I was 40 when I first rode - I was on a training course and another student
suggested a group of us go to the local stables for a lunchtime ride, after that
half hour I was hooked! I rode on and off for 5 years but never really
progressed past trotting, only one or two tries at canter.
Then two years ago I made a friend with a Danish lady who keeps and rides horses
and I was given one of them to ride while she prepared another horse to go to a
competition. I remembered the theory but the practice was very rusty! It wasn't
helped by the fact that every time I asked for a trot, I got a canter but after
a while I quite liked it! The horse always slowed to a fast walk round the
corners then cantered down the straights - definitely looking after me!
A couple of weeks ago I took my granddaughter to our local RS for her first
lesson
and decided to take it up again myself, so last Friday was the first time back
on a horse for a lesson in 15 years, yes I am now 59!
The half hour was on a public lesson but 9:45 on Fridays is not popular so I was
the only rider and got all the RIs attention. Walking and trotting aids worked
fine as did the halt - rising trot was riddled with double bounces to start with
but eventually settled down and we were trotting over poles on the straight and
round 20m circles in the end. I also got to put the horse away which was a nice
touch.
Boy did that 1/2 hour go fast!! I can't wait to get back there next Friday!
As a matter of interest, how many others on here are men? I seem to be the only
male rider at the RS! I also found that getting decent jods, chaps & boots
was a pain as most of the nice gear is aimed at the ladies...
=========
18th August
Whoo-hoo! At the end of my second lesson, the RI said I can go up from the
beginners class! Had a good lesson on Cleo with two others. This one was in the
indoor school, my first had been in the outdoor sand school on my own.
While there no scary bushes today, I had more trouble steering as she just
wanted to follow the horse in front - sometimes I had her head at 30 degrees to
her body but she still wanted to follow the horse in front! On the first lesson
she very obediently went wherever I asked her, so I know I was telling her
correctly.
=========
21st August
I am just relearning after 15 years away and find that some things are just
natural to me - I suppose I must remember them from before - others have to be consciously
worked on like finding the stirrups without looking down!
I have now had three different RIs on 3 lessons and each one has a different
approach - the first had me trotting over poles with lots of variety of
exercise, the second had me plodding round the track, the third, today, had me
pay more attention to posture but we ended up trotting very fast - perhaps
because I had stopped gripping with my knees and the horse (same one each
lesson) no longer had the brakes on!
=========
30th August
Just had a private lesson on Chester - boy what a stubborn and argumentative
horse!
Started off at walk in the school and he marched into a corner and wouldn't come
out! So lots of thumps later he moves - at right angles to the short side!
Lots more thumps and he wanders to the far end to stop in that corner! So lots
more thumps, taps with the crop and finally we get into an active walk for 3 or
4 steps before reverting to a dawdle ... so finally we get progress that goes -
thump, thump, thump - into lazy trot - slow him to active walk for a few steps -
he slows down to lazy walk - thump, thump, thump and so on.
Then we go for trot - no trouble getting him to trot but my balance is all over
the place - and I thought I had this cracked when I rode Tetley on the last
lesson!
Just goes to show that every horse has to be ridden differently but it is a bit
disheartening when you seem to be going backwards - still, I am going back to
ride Cleo on the next lesson, I hope my last two lessons on more
"difficult" horses will pay off on her as she is so keen to please.
Even the RI couldn't shift him on without cracking the whip across his rear
legs ...
Once he was trotting, all he needed was a much lighter tap to keep him going and
he would go for longer, in fact by the end of the lesson he was quite
responsive.
My guess is that he was just trying it on to see what he could get away with!
No - I am not joking - I wasn't doing everything wrong - he was just arguing
the toss to see what he could get away with.
Of course the RI knows her horses only too well and there was no cruelty
involved. Beginners need to ride a range of horses from the easy to ride,
forward going, responsive ones, to the reluctant and recalcitrant ones which
need strong aids.
He ignored me, he ignored the RI's spoken commands, and the usual cracking of
the whip on the floor behind him. After the fairly gentle whip on his rear legs
he started listening and the aids needed became gentler as the lesson went on.
So, on reflection he probably did me a favour and I now understand him better
and hopefully understand the differences between horses better so that I can
adjust my style to match the horse.
Perhaps part of the issue was that I collected him from the
"starvation" paddock where there is little grass to eat! He was
probably hungry and fed up.
At the end of the day a relationship with a horse is little different from a
relationship with a person - some people are eager to help or work and need
little telling, perhaps just broad guidance and others need to be told in simple
terms what to do at each step and constantly monitored to make sure they are
doing it.
Anyway - Tuesday and Friday this week I am back on Cleo and will probably
appreciate her willingness all the more.
============
18th September
Just had the first lesson back after my hols.
What a difference riding Cleo again! After Chester she is a real delight, she
walks and trots immediately when asked and really enjoys going quickly. So I am
now able to concentrate on controlling the speed rather than getting any at all
I have been reading "Enlightened Equitation" by Heather Moffet and decided to concentrate on feeling the horses hips and
belly swing at walk and I can't believe that I was unaware of it before, it is
so distinctive I can feel the two rear legs moving so easily. So I tried
applying the legs aids in walk as recommended in "Enlightened Equitation" and immediately Cleo perked
up, softened her jaw and went into a lovely active walk - I am so pleased!!
Now why don't the RIs explain this stuff? Perhaps they assume too much because I
have ridden in the past.
I am still tipping forward on the transitions so will have to work on this - any
tips to help?
===========
20th September
I have one group and one private lesson each week.
Cleo has gone on a week's rest cos she was getting grumpy in the yard!
So today I was put on Ziggy who is a 16.2 thoroughbred and much, much slimmer
than Cleo.
He also is much more "correct" than Cleo - she will say "Oh was
that a request for more speed, well off we jolly well go!" whereas Ziggy
says "That was a squeeze but it wasn't in the right place so try
again" then when you hit the right spot its "Right we're off!"
So not as frustrating as Chester, not as exhausting as Tetley and not as accommodating
as Cleo - I may have found the perfect horse to learn on.
We worked a lot on deepening the seat - I had to adjust the stirrups down 2
notches twice during the 3/4 hour!
I asked to work on sitting trot as this seems to be often omitted - Ziggy is
quite bouncy and initially I was all over the place, but sitting up tall and
relaxing the legs meant I was soon moving with him and keeping my bum on the
saddle - I am not sure I was flexing my back in the way E"nlightened Equitation" by Heather Moffet
suggests but it was
really quite comfortable.
