I had my first riding lesson last night in a long long time (at least 10 years) I have had the odd ride on a friends horse but nothing where I have been told what to do. My dd has a pony on loan at the yard and I love helping her out and have got quite a bit fitter leading lessons etc and one of the bigger horses came up for loan 2 days a week so I thought why not go for it, in my younger days I was a goodish rider and Cassie the horse I am loaning is as safe as houses and I know will get me back to where I used to be.
Anyway last night was my first lesson and I had 45 mins with my dd, she is only 5 but ran rings around me, did lot’s of trotting and standing in stirrups to get my legs stronger, turned into an hour and I was knackered by the end of it but really enjoyed it.
Went to dismount and it all went a bit wrong swung my leg over and landed in a heap on the floor – apparently my legs had forgotten when they were there to do, at which point my giggling dd pointed out “mummy that is not the way your meant to do it” luckily I can laugh at myself and we had a good laugh as did half of the yard who has also seen my very ungraceful dismount.
I am riding again on Sunday as part of my loan and want to maybe save myself the disgrace of landing on my bum again, obviously my legs are not very strong (I did also break my foot and tore all the ligaments in my leg last year so am wondering if that has not helped)
Is there any exercises I can do that will help strengthen my legs or is it just a case of building them up as I ride. Am I going to need somebody to catch me every time I dismount ?.