Not getting the measure of Abbey at all

[alobear]

I was given Abbey to ride again this week, but a number of factors meant that it didn't go quite so well as last time. First of all, there were far too many horses in the school - in fact, there were three different lessons going on in our half. Secondly, Dominic wasn't there so we were taught by Nina and I found it difficult to distinguish her instructions from those of the other two teachers. Thirdly, she put me in lead file, and poor Abbey got really confused because she isn't used to that and wasn't sure what she was supposed to be doing. Most of all, though, I was tired and feeling a bit pathetic and not in the right frame of mind for helping a young and uncertain horse to do her best. My instructions to her weren't clear, I was distracted by all the other horses zooming around and I just couldn't ride her properly. It actually got the point where Nina was telling me Abbey was being lazy and that I ought to kick her more, while I knew Abbey was trying her best but just didn't know what to do, so I turned in and asked if I could stop.

Meanwhile, fishbang was having trouble getting Molly to co-operate, so Nina suggested he switch onto Abbey instead. At that point, I decided that giving up wasn't the answer, so I asked if I could switch on to Molly. We didn't do much after that other than trotting round trying to keep out of other people's way, but at least I got Molly going a bit, which made me feel better.

Poor weaselbitch actually fell off twice, since Jigsaw kept randomly leaping sideways and taking off at a gallop for no apparent reason, so I shouldn't really complain about not being able to get Abbey to canter!

All in all, it wasn't a great lesson for any of us. I went to the office at the end and requested Flossie for next week - they wouldn't guarantee that I'd get her, but hopefully I will and that should make things a bit easier.

Mostly, though, I wish they'd limit the number of people they allow to book at the same time, because it's always a nightmare when there are too many lessons going on at once.