We also did a lot of walk / trot transitions which got better and better and
finally I managed to keep him going for 6 laps + change rein + 6 laps all in a
nice steady rising trot and only lost my balance a little a couple of times,
certainly not enough to upset his rhythm. The RI was very pleased and I think
quite surprised as she suddenly said "Oh look he has softened his jaw and
dropped his head for you!"
So I am really chuffed now - I wonder if I should stick to improving my trotting
or start tackling the canter??
===========
24th September
I have been working on my trotting, both sitting and rising and have got a
fair grip of it, though I need more practice.
My RI is encouraging me to start cantering, but I am not sure I should yet - I
have had a couple of little canters down the long side of the school and managed
to stay on OK.
What is the consensus - should I try moving on to canter or should I stick to
trotting until I am much better at it?
I can control speed and transitions with my seat and only use my hands to
steer & halt.
I am very aware of the pressure I put on the reins and don't use them to steady
me - I am actually more inclined to ride with loose reins and am forever being
told to shorten them!
Generally my balance is fine - I only tend to tip forward on downward
transitions if the horse is a bit quick slowing down.
I wonder whether learning to canter will also help develop my seat and balance
in the other paces or is it so different that it has to be learned independantly
- from what I have experienced it seems like a very fast walk on a three legged
horse!
Thanks, it was Cleo I was on for the short bursts of canter and she goes into
canter easily herself from a fast trot. She is a bit like driving an automatic
car, you just ask for faster and she goes walk, trot, canter!
===========
25th September
Cleo threw a shoe, so today I was back on Tetley and took lead rein. Once he
woke up, we spent the whole lesson in rising trot, doing 20 m circles and going
large, varying the speed from slow, through working to a fast trot. I even
managed to get on, and stay on the correct diagonal!! Using the outside hip to
push you up into rising seems to be foolproof (needs to be, with a fool riding
)
I've got Ziggy lined up for Thursday's private lesson so depending on how the
first 30 minutes goes, I may try canter for the last 15 mins.
I am also going to take the video cam and set it up in the corner of the school!
===========
27th September
Thought I might ask to do some cantering today, but had a really off lesson -
Ziggy had just come in from the field and was being particularly awkward.
I just couldn't get him moving - a working trot was the best we managed.
We did work on position and hands - my RI wants me to grip the reins in a fist
and use my arms to steer - I seem naturally to ride with open hands and steer by
flexing my fingers. This is the Enlightened Equitation" by Heather Moffet method too - so what do I do? Stick to my way
or do as I am told??
I did take the cam along to the last lesson and set it up in the corner, so
only a limited view, but here I am doing serpentines at trot with cones one side
and nothing on the other.
I know I am on the wrong diagonal, but I was concentrating on keeping him going
and steering the correct path!
OK - so I am not really superstitious but I was really relieved when they
said I was riding Cleo on this private lesson!
Oh what a joy - just a light squeeze and she is off - we had loads of nice trots
from collected to somewhere near the national speed limit! By jove can this
horse move!
We trotted over poles, round circles, changes of rein, practiced getting her in
the corners, doing nice balanced turns, it was really good fun.
Then we did it all again but sitting - sitting trot when she is moving fast is
almost impossible, talk about bounce
Then we did about 10 mins of trotting with no stirrups - hehehe - I kept her
slow for that !!
So after 25 mins of the lesson the RI says halt and take back your stirrups and
we will try canter ...
... hey, talk about exciting, OK we only did a dozen or so strides each time but
canter on Cleo is not exactly what I would call smooth!! More like a small
dinghy going up and down big waves
Well I didn't lose a stirrup although I felt very unstable - she is a big horse
with a LOT of movement.
I had the video cam running in the corner and murphy's law dictated that most of
the action took place off the screen!
But I caught some of the cantering - I must say I look more stable than I
felt!!!
I did 6 short canters and the 5th one was brilliant - Cleo picked up canter for
me without the RI helping with her voice and I was able to control the downward
transition to a sensible trot! However the 6th was a nightmare - she just
trotted faster and faster and even the RI said "Blimey, horse, come on!"
http://www.octarine-services.co.uk/cantercleo.wav
Eventually after 2 laps of high speed sitting trot we managed it.
I am going to ask to work on trot / canter transitions for my next private
lesson and see whether they will let me move up from walk/trot to
walk/trot/canter on the group lessons.
Then they might let me hack!
==============
9th Oct
Today I spent 1/2 hour on Tetley and he went really well for me once he had
warmed up, so the RI worked on my position - I tend to have my legs too far back
and this gives me problems with the stirrups and balance.
So we did about 10 minutes of rising trot without stirrups just working on using
the thighs and relaxing the lower leg - when I got the stirrups back after this
they felt really good and much more like riding without and my leg came forward
into the right place.
I think the problem is that I am still using my legs to grip the horse when I
ride with stirrups - after 10 mins of rising trot without them I don't think I
had any strength left to grip anymore!!
==============
10th Oct
After yesterday's soggy group ride on Tetley just trotting in the indoor
school ( bit of a non event after last week's cantering with Cleo) I decided to
have another private lesson today on Cleo - it was almost sunny so I elected to
go in the outside school.
Anyway we had a walk round to get a good look at everything, especially the
puddles and then got her trotting nicely over more poles - 6 this time and then
after a couple of passes on each rein the RI lifted one end of 2 poles and then
4 poles so they were in a "X" pattern - it certainly makes her pick
her feet up!
Then we did some changes of speed within trot and popped into canter - the
transition was so smooth and I really felt like I was in control this time.
We did several canters and finally I was able to start the canter in one corner
and maintain it round both the next corner and the long side - probably about 20
strides!
I am really chuffed and can now leave the walk/trot group and join the
walk/trot/learning canter group - I bet the RI will have me cantering over poles
next
I also found out that Cleo is a TV star! She was involved in a programme where a
chap had to learn to ride in a short time in order to win prizes for the family.
==============
16th Oct
Went up into the Cotswolds for a long weekend and had some free time on
Sunday afternoon, so found a RS that did hacks out for tourists.
Got onto the "advanced" hack and was put on Sammy, a piebald cob about
15.2, a "steady" horse I was told!
It was a gorgeous afternoon, not too warm but sunny, and six horses set off at a
walk to cross the road - first time for me and I was pleased that the drivers
actually stopped to let us out over a very busy road!
