Giddyup!
Ahhhh muscle soreness has never been so rewarding.
I finally got to ride again after almost a year and a half. I rode one of the therapy horses, Marlee this morning. M showed me how she wanted things done with lunging and side reins. She had one regular english saddle (she rides dressage). And told me about his problem areas.
I hopped on after she rode him around a bit and he was really well behaved. He's very soft, doesn't require much leg or rein at all. I hate getting in the horse's face anyway (I R Hunter, yo) so I just tried to get him to relax and drop his head. Heh, right when I started riding M told me "Oh yeah, you're definitely a hunter" based on my seat and position riding :)
His problem areas mainly lie with cantering. M is older so she doesn't really push him too much. She was telling me she just got him to go 2 trips around the arena without breaking into a trot (and its a small arena). M likes to emphasize using voice commands before leg cues, mainly because its so helpful when on the ground during a therapy session. So that was a bit of difference, and Marlee decided that extended trot was better than the canter, so I got bounced around a bit. After a couple of tries, M got after him with the lunge whip and we finally got it. I got a couple rounds, and once he tried to break and kicked him. Marlee gave me a good buck in return. Hee! So much fun :)
(Yeah. it's been so long I had fun riding the buck)
The second direction, which was supposedly his worse side, was muuuch easier. M asked me if I wanted her to use the lunge whip right away. I said to hold off, since he might have the idea what I was trying to do now. No problems, he picked it up after only a few strides. I got him around 3 times without breaking.
Marlee just needs canter mileage. He doesn't have a whole lot of steering at the canter right now, and he likes to pop that shoulder out and drag me to the railing. I quit after that, to end on a good note and because he still had a couple of hours worth of therapy lessons later in the day.
M told me there were several days during the week that I can come out and ride. And she'd really like to do some trail rides with me once things decide to dry out. She also offered to give me some lessons in dressage if I want. She thinks that riding with a dressage seat would be better for my lower back issues, just because you tuck your butt under more and everything is more aligned (with hunters we keep more of a concave arch in our backs at all times). I'm going to wait until I get a little more used to Marlee before I try taking some dressage lessons. I still want to get back into hunters...but at the moment getting back into jumping isn't going to happen for a while.
So I'm very excited :) I get to do some riding again! So I welcome the soreness I'll have in the morning
I finally got to ride again after almost a year and a half. I rode one of the therapy horses, Marlee this morning. M showed me how she wanted things done with lunging and side reins. She had one regular english saddle (she rides dressage). And told me about his problem areas.
I hopped on after she rode him around a bit and he was really well behaved. He's very soft, doesn't require much leg or rein at all. I hate getting in the horse's face anyway (I R Hunter, yo) so I just tried to get him to relax and drop his head. Heh, right when I started riding M told me "Oh yeah, you're definitely a hunter" based on my seat and position riding :)
His problem areas mainly lie with cantering. M is older so she doesn't really push him too much. She was telling me she just got him to go 2 trips around the arena without breaking into a trot (and its a small arena). M likes to emphasize using voice commands before leg cues, mainly because its so helpful when on the ground during a therapy session. So that was a bit of difference, and Marlee decided that extended trot was better than the canter, so I got bounced around a bit. After a couple of tries, M got after him with the lunge whip and we finally got it. I got a couple rounds, and once he tried to break and kicked him. Marlee gave me a good buck in return. Hee! So much fun :)
(Yeah. it's been so long I had fun riding the buck)
The second direction, which was supposedly his worse side, was muuuch easier. M asked me if I wanted her to use the lunge whip right away. I said to hold off, since he might have the idea what I was trying to do now. No problems, he picked it up after only a few strides. I got him around 3 times without breaking.
Marlee just needs canter mileage. He doesn't have a whole lot of steering at the canter right now, and he likes to pop that shoulder out and drag me to the railing. I quit after that, to end on a good note and because he still had a couple of hours worth of therapy lessons later in the day.
M told me there were several days during the week that I can come out and ride. And she'd really like to do some trail rides with me once things decide to dry out. She also offered to give me some lessons in dressage if I want. She thinks that riding with a dressage seat would be better for my lower back issues, just because you tuck your butt under more and everything is more aligned (with hunters we keep more of a concave arch in our backs at all times). I'm going to wait until I get a little more used to Marlee before I try taking some dressage lessons. I still want to get back into hunters...but at the moment getting back into jumping isn't going to happen for a while.
So I'm very excited :) I get to do some riding again! So I welcome the soreness I'll have in the morning