Best Lesson of My Life

[fleabitten]

I am planning on doing my BHS Stage 1 exam and we contacted some people to see if they could train me and my friend towards it. We were having a hard time trying to find somebody relatively local.. So I came across Denise and we contacted her and we went for an assessment lesson today at the livery yard where she keeps her horses. I was expecting quite quiet ploddy horses but instead we got a 15.2hh skewbald gelding who is a competition horse! and my friend got a 16.2hh chestnut mare who is in training! When we heard that we were like wtf! But it was ok.

Anyhow, we walked down and hopped on and boy was that lesson worth it! I learned loads!

We practiced circles and corners at walk and trot - he has quite a bouncy trot but i felt quite secure in the saddle - and Denise said to look up and around the circle - pretend you are riding at Balmoral or Dublin show! And you seriously would not believe how much better it looked and i think my horse went better too! Now my old RI used to tell us about your leg position on a circle and looking up etc but we never really did it for some reason. I think it makes a lot of difference if the horse is going forward rather than shuffling along in a ride.

Anyhow. My friend looked so much more like she owned the trot and confident just by looking up and around instead of just looking a few metres ahead of us and turning as we went. And my horse put his head down and i felt a weight in my hands and i thought he was going to buck or something and i asked denise about it and she said thats the way they are supposed to work so i guess he was going in an outline for me!! woo!

Of course, i had the easier horse to ride because he understood the aids much better whereas my friends horse did the transitions well, she wasnt as well schooled etc so she wasnt able to get the same feel as i was or an outline.

anyway, then we did some cantering and it was a bit crap for me because i wasnt sitting right. she said i was leaning forwards and sitting on my fork and told me to lie back and i thought i was in a recliner or something but my friend said i looked so much better! my horse was good and stayed in a slow collected canter, my reins felt like skipping ropes although my friend said they didnt look it, i was just concentrating on my position. corners etc werent great as was struggling alot with the leaning back part.

also denise said about our hands having to move with the horse at canter which was really hard and we couldnt really get it so that is something to practice!

We also did other bits and pieces like trying to feel the canter leads and stuff.

anyway. it was the best 20 quid i have ever spent. my friends horse got a bit lively but she listened to her and it was fine.

I have had plenty of lessons but i cant actually remember the last time i felt like i learnt something.

Anyway, not sure what the plan is, whether we will continue on with it - it sort of made us think that stage 1 would be harder than we thought! - we were thinking we may have a lesson with her once a month or something perhaps. I dont know what the craic is but we will probs do the exam next year.

girlfridaydenise.yolasite.com/ - this is Denise. If you go to the gallery you can see pics of the horse i was riding - its the big coloured one, doing showing. Doesnt seem to be any pics of my friends horse though. **If you click on show all images you can see the pics better and click on individual ones.

Fantastic lesson because I learnt loads. I think thats the sort of thing you need once you have learnt the basics in a riding school, to bring you on. Me and my friend said that we thought we were good riders but then once we got on them horses we felt like complete numptys and a bit crap lol!
;D

[kitcat]

It sounds like a fantastic lesson Flea. It's great when you have a horse that can help you, so many riding school horses know their job too well and you spend all your time trying to get them to go forward that you can't work on yourself as much (if that makes sense). I would keep going, it seems to have boosted your confidence again.

[fimacg]

SOunds like a fantastic lesson, making the transition from a riding school horse (however good) to a private horse is an absoluetly massive step. I have always said you may think you can ride when you go to a riding school but you actually learn to ride on a private horse.

[fleabitten]

kitcat - yes thats very true about riding school horses - i struggle to get them going well. i think i posted a thread about that a while back. I like going to my new RS because it seems to be improving my confidence and i have great fun there. I am not really learning anything but i guess its worth the money each week if my confidence seems to be coming back.

And I guess i am getting quite confident because me and my friend went there by ourselves and whilst my friend was a bit scared by the size of the horses i wasnt bothered and after a while i was concentrating on what i was doing rather than the nerves. I also felt quite privelidged to get a ride on such a good horse! Its not every day you get to do that! A horse thats competed at Dublin show - mental.

And yes kitcat, it was so much easier to work on myself, because he just knows his job so thoroughly and looked after me despite numpty on the top (i am still having visions of the cantering lol! it felt like the hunting seat to me haha!)

[duckles]

WOW! That sounds brilliant Flea - its wonderful how confident you are getting. I have never ridden a really well schooled horse - I am sure it must be an experience. I had a brief look at the website - she sounds an unusual and very capeable woman

[dannyboy]

Flea, its lovely to hear your getting on well. Just look how your confidence has come on. How lucky you are to have had such a brill lesson, I'd try and keep it up if you can afford / get the chance as she sounds like a fantastic RI.

[fleabitten]

Thanks, it was really good. It was amazing how much hard work it was just to keep up that position and use the proper turning aids etc! I was puffing! Usually, you see i would just shuffle along and my mind would be elsewhere (i am such a daydreamer with everything i do!).

Such a simple thing that anybody can do on any horse and instant results! ;D

[florence]

Fantastic! I don't know how you can stay away now. I'd be wanting to go every week.