The other horses on the ride seemed to be somewhat faster than Sammy who seemed
happy to go along with a generous amount of "personal space" i.e. he
was usually about 5 or 6 lengths behind! One of the escorts loaned me her whip
and Sammy perked up considerably when just shown that I had it
We worked our way along the fields, roads and paths until we got to Lower
Slaughter where we took the horses into the river for a drink, splash about and
a photo of us in the river Eye - don't you just love his Mohican
haircut!!
then we trotted for a mile or so and turned into a field
with a wide grass border - I had to hand back the whip at this point as that
escort was going on elsewhere. We trotted along one side and the leading horses
had a bit of a to do as one kicked another and one more spooked - Sammy was 50
yards behind all this since he now knew I hadn't got the whip and wasn't phased
at all!
Well we turned the corner of the field and CANTERED up the hill - about 200
yards - I have only managed 20 strides in the school - WOW what fun! He has a
nice gentle canter, not at all like Cleo's huge rocking horse motion!
Then we trotted back along the roads, Sammy some way behind the others until I
found that by flicking the loose end of the reins from shoulder to shoulder to
the same rhythm as the trot, he speeded up tremendously and was able to catch up
the others with ease
When we got back to the RS after about 4 miles and 90 mins I helped untack and
wash him down before putting him away in his stable.
Overall, an absolutely superb afternoon - I can recommend the Bourton Vale
Equestrian Centre (www.bourtonvaleequestrian.co.uk),
Steph who led the ride and Leanne who runs it.
=======================
16th Oct
I rode Tetley in my lesson today and realize how spoilt I have been with Cleo
and Sammy! Tetley has a awful transition into canter - he was fine trotting and
was listening to my leg quite well, but ask for canter and he just trotted
faster and started motor biking round the corners of the school - he even bucked
once!
Afterwards the RI told me that even the RIs had difficulty in getting a clean
transition with him
Anyway, when I told the RI I had been out on a hack cantering, she said that if
the weather / ground was OK, we could go out on my next private lesson - so I
have booked Cleo for Thursday
=================
18th Oct
Blimey - I was only joking when I said the RI would have me cantering over
poles next!
So today we were - CANTERING OVER POLES!
The RI is giving me less and less help now, so I got to warm up Cleo on my own
while she got the poles out. It is very reassuring when Cleo does as I ask
rather than what the RI asks!
Boy, was Cleo up for it today! I spent a lot of the time trying to slow her down
as we spent about half the lesson in trot and the other half in canter.
Steering in canter is a lot harder than in trot and she just wanted to go large.
So cantering along the 3/4 line was a bit of a hit & miss affair and
cantering round 20m circles was like being on a merry-go-round, inward lean as
well!
So after cantering over the poles on the 3/4 line ( or not - depending on how
tight a turn I got ) we cantered over a pole on the 20m circle.
Funny, it went all quiet as we went over the pole, so I guess it was a sort of a
jump!
Now I feel like I have got the hang of what I should be doing and am starting to
recognize the feel of getting right and getting it wrong - so tomorrow I am
booked in on a w/t/c lesson that will go out on a hack to practice my skills.
===================
19th October
Rode Cleo outside round the fields today with 2 others - she wanted to go
faster than them in walk and in trot and there was nowhere to do my usual trick
of riding the occasional circle to give her space, so I spent most of the time
holding her speed down - she didn't like this one bit. I had been looking
forward to another canter outside but we never got there - probably as the RI
was having difficulty getting Stanley going and he spooked a couple of times.
Rather disappointing really - but spent the time working on keeping my legs
quiet and following Cleo's footsteps though my seat - perhaps we will canter
next week?
====================
26th October
Just a quiet hack round the fields on Tetley today - mostly walking with just
one trot. Tetley stopped dead where a fox had taken a bird - he either smelt the
fox or the death!
====================
31st October
Since the excitement of starting to canter and the thrill of the 1st hack,
Cleo and I have been building an "understanding"
She sometimes does as I ask
and sometimes she doesn't
Sometimes she works beautifully with me
and sometimes she is a minx
So, after last week's motorbiking round in the inside school being impossible to
steer in canter, today we worked on some obedience training in the outside
school
The RI set out some blocks in the school to form a couple of "gates".
Then Cleo & I did circles and figure of 8s through the gates, asking for
transitions in the gate, first walk to trot and trot to walk, then trot to
canter and canter to trot.
To start with Cleo took a few steps to respond, so the transition was late. Then
I started anticipating her being late and the transition was early! Eventually
we were getting nice clean transitions in the gates - I was so chuffed
Then the RI told me what this was leading up to - canter transitions down the
centre line and I have to tell her what lead we are on in time to turn the right
way at "C" !
OK - so nice working trot round the corner and down the centre line we go, ask
for right lead canter at "X" and Cleo says "UH - ***, now??"
two steps of canter and back to trot!
So we try it again and Cleo goes into a lovely canter right on "X", I
say right lead and the RI says "YES". Next time I ask for left lead
and it feels the same as before! Yup, Cleo is on the right lead again..
So we try again and Cleo goes onto the left lead - success! - boy does that feel
different!
Then the RI tells me that Cleo is the ONLY horse in the RS that sometimes gets a
disunited canter, so if it feels overly side to side wobbly then come back to
trot and ask for canter again - now she tells me!
Anyway, another brilliant lesson so I ask the RI if we can learn to do 2 point
next time as I want to be confident enough to gallop when I go beach riding next
year.
So she says OK, we'll do some 2 point at canter and after that we'll go over the
stubble fields and up the canter a bit !!
===================
7th November 2007
Usual Wednesday afternoon lesson on Cleo - usually she goes through the same
routine - grumble about being tacked up, have a nibble at your arm if you don't
watch it - move off from the mounting block as you swing your leg over her back
- then amble off up to the rubber school behind the RI - except that today we
beat the RI to the school!
Perky didn't describe it - the most active walk I have ever got out of her
:-)
Now the RI just leaves me to warm her up, so the usual mixture of walk/halt
halt/walk to get her listening to me, plus a few changes of rein, up into trot
and a few trot/walk walk/trot -then the RI says "Oh yes, I remember now,
bring her into the middle" where she ups the stirrups by about 6 notches.
It feels like my knees are round my ears =-O ,
so off we go at walk and the RI says stand up - err, wobble, wobble, sit! Four
or five tries later and I can stand for the whole of the short side - hey, this
is easy peasy.
Spoke too soon - get her into a working trot and stand, wobble, bounce! stand,
wobble, wobble, bounce!! OK this is a lot harder but after about 5 laps of the
school I am able to sort of stand for a dozen strides or so with my calves
clamped to the saddle like a pair of vice grips.
