alobear | Moving up in the world

In my very first assessment lesson at Trent Park, in March 2006, Becky told me I could go straight into the A class if I wanted. I elected not to, since I was about to die by the end of 20 minutes and thought my fitness needed to improve before I could contemplate doing complicated things on a horse. The first time Poppy taught me, some eight months later, she also told me I ought to be in the A lesson, but I was happy with Dominic as my regular B lesson instructor, so I ignored her. The, Dominic himself said it in December 2006, but changed his mind in January 2007 when he saw how badly I rode when I wasn't on Flossie. Two weeks ago, Matt said it too, but then failed to speak to the office about it and so I still remained in the B lesson, which I thought was the right decision, as I was still having trouble with some of the more difficult horses. Today, Nicola taught us and wouldn't take no for an answer when she told me I ought to be in the A lesson. So, I went up to the office at the end, explained the situation to Maria, suggested it might be better if I waited and discussed it with Matt next week, and was told in no uncertain terms to shut up and just get on with it. A lesson for me next week, then!

Today's lesson was great. I rode Jim and he did everything he was supposed to, going into the corners, cantering a circle, doing straight lines throughout a three-loop serpentine - he was forward going and very easy to control. This makes me think it wasn't a fair lesson for Nicola to be assessing me on, since Jim did most of the work! However, I'll give the A lesson a go, and I can always go back to the B if it's too hard.

Still, it'll be nice to do some different exercises, and maybe even start jumping again.