New favourite
Jul. 29th, 2007 10:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearAdvanced riding lessons rock! And I have a new favourite horse at Trent Park.
I was a little nervous when I was told I'd be riding a horse that was completely unknown to me, with an unfamiiar instructor, in my second ever A lesson, and the early signs were not good. Joe is a large, grey gelding, who has the most evil bridle I've seen in a while, and who really doesn't like having it put on him. The bit is a thick, solid bar, with no joint in the middle, there are double reins leading to two rings on either side, and it has a chain and a lip strap to boot. I just had a quick search and discovered that it's called a Pelham - here's a picture to demonstrate the evil:
I had to get someone to help me as Joe kept throwing his head in the air when I tried to get the bit in his mouth, and I didn't know how to connect all the pieces together anyway. The girl who came to help me told me to put my whip back in the car as Joe doesn't like them, which didn't help my nerves any. We finally got down to the school, and I needed help again to mount because Joe refused to stand next to the mounting block, instead swinging his hind quarters around so that I couldn't get on. Then, he refused to stand still while I was lengthening my stirrups and we did a little dance of several small circles, since pulling on the reins didn't seem to have any effect whatsoever. Needless to say, I wasn't feeling at my most confident by the time the lesson actually started.
However, once we got doing, Joe turned out to be the most intelligent and most responsive horse I've ridden at Trent Park so far. He needed the barest touch to get him moving, he strode out actively and completed every exercise we performed perfectly. He's got the kind of smooth but forward-going gait that gives you time and opportunity to prepare your signals and administer them clearly. He didn't do everything for me (like Conan does) - it felt more as if he was actually listening to my aids and following my instructions rather than just copying the horse in front. It may well have been an illusion, but he made me feel as if I was riding really well.
We did circles and serpentines in trot, then circles in canter, and I got the best canter transitions I've achieved in a long time. Then we did a long stretch without stirrups, turning down the three-quarter line and then pushing the horses sideways towards the track while keeping them facing forwards. I'd done this before a long time ago, and it's quite fun. The best bit of the lesson, though, was when we did acute transitions from walk to canter at the end. Joe was brilliant at it, though again it felt as if he was following my aids rather than just figuring out what we were doing from watching the others. He wasn't too keen on going back down to walk again once we were in canter, but I can easily forgive him that, and I'll definitely be glad to ride him again.
I was a little nervous when I was told I'd be riding a horse that was completely unknown to me, with an unfamiiar instructor, in my second ever A lesson, and the early signs were not good. Joe is a large, grey gelding, who has the most evil bridle I've seen in a while, and who really doesn't like having it put on him. The bit is a thick, solid bar, with no joint in the middle, there are double reins leading to two rings on either side, and it has a chain and a lip strap to boot. I just had a quick search and discovered that it's called a Pelham - here's a picture to demonstrate the evil:
I had to get someone to help me as Joe kept throwing his head in the air when I tried to get the bit in his mouth, and I didn't know how to connect all the pieces together anyway. The girl who came to help me told me to put my whip back in the car as Joe doesn't like them, which didn't help my nerves any. We finally got down to the school, and I needed help again to mount because Joe refused to stand next to the mounting block, instead swinging his hind quarters around so that I couldn't get on. Then, he refused to stand still while I was lengthening my stirrups and we did a little dance of several small circles, since pulling on the reins didn't seem to have any effect whatsoever. Needless to say, I wasn't feeling at my most confident by the time the lesson actually started.
However, once we got doing, Joe turned out to be the most intelligent and most responsive horse I've ridden at Trent Park so far. He needed the barest touch to get him moving, he strode out actively and completed every exercise we performed perfectly. He's got the kind of smooth but forward-going gait that gives you time and opportunity to prepare your signals and administer them clearly. He didn't do everything for me (like Conan does) - it felt more as if he was actually listening to my aids and following my instructions rather than just copying the horse in front. It may well have been an illusion, but he made me feel as if I was riding really well.
We did circles and serpentines in trot, then circles in canter, and I got the best canter transitions I've achieved in a long time. Then we did a long stretch without stirrups, turning down the three-quarter line and then pushing the horses sideways towards the track while keeping them facing forwards. I'd done this before a long time ago, and it's quite fun. The best bit of the lesson, though, was when we did acute transitions from walk to canter at the end. Joe was brilliant at it, though again it felt as if he was following my aids rather than just figuring out what we were doing from watching the others. He wasn't too keen on going back down to walk again once we were in canter, but I can easily forgive him that, and I'll definitely be glad to ride him again.