Hehehe - you guessed what was coming next - canter - stand and hey I'm still
standing, so I bend my knee a little and stop zooming up and down with Cleo and
stay relatively still but now the saddle keeps smacking me on the bum.
Now Cleo decides to have one almighty spook (in canter) at a blade of grass that
had the audacity to move in the wind - err, how come I am still up here and why
is one leg shorter than the other, oh, I see, the saddle is cockeyed. The RI is
really impressed - "Wow, that's balance!" Well when we have got the
saddle straight on Cleo's back off we go again - this time the RI asks me to
lean forward and stick my bum out. OK, but my legs slip back off the girth and I
am almost out the front of the saddle - sure, it is a lot smoother than sitting
but that saddle keeps smacking me and I feel like I am about to get Cleo's head
in my face!!
When I look at the video I am hardly leaning forward at all!!! This obviously
needs lots more practice.
After that we start cantering over poles in the light seat, now strangely
enough I felt loads better doing this and Cleo was really picking her feet up
and we didn't clip a pole either!
The RI is still talking about cantering out - so perhaps this will give me the
practice I need and she will be able to demonstrate the position on her horse -
she looks really silly assuming the position while standing on the ground!!
We ended up with the RI standing next to Cleo and pulling my legs into the right
place while I stood in the stirrups and I was way over the pommel - I could
balance there but boy it feels precarious - good job Cleo has a thick mane to
grab!!
Oh and when I came to dismount and took my feet out of the stirrups it felt like
I could just stand on the ground and let Cleo walk on - my legs felt sooooo
loooooong!!
======================
14th November
Well today Cleo was super spooky - to start with she wouldn't even walk the length of the school, she turned into the school about halfway down. So I rode her in a 5 metre circle back to the track and it was like there was a glass wall in front of her. I rode her across the school and tried it on the other rein and the same thing - there was no way she was going down the end of the school. So the RI takes her in hand and leads her towards the end, she pushes the RI out of the way and really fights, eventually she got to the end and stood there with her ears flat back on her head - not a happy Cleo today! - see pic from video -
So we used the top end of the school to start with and after the warm up the RI ups my stirrups even more than last time
Standing in walk is OK, standing in trot is OKish, standing in canter is much better - no more slapping by the saddle,
also easier to lean forward and stick my bum out but oh boy do my legs start to ache!
Slowly I extend the area we are working in down the other end of the school and Cleo is so busy she forgets to spook down there - eventually we are cantering over poles in light seat down both long sides of the school until she remembers her spookiness and as I squeeze her on over the second pole - almost at the bottom end - we get a lovely little buck! Watch carefully and you'll see both rear hooves come up behind the front legs -
Next time round and she spooks in exactly the same place but this time she plants both front hooves followed by the rear two and she does a couple of bunny hops!
Well - I suppose we made some progress today and I did get a nice clean run in canter in 2 point, but of course it was "off camera" on the other side of the school!
Anyway, at the end of the lesson Hayley says, book next week's lesson on Tetley or Hovis 'cos Cleo doesn't
jump!
So guess what we'll be up to next Wednesday.
======================
16th November
An "extra" group lesson on Tetley prior to next weeks' private - I
wanted to ride Tetley again as I haven't ridden him for some time and I will be
jumping on him on Wednesday.
Wow - the busiest group lesson ever - there were 7 horses milling around.
Started off by walking then trotting large - with a shallow serpentine
between P & R - did OK here, Tetley responded nicely and accurately to my
requests and stayed on track well.
We were behind Cleo who seemed to be on a go slow day - Tetley kept catching
her up at trot and I was forever slowing him down with my rising and half halts
- this was good practice, if a little tiring!
Seemed to just trot round for a very long time (15 mins or so) then we
circled on a 15 metre circle at walk while one by one we cantered round the
arena, with different people doing different things - I was asked just to canter
large.
Tetley trotted nicely to C and went into canter nicely too - much, much
better than the last time (either I am getting better at this or he just likes
being outside rather than in).
I had a bit of a steering problem at A as he cut the corners, but then I am
not sure how tight into the corners he can get at canter ( Cleo takes them
better), overall quite a nice collected canter - different to sit to than Cleo's
but it was OK.
Then we all went large and walked while the lead horse cantered to the rear
of the ride - another reasonable canter but Tetley caught up with Cleo again and
rather spoiled it. Now is there a trend here - my horse always seems to go
faster than the horse in front - it doesn't matter which horse I ride, this was
highlighted for me today as I was behind Cleo who I usually ride and know quite
well.
Anyway, the lesson was over far too quickly! I want MORE!
Back in the yard, I dismounted and had a nice chat and nuzzle with Tetley, he
had he nose against my chest - to the point I missed to RI asking me to untack
him and put him away - everyone had a giggle!
=====================
21st November
Warming Tetley up as usual - nice active walk and Hayley says "which side does he prefer?", so I did a 20 metre circle on each rein and he felt easier on the right rein - got that one correct! It looks like I am going to be getting a mini quiz each lesson now to test and develop my feeling for the horse's movement.
Then we did some trotting - he is much bouncier in trot than Cleo, she drags her feet, but Tetley picks his up so you get a nice crisp trot which is easy enough to rise to but I was all over the place when it came to sit to ask for the
canter.: This, together with his untidy transition, made getting canter far more difficult than with Cleo. He is also quite different in the school on his own compared with last Friday when there were 6 other horses in there - he was listening much better on Friday.
Once in canter he is also much more difficult to keep going - without a horse in front to chase after, he really needs the whip and fairly hefty nudges to keep up canter round the corners
- he really is stiff (Hayley says he has planks of wood down his sides!) and has a big turning circle so the ends of the school are taken in more of a 20 metre circle rather than using the corners. His canter is also choppier than Cleo's big rocking horse, so I was bouncing a bit until I could get used to
it.
Hayley shortened my stirrups again - I tend to ride with my legs behind the girth with long stirrups, the short stirrups help to pull my legs forward onto the girth and I am starting to feel more secure with the short stirrups - she wants me to use short stirrups all the time now.
More trotting - over poles now - and because Tetley picks his feet up anyway the poles feel no different to the rest of his trot so I have a good balance throughout whereas Cleo's trot picked up over the poles, upsetting my balance. Then we cantered over the poles, or at least that was the idea, Tetley had other ideas and decided that HE was alpha horse today, so between me growling at him and using the whip and Hayley growling at him we had a sort of trot/canter/trot/buck/canter progress around the school which made my balance absolutely hopeless, :mad: it felt like the first canter on Cleo! I guess I will get used to it in time.
