The above video is the only footage I have of myself riding today as Kim, my instructor and video taker, was unfamiliar with my camera and when she thought she was filming she wasn't, and when she thought she wasn't, she was. As a result I have 25 minutes of footage looking at the arena floor or Kim's fingers. LOL! Too cute!
Luckily we have a few photos as well. I will be instructing the instructor on the better use of my camera next time (poor Kim didn't really have any instruction this time around).
Today my lesson got off to a late start as the vet was at Aurum when I arrived. So I watched a pregnancy ultrasound being performed on a mare and held a towel for the vet so he could see the ultrasound screen. It appears that Kim and Richard can expect a newborn foal this coming December. A brother or sister to this little girl pictured above.
As for the lesson, well I've decided that Dick must be reading Teddy Log because after Sunday's post I was really tested in the first five minutes of today's lesson. I thought he was going to run into a fence he was that keen not to do as I asked! However this time it may well have been my aids as I need to really exaggerate my movements due to my natural flexibility. I turn my head and almost have to look at the top of the horse's bum before my shoulders turn as an aid. This, combined with a too loose rein probably wasn't getting the message through to the horse. But once I corrected this Dick did a pretty good job.
It's easy to let something like that fluster you and put off your equilibrium at the start of a lesson so I took the time to refocus with a few deep breaths and started over.
When we got into the lesson we concentrated on diagonals while posting and I think I did it quite well. The challenge here is knowing if I'm on the correct leg without looking. Once again, like with all other parts of riding, it's about feel not sight. I did this fairly well on both reins and will practise this further with Teddy after the dentist gives him the all clear tomorrow. Any practise on my own will be hard so I might spend my time with Teddy working on recognising foot fall by feel instead of at pace. I don't want to think I'm doing it right to discover at my next lesson that I've mixed it all up.
Nearing the end of the lesson Dick would break into canter when he shouldn't, almost like a child in the back seat of the car saying, "Are we there yet?!" I quickly regained his focus and finished the lesson the way Kim requested me too, not the way Dick wanted.
I think Dick got the message that I'm worth listening too this time. Hopefully I'll see proof of this on Saturday.
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