My Equestrian Journal

Riding Lesson 3/6/24

Ah, yes, I definitely did not forget to write this yesterday. So.

I rode a dun Quarter Horse mare named Diva today, since we were going to do some barrels for fun later, and Rez gets a bit... excited when the barrels come out, to say the least. And since my instructor didn't want a crazy Rez, I rode the very, very sassy Diva. Diva is a great horse for learning how to walk/trot, but her canter... let's just say that she likes to throw a bit of a fit.

I was walking and trotting Diva along the rail a bit to warm up, before going to the center to do a few exercises to get her moving her body more easily. Diva doesn't have fancy training or anything, so I didn't go too far with that, but I did do a little (rollbacks, small turns on the forehand, etc.).

When I asked Diva to canter, she decided that she didn't want to and would rather throw in a few small crow-hops or something (like I said. Sassy.).

After making Diva canter in both directions, all three of us headed to one end of the arena to start on the barrel pattern. First, we trotted in between the barrels and walked around them, then we tried cantering it, and then we started timing it. Of course, the top speed we went was a fast canter, but I'm really very competitive, so I waaaaaassss trying to win.

My best friend went first and got about 30 seconds, then I went and got either a 26 or 27, then the other girl went and got.. okay, I forgot. Oops.

Then we went again, and Diva knocked over the second barrel since our turn was too tight, but if the barrel had stayed up, I would've gotten another 26. On the last one, Diva tried to do a flying lead change coming out of the turn around the second barrel, but ended up tripping and yanking the reins out of my hands. I was so confused at what had happened, since I didn't realize she had tried to do a flying change. I grabbed my reins, turned Diva back towards the third barrel, and tried to save my time. (I didn't, of course, I got like a 29 or something.)

After that, we all walked our horses around the barrels to calm them down, and then walked around outside a bit before dismounting and untacking. I took Diva back out to the pasture, and that was pretty much it! Really hoping to ride bareback next week...