First lesson in years

[jinglebells123]

Oh my god - I'm rusty!

Having owned my own horse for 10 years and only really taken a slight break of 12 months I had arrogantly assumed I'd nail it!

It hadn't occurred to me that having only really ever ridden my horse and not schooled to any degree for a few years (since having my dd I mostly hacked) that I'd be totally shit!

Was on a lovely wee highland pony who was a wee bit slow for me so cue lots of over riding - my wee legs were working hard! I also reverted to my old habit of swinging my inside leg too far forward in the canter - that was once I could get him to canter.

There were points where I was all over the place!!

I loved it though although left with an appreciation of how tolerant my old horse must have been. Can't wait for the next lesson.

Oh and going to see a horse tomorrow for possible share - the one I'm riding now is old and only up for light hacking and I'd like to be able to ride properly again!

Ha, I literally checked your user name in case I'd posted this and forgotten 😄! Me too! Been hacking for years (decades!) perfectly competently but I didn't realise I wasn't really riding anymore. I'd forgotten what it was like, I've had two 30 min private lessons recently. Loved them but realised I've got into some bad habits (slouching forward) and I'm so unfit! my mount is too old and stiff to do much now and as it's happened gradually I hadn't really thought about how we just mooch around now, reins flapping!

Really looking forward to getting on top of my riding again, now I've realised how much it's slipped. Are you having regular lessons?

And canter to trot transitions without stirrups, I kept having to hold the pommel 🙄😁

Another one who could have written this post! I’m into lesson 4 now (30 Mins per week) and really felt I cracked canter/trot transitiona in an outline today, a huge improvement on last week when he kept chucking his head up when we transitioned down. I also can feel my lower leg swinging around, the instructor keeps telling me to wrap it around, but can only do that do that for so long before I run out of energy! Am secretly glad it’s only 30mins and not 1hr!

Not convinced I’m up for stirrup-less canter/trot transitions yet, think I need to build my leg muscles up more first!

Ha I'm glad it's not just me then!! Can't wait for my next lesson and also going to see a lovely wee horse looking for a sharer.

It is tempting though to start looking for my own horse again .....