Well.
It technically was yesterday, fine, but I still wanna write about it because I don't want to wait until Monday.
So. A bit of background info for ya'll.
I've been riding for about seven years now. I started out riding western, then, ironically, I hated english riding when I first tried it. Now, I prefer english by a lot. Anyways, I recently got to participate in my first hunter jumper show! I've done plenty of rail classes, equitation, showmanship, and dressage at small shows held at the barn I ride at, but this was pretty much... bigger, I guess? Anyways, maybe that'll say a little about my experience. Now, to actually start telling you about my Wednesday lesson.
Well, Wednesday is my group lesson day. I ride with my best friend and another girl. No names shared here, though. Well, I got to the barn, and had to wait a bit to find out which horse I'd be riding, since my instructor had to help one of my riding partners catch a horse (sometimes that horse doesn't like to be caught).
Okay, back to me. When my instructor came back in, I was told to go get Rez, so I was excited. Rez is my favorite horse to ride, and he's pretty much supposed to be my 'project horse' for this year or whatever, since he's more difficult than some of the other lesson horses and can teach me a lot. Plus, Rez is only like... 14-14.2 hands? And I'm 5'7 right now, so I'm already a bit too tall for him, which is rather sad. Especially considering that even my instructor says that he'd be the perfect sort of first horse for me if he were taller. So. A bit depressing.
I went out to the mares' pasture to get Rez (yes, he's a gelding and he lives with the mares. Nobody knows why), and, of course, he was in the very back. Soooooo I walked out, got him, came back in, started grooming him (he was absolutely filthy, of course), and tacked him up. I brought him into the arena and got him walking. When I asked him to trot, he decided to be classic Rez and try to pop his shoulder to the inside to get out of going forward. He'd never do anything actually bad, like buck or rear, but he's the smartest little pony.
When I started trying again to make him trot, my instructor called all three of us to the center of the arena to show us some stuff. We then started practicing this cool exercise that makes you use your outside aids to turn, instead of pulling with your inside rein. It was hard to figure out at first, but eventually I managed to do it adequately. We were basically doing a lot of exercises to engage their hind legs, stop them from popping their shoulders out/in, and for improvement on balance. The lesson ended with a quick canter each way, and then we cooled our horses out. Overall it was pretty good! Not like last week, when Rez decided that he did not want to listen, and would rather go towards his friends.
Farewell, and I should be updating this on Monday, when I have my private lesson!