Mostly we got a canter by time we got to the poles - the first time over with them flat on the ground was OK, the second time over with one of them raised was a bit hairy as Tetley decided to slow almost to walk
immediately after and I was hanging onto his neck! :eek: The third & forth times over with one raised were much better as I sat back more to the movement and we still had canter into the turn at the end of the school. Same again on the other rein and I was starting to feel more secure but not completely happy. Tetley is not a very balanced horse and I was working hard to keep us both balanced - not always very successfully!
I have now got used to not even glancing at the poles on the approach - I look round the corner at C or A straight down to a point on the banking above the school fence and keep
focused on that, so I simply thought the next run over the poles was a bit more unbalanced than before and I was getting quite annoyed with myself. Then when I looked at the poles on the return down the other side I saw that Hayley had rearranged them into a little cross pole jump!!
Not that Tetley actually made a big deal out of it, his canter is quite capable of going over the foot or so of the middle of the crossed poles - it just got a bit more vertical movement.
So overall a rather difficult lesson in balance. Hayley said that there was nothing more to learn in terms of balance on Cleo so she now wants me to ride other horses instead of her - tomorrow morning there is an empty WTC group lesson with Hayley and I have booked Hovis who I haven't ridden before.
=================
22nd November
Today's group WTC lesson was just me on Hovis and was one of my freebies in
return for helping out so I was even more pleased that it went a fair way to
redress yesterday's "reality check" lesson on Tetley when I wondered
if I was ever going to get the hang of all this.
First thing that Hayley said was that he was a lazy horse and I was going to
have to work hard! He obviously thought he was going on a lazy ride round the
fields as he tried to turn the wrong way out of the yard and then dragged his
feet all the way to the school.
Active walk also doesn't seem to figure in his vocabulary, so I did lots of walk
halt, walk trot, trot halt, etc with him to get him listening - he was actually
quite good at this - especially the halt, clearly his favourite pace!!
He has the slowest trot I have come across, so I was able to trot slowly round
the corners but to get a fast trot meant lots of nudges and the whip. He isn't
too fond of canter either! On the first asking we got a lurch that almost had me
out of the saddle and my first expletive on horseback! I seriously started to
question why i was doing this!! Once I had him cantering, he needed lots of
growling, nudging and using the whip to keep him going.
Circles in canter were even harder work but easier on the right rein compared to
the left, I think we did 3 circles on the left rein in trot before he would go
into canter. We ended the lesson with some quite nice canters going large so I
did come out of the lesson feeling positive that I can ride new and
"difficult" horses and it does get better each time after the feeling
that I have gone back to the beginning!
After Hayley yelling "heel down" at me for most of yesterday's lesson
I wanted to work on that today and also to try to keep the stirrup on the ball
of my foot more. I managed this much better today although the left one slipped
back to the heel a few times. I also worked on getting my toes in more to
lighten the leg on his side and he felt more forward going when I did this.
Hayley said my leg position was much better, so that was good. Poor Hovis ended
the lesson gently steaming from the sweat and my legs were a little achey so I
think we both had a bit of a workout.
==================
28th November
Well Hovis was actually quite up for it, compared with last week's hard work
to get him going - either that or he has just accepted I am not going to let him
get away with being lazy!
We now get left alone to warm up while Hayley sets out the arena with poles,
etc. so I did a few active walk/halt transitions, followed by some trotting on
both reins and a canter on both reins - he was brilliant - listening and going
into trot and canter at the first nudge!
So Hayley got us doing some more complex work involving circles and shallow and
deep loops on the long sides of the arena in both trot and canter. His was so
good going into canter and only needed a few squeezes to keep him going round
the corners.
He was a bit unbalanced in the deep loops in canter as he was on the wrong lead
for the bend to return to the track and he tended to fall back to trot for a
step or two before responding to my aid to get back into canter.
We had an "interesting" episode on a left rein circle (his worst rein)
in canter over poles - he fell back to trot to negotiate the poles and then
immediately back to canter, we did about 5 circles like this, despite me
nudging, tapping with the whip and growling "go on" at him each time
we approached the poles.
On the 6th attempt we actually got the canter over the poles but he tripped on
the last one ! His head, neck & shoulders suddenly dropped and I followed, wrapping my arms
round his neck and whispering in his ear "whoaaa", "staaaaand",
so we went from canter to trot to walk to stand in about 5 seconds, with me bear
hugging his neck. Once we had stopped, I was able to sit up and lever myself
back into the saddle!
After this we managed to canter over the poles on the right rein with absolutely
no trouble at all!
At the end of the lesson Hayley said my balance had been fine (except for the
incident) and that in future she expects me to be able to get on any new horse
and find my balance within the 5 minute warm up. She also said that Tetley and
Hovis are the most unbalanced horses in the school - I think she deliberately
got me on these two to help with my balance, we shall see!
==================
13th December
Thought I would sneak out in the sunshine for a ride today, should really be
working, but never mind eh?
Unfortunately the 10.15 WTC lesson with Hayley I usually go for on a Thursday
(because I am often the only one riding) was cancelled today because the college
girls were having their assessments in the outside school.
So I decided to go for the 9.45 WTC with Gilly - three other riders.
I was on Hovis again and he was such a good boy for me, when it was our turn to
trot and canter round the school he did exactly what I asked, when I asked and
we had the best canter yet out of him - even when he got onto the wrong canter
lead he dropped back to trot and off on the right lead within a couple of steps.
One of the other riders was recommended to move onto riding Hovis as he is a
"difficult" horse - this and Gilly's comments at the end of the lesson
made me realise how far I have come on over the last few weeks.
What a good day!
- roll on next Wednesday - I hope to be riding Ziggy again in a private lesson
outside so will be able to warm him up and get some good work out of him, he is
more balanced than Hovis & Tetley so hopefully he won't trip over the canter
poles!
==================
15th December
Essex NR meet at Tolleshunt D'Arcy. 6 of us met up for a hack on farmland and
a pub meal after.
My steed was a cob called Bob - supposedly a slowcoach according to the RI at
the school.
On mounting, I found one stirrup really short, the other long and the girth
loose - the tack had seen better days, but I had fewer problems than some of the
other riders who had girths far too long and even tack incorrectly fitted!
