control over the horse.

This definitely reminds me of when I used to take lessons.  I would have a good lesson, and a bad lesson, and okay lesson, a frustrating lesson.  I feel differently after every lesson, and that's just how it goes.  Some days will be better than others.  Today was one of those good days, while the first lesson was a bit more frustrating.

I had asked Amber what I can do at home to improve lessons, and to get further in my training. She said I should read as much as possible about dressage.  (That's pretty much what we're doing, to get a good foundation.)  So that's what I plan on doing!  She says that it's hard to go over everything during my 45 minutes of riding once a week, so if I read about it and have background knowledge about what she's talking about, it will be easier to move forward, which makes perfect sense!

So far, I think things are going really well with this new horse venture. I like that I am taking things slow, and working hard to do as best as I can with the little I'm doing.  Eventually, I want to lease or buy again.  The more I'm thinking about it though (I know I just made a post about wanting to buy a horse...) the more I think going slow is the best option.  Yes, I will save my money for a horse.  But when I will actually buy one, I'm not sure.  Maybe it will be in a few months, or maybe in a few years.  We'll see.  My mom's not convinced that I'm committed quite yet; I'm surprised she's paying for half my lessons!  But I'll show her that I'm serious about riding, because I am.  Amber can tell, and I'm thankful for that.  She seems a lot more serious about helping me, and I'm a lot more serious about improving and doing well.

My plans right now are to try and volunteer, take lessons, and expose myself to the world of horses as much as possible.  If something comes up in regards to buying a horse, then it does and I'll be happy.  But I'll also be happy with what I'm doing right now.  Some people dream of horses and don't get to ever even ride a horse, I'm fortunate that I can.

I can't wait for next week's lesson.  I'm going to read up on dressage as much as I can, and start those exercises I mentioned before, and hopefully next week's lesson will go smoothly as well.