Riding Journal part 1

I'm taking horseback riding lessons this summer. My teacher told me to keep a journal. I keep forgetting to buy a notebook so i'm going to write on here. You can choose to read it or not but it's mostly for me.

First let me explain that while I feel a little selfish taking these horsemanship lessons I know it's something I need to do. I have always felt drawn to horses but the opportunities to be around them have been few and far between. I've also kind of been fighting it. I thought I would grow out of it or forget about wanting to work with horses but I never have. The moment I decided to sign up I felt peace. Not an overwhelming peace but a calm sense of being ok with myself for the first time in years and years. Like after acknowledging this part of me, other parts of me fell into place, too. I'm eager to learn... I feel like I'm behind 20 years! I also felt like official lessons were the best place to start.

Yesterday was my 5th lesson. Boy it was neat! Marlene had me on bareback again and she wanted me to lope. I loped bareback last week but i fell off and she didn't have her camera. So I warmed up the horse on the ground. I love this part. I always wondered what cowboys on the shows were doing in the roundpin. I feel like i really get to understand the horse and their responses. I'm still not very good at it, though. Then she said can you jump on the horse and I said "probably" so I did. She was so impressed. Can't everyone do that? she said none of her other students can (though most of them are quite young and subsequently short