We had 30 mins of faffing around sorting out girths etc. in the manege which
was a foot deep in soggy sand/mud (we were supposed to be assessed for riding
ability) during which time I only managed to get Bob to go sideways or turn on
his forehand - no way was he going to walk onto the track except to get out the
gate.
Eventually I was asked to take Bob up to the gate onto the road (my
"assessment" seemed to be that I hadn't fallen off a stationary
horse!!) and the escort ( who was "leading" from the back) told me to
turn left out of the gate - hey, I was leading the ride down a strange road, on
a strange horse! From the back I caught the words "hole"
"hedge" "right" & "dry track", so I turned
right through the next hole in the hedge and onto a track pretending to be
anything but dry!!
We walked along these muddy, puddled tracks for a while until we came to a
nice flat, wide, firm grassy track, so I nudged Bob into trot - he was far from
slow and was trotting along nicely with the others following until that faint
voice at the back said "walk" just as I was thinking canter! The
escort then decided to come up front where she explained that she couldn't risk
a trot just here in the open as she hadn't had this many horses on a ride
before and some of them had not been used on hacks so she didn't know how they
would behave!
We finally turned onto a narrow field edge with overhanging trees and she
said we could trot - in my view not as suitable as the first track but we went
for it - all was fine except one of the horses only went walk to canter! At the
end of this track as we slowed to walk, one horse kicked the one behind
and the ride was ended to take the injured horse back. At this point another
horse didn't want to go back and started spinning and bucking, eventually the
rider dismounted to be safe. Another horse proved to be lame on a front leg when
asked to trot. The escort's horse also played up - so out of seven horses only 3
behaved themselves.
Bob was one of the good ones - he did what I asked, when I asked and we snuck
in a few little trots which he just loved!
When we got back to the manege we were told we could have a canter in there -
Bob was having none of that and immediately went back to playing statues! I
guess he has had a bad experience in the manege at some time and the RI telling
me that she didn't mind how hard I whipped him to get him to move tends to
suggest that he suffers in there!
I thought Hovis & I would be in the indoor school this morning for our
"group" lesson but there was another lesson in there so we were up in
the frozen rubber school all on our own (and it was a free lesson for me too -
so effectively a private lesson for free )
Well a very exciting lesson indeed - Hayley decided to turn into a machine
gun, barking orders in rapid succession - walk, trot, halt, trot, halt, trot,
walk, trot, canter, trot, canter, trot for 2 back into canter, walk, trot,
canter, trot, walk, halt, trot, halt, trot, canter - and all this in a couple of
circuits
of the manege!!
It had both Hovis and I totally unprepared for each transition, but it was
great! It just shows how the aids are becoming natural and I don't have to think
about what I am doing - I just do it.
We ended up with some nice fast canters as I pushed him on - the faster he
goes the easier it is too sit to - and Hayley was shouting "Go Hovis,
GO!" He is such a good boy, I am getting really fond of him now
================
9th January
I haven't ridden since the 20th Dec until today.
I have been getting on so well with Hovis that I thought I would have a freebie
lesson with another RI, Ellen, just to get a different view on my riding. I have
a stiff neck at the moment and I think it affected my riding quite a lot.
We were in the inside school and Hovis was just being himself - a bit lazy in
trot and stiff on the left rein - but I thought Ellen's comments about him were
a bit OTT, she wanted me to drive him on in trot and keep nagging - I usually do
a lot of transitions to wake him up - so in the end I nudged him into canter to
liven him up and he was fine after that.
We spent a lot of the lesson without stirrups, which suits me, and I was getting
quite a good seat with minimal bounce in trot - and he didn't need nagging at
all, I just sat and concentrated on flexing with the movement. Ellen wanted me
to sit even further back than Hayley does and it did seem to help.
Then we did a figure of eight, cantering one half and trotting the other - Hovis
& I were sent into the corner while the other rider did the exercise and I
think Hovis just went off the boil, because when it was our turn he was all over
the place, he wouldn't stay on the track, he went into canter and back to trot
OK but the steering was awful - I got the distinct impression that he wanted a
good blast (like we usually have in the outside school) and couldn't be bothered
to do this difficult bendy stuff!
One interesting exercise was getting Hovis to halt from trot without using the
reins - it took me shifting my weight almost off the back of the saddle for him
to slow and stop!
I have now booked up for my riding holiday this year - my cousin who lives in
Edinburgh is the only other member of my family who rides so we are having a few
days over in Cumbria riding together in May. I have arranged to ride at the
Cumbrian Heavy Horses place on Clydesdales - http://www.cumbrianheavyhorses.com/index.htm
- they are apparently all forward going horses, so I think I need to talk to
Hayley about moving up onto something a bit more forward going than the horses I
have ridden so far.
=================
25th January
I am determined to get some good video footage of when we go riding on the
Clydesdales so I have got a small video camera that mounts on your hat - it
records onto a memory card and you download the footage onto the PC after.
It was really weird with the extra weight on one side and it proved to be
difficult to get it leveled up. The sound is nowhere as near as good as on
either my big video camera or the little digital camera. And the clunking sound
is the camera body hitting the edge of the helmet, despite being padded out!
However the video quality it quite good on the original - YouTube tends to
degrade it a bit to make the files smaller.
We were the last of three out of the yard - Hovis did his usual "I want to
go the other way, round the fields" act, but once we were on our way up to
the manege he went quite well - in the manege we we almost immediately into trot
and he went well without too much nagging - to the point where we closed rapidly
on Ziggy in front and overtook him in the corner. We then took it in turns to
trot from a circle at C down to A, circle in trot at A and canter back up to C.
After a change of rein and a few more laps of trot we had a second canter round
the whole manege.
We dismounted and handed the horses over to a group of friends out for a 40th
birthday party fun ride!
All in all another nice morning to be out on a horse
===============
29th January
Today I had a session on the equisimulator with Becky Chapman at Ashen
Equestrian Centre.
What fun! Becky was great and explained things well.
First came the endless issue of stirrup length and, after some discussion and
explanation of the mechanics involved, I ended up with my legs back down where I
started off last August, before various RIs persuaded me I needed them shorter!
Now I have some empirical evidence to back up my gut feeling about what the
right length is for ME.
Then we set off in walk - left right balance was OK but I was behind the motion
and the overall effect was a braking one on the horse. I was also not moving in
synch with the horse - tipping from one side to the other as the horse moved. A
bit of experimentation with the ideas given by Becky soon had a huge improvement
- I found that I needed to flip my pelvis from one side to the other to keep my
upper body steady over the centreline. The trick to bringing my balance forward
involved tipping my pelvis back but keeping my shoulders forward so they were
vertically above my hips - not a natural feeling at all! I felt like I was
hunched forwards!
Having done a few walks and got the hang of centering myself in both front back
and left right planes we moved on to trot.
Sitting trot showed up the same issues but the solutions were different - I
found that to stay in balance over the horse, I needed to push my bum backwards
into the saddle in rythm to the trot - not side to side, but in unison, while
keeping my upper body in the same relative position - this was achieved by
making the movement come from the middle of my tummy rather than from the seat.
Canter threw up a real issue - I was over to the right! I had to sit very
consciously to the left to get into balance and on left lead canter I had to
concentrate on keeping the front left of my pelvic bone down on the saddle and
thrusting down into the horses leading leg - while in right lead canter I had to
trust from the back of the left pelvic bone down diagonally into the horses
leading leg. Even the flying change didn't unbalance me by the last run!
The other thing that was great was that I wasn't using the reins for balance -
contact was mostly under 600 gms if a little stronger on my left hand.
After a good three hours I felt as though I had had got the hang of what I
should now be looking for in position on poor old Hovis - let's hope he
appreciates my efforts
==============
30th January
Hehehe - today's private lesson was on Ziggy.
He came in from the field having more mud on top of him than he had on his legs
& hooves
A quick brush down and tack up and we were off to the outside rubber school,
after a bit of a warm up he was going forward really nicely and the trots were
getting nicely extended when Hayley decided to test him a bit with some poles
really close together to make him snap his hooves up - he wasn't too impressed
with this!!
On board shot (trying the camera strapped to my leg today) -
He made it over OK but when the poles got raised -
he abruptly skirted them and wasn't having any of it over a walking pace!
So we gave up on that and gave him something else to worry about - canter &
countercanter on figure of 8s - hey this was fun! We were belting round the
school -
we start in trot and transition into canter for a couple of 8s before ending in
walk.
I shall try the camera on my wrist next time!!
I must say that I found it very difficult to transfer my learning from yesterday
on the simulator onto a live moving horse! Most of today I was just grateful to
be still in the saddle let alone work on the finer points of balance!!
===================
7th February
Someone had managed to drive the tractor into the mounting block, rather
demolishing it!
So it was probably as well we were using a portable block, because Ziggy was
just not having it in the yard and Hayley ended up having to take the block to
Ziggy rather than the other way round.
So I guessed I was going to have some hassle with him today, but as soon as I
was on board, he walked on very nicely to the manege and then went into trot and
canter beautifully - once he was warmed up we started by trotting 20 metre
circles first at one end, then into a circle in the middle and finally at the
other end
Then we trotted shallow loops round a block on each side of the manege putting
in 10 metre circles in each corner. At the same time as concentrating on my
circles and the loops, I was also trying to get the hang of staying on the right
trot diagonal.
So after quite a few circuits on each rein we upped the pace to canter and it
was all going quite well but Ziggy got a bit enthusiastic coming out of the 10
metre circles and refused to do the shallow loop - all I got was him cantering
sideways with his head pointing into the centre but his legs going down the
track!! So we tried cantering him in two circles in each corner but this made it
no better! He really fought to stay on the track and go faster! The one time I
did get him to go out in the loop he did a flying change as we rounded the block
and that caught me unawares ...
Pulling him back to trot had an interesting result, instead of his usual working
trot we got a very posh high stepping trot - he was really having a lot of fun!
If only I knew how to get him trotting like that when I wanted!
Using the cam strapped to the back of my right hand today - probably the
steadiest picture so far, but aim and angle still need working on - here's a
still taken from a trot down the long side :
As an aside - I am able to work out the speed at various times during the
lessons - Ziggy's working trot is 6.5 mph, his canter is 10 mph and that
"posh" trot is 8 mph. This compares with Hovis who trots at 8.5
mph and canters at 12 mph.
I am going to move on to a couple of new horses who are supposedly more forward
going - Benson and Marmite.
================
8th February
Well, it was just too nice a day out there to miss the opportunity to ride,
so a late booking got me onto Hovis for Gilly's WTC lesson at 9:45.
Another "busy" lesson with 7 of us riding, but very interesting
because we practiced collecting the walk and doing shoulder in, first on a 25
metre circle and then going large - Hovis was really good at this (mind you it
might have had something to do with the practice I got yesterday with Ziggy
doing it down the long side in canter!)
Then we had a trot but Hovis kept stumbling on his front right leg, so I
mentioned this to Gilly but she could see nothing wrong - I have never had him
feel like this before and his trot was not as active as usual and when it came
to go into canter he was all over the place, not a happy horse!
Gilly thought it might have been the deepness of the track in the manege but he
did it on the way back to the yard so I mentioned it to the yard manager who
said she would check his shoes as he does have problems when he is due the
farrier.
================
12th February
Well, I rode Marmite, a new horse to me. He is a piebald cob of around 15.3.
I think I reached an important milestone -
1. I felt entirely comfortable on him straightaway - I walked, trotted and
cantered him in the first few minutes of the lesson as warm up and had no qualms
or problems with him at all, we just seemed to click straight off.
2. I could feel what he was doing with his feet.
3. Because the aids are now becoming automatic I started to become aware of
other issues with my seat and position, especially my arms and hands - I don't
keep them anywhere near still!!
I take this to mean that I have finished the initial phase of learning (just
getting the horse to go where I want at the speed I want) and am moving into the
second phase of doing it better / with more finesse.
So, anyway, we did some work on lateral movement - I want to have more control
over the horse at low speed - starting with leg yielding off the 3/4 line onto
the track and spiraling in and out on a circle. I don't think I got very many
actual sideways steps out of Marmite but it was a start!
An edited video of the lesson - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fqjn86_L4Kc
=================
15th February
Eeewww - Benson!!
He has a sore in the corner of his mouth so was riding him in a hackamore - he
was sticking his head in any direction he wanted and napping back to the gate or
the back of the ride!
He didn't want to trot and he decided to nap in the middle of cantering a circle
- grrrr
He was carrying his head low and pulling me forward, so when he napped in canter
I was balancing on one stirrup over his shoulder - good job I have a good basic
balance!
Nope - I didn't click with him at all, I will be going back to Ziggy, Hovis,
Cleo or Marmite (when I can get him).
Was wearing my Mountain Horse jacket today (cold!!) and it makes a noise when my
arms move, so that makes it easy to keep them still - I just had to listen to
know!
=================
20th February
Woo hoo - just had a brilliant private lesson on Ziggy.
We did really nice trot and canter transitions, lovely leg yields from the 3/4
to the track, super shoulder in on the 3/4 line in walk and in trot, riding
squares in walk and in trot and finally 180 degree turns on the forehand, both
ways!!
And I kept my hands still
Murphy's law applies though - I didn't have the camera set up!!!
Hayley (RI) has only 2 weeks left before she takes up her new job
but next week she says we are doing dressage tests
=================
22nd February
Hovis was being a bit slow today so I tapped him behind my leg as I asked for
more impulsion - nothing! Again I did it and again - nothing. RI said to tap him
on the opposite shoulder - well that isn't easy with a schooling whip, but as
soon as the whip came into his sight he was off like a pocket rocket - RI still
insisted I actually hit him though!
Blimey - we were already faster than he has ever trotted before when I tapped
him very lightly with the whip, so here I am with both reins in one hand, the
whip across his neck, rising to the trot and I swear he had all four hooves off
the ground as we shot forward
Next time I just waved the whip into his sight and we were off - almost into
canter - then we did canter and the RI wanted me to kick him on, so I squeezed
hard like I usually do and we carried on at a nice canter, "kick him"
she said, I said "I prefer to squeeze as I upsets my balance less" and
she said "you can't squeeze until you learn to kick"
I must say that next canter I kicked when she asked me to and Hovis certainly
speeded up in canter and his canter is pretty quick anyway!
==================
27th February
Lovely sunny afternoon - Ziggy & I have a go at a couple of dressage
tests - I think the first one was a preliminary and the second a novice one.
The first one was mainly circles and straight lines but with changes of pace.
Watch the rather shaky video - I gave the little camera to the RI and asked her
just to point it at us - but you can hear her commentary much better than I
could at the far end of the school!
The second one was more complicated - Novice 21 - and had three loop serpentines
and demi voltes in it too.
Ziggy started off quite well but got a little over excited at times and did his
"own thing". At times I couldn't get him to canter when I wanted,
other times he was just perfect!
He was definitely in a let's have fun mood today - we had lots of energy and at
one point he put his head down and tugged on the reins as if to say - here, this
is the amount of contact I want, quite a bit more than I usually ride with, so I
obliged him and he went well.
I am still having real problems with keeping my arms/hands still - at times I
look like a chicken trying to take off! But we did quite nicely in attempting
shoulder in on the 3/4 line -
Poor Ziggy ended up in quite a lather - when we took his saddle off he looked
like a damp teddy bear!
============================
29th February
Second ride on Ziggy this week - was hoping to show Gilly (RI) that I had
mastered some of the canter issues we had last week, but she had gone on holiday
so we had Chrissy taking the lesson.
Took the initiative to do some wake up exercises with Ziggy while the others
just walked round - lots of walk / halt / walk transitions and riding squares
(which helps him engage his rear end). So by time Chrissy wanted us to trot he
was working quite well off my leg - didn't get any "kick him" comments
this week!
We did a lot more exercises as a "ride" rather than Gilly's one
at a time approach. This meant Ziggy got warmed up really nicely and not only
did I get his "posh" medium trot, I got a good fast canter out of him
too (down the long side I was nudging him and saying "go Ziggy, go!) - both
of these drew positive comments and a smile from Chrissy! We also got a nice
trot/canter transition at B - on the correct canter lead too!
However, I still got the lean back / legs forward and keep your hands still
comments!!
========================
5th March
Rode Marmite today - some cantering squares - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CbVGaTyUnCw
and our attempt at novice 21 again - sort of ran out at the bottom! - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=RpZ4J089D0A,
but the test we were doing went a bit better than on Ziggy but a bit worse too!
If we had been in a post area with flowers round it, there wouldn't have been
many left at the A end!!
========================
6th March
Today I traveled to see Scully - a horse for sale - and rode her for the
first time - after a short discussion at sort of walk about who was actually in
charge, we got a reasonable trot and after a few false starts, a nice canter
that didn't die in the corners. Made an offer subject to vetting.
========================
7th March
Riding Hovis in the indoor school with one other on Cleo. A new RI,
Domini, has replaced Hayley. She was quite good - more focused on my position
and got me leaning back more.
We did some cantering and turns on the forehand then trotting without stirrups -
which I love! Then I cantered without stirrups for the first time and it was
fine! I even asked to do some more when we were told we could take the stirrups
back!!
She made the lesson much more interesting than Gilly does so I may go for my
private lessons with her in the future, but next week's is already booked with
Gilly
========================
11th March
Scully has her vetting and passed, was loaded on the owner's lorry and
brought down to Butler's where she will be on full livery until I can get her a
space nearer to home.
========================
12th March
Well after all the excitement of Scully's arrival it was back onto good old
Ziggy for today's lesson.
I detect a slight but significant change in Gilly's attitude - I am a horse
owner now, not just a rider!
Today we were in the inside school and it was STILL draughty! I asked to
understand what happens when a horse works in an outline and comes down on the
bit and that is what we did - first asking for flexion with the outside rein and
then "twinkling" on quite a loose inside rein and using inside leg -
then we moved onto holding the reins wide and low with a firm contact and
finally we did a lot of transitions especially trot / canter / trot - also
generating impulsion using legs to nudge, whip alongside, over shoulder and
behind leg, just gentle taps, to egg Ziggy on and build up the energy - it
certainly worked, he was really striding out and I had real problems sitting to
the trot, the saddle was smacking me hard! I completely failed to sit for a few
strides before asking for canter but was able just to sit and ask and get the
canter straight away. I did get him down onto the bit for a few strides which I
take as quite an acheivement - he is very particular about the aids and won't
play if he isn't asked correctly. Gilly was able to get him to drop his head
walking alongside, so it is just that I need to practice and perfect the aids.
She explained that I need 110 perfect balance and pointed out where I lost it,
but I knew what I did and I think it will come with practice - especially on my
own horse.
Gilly was quite complementary about my basic balance "considering how long
I have been riding" so all in all a very positive lesson.
We trotted over poles, round circles, changes of rein, practiced getting her in
the corners, doing nice balanced turns, it was really good fun. 
... hey, talk about exciting, OK we only did a dozen or so strides each time but
canter on Cleo is not exactly what I would call smooth!! More like a small
dinghy going up and down big waves 
But I caught some of the cantering - I must say I look more stable than I
felt!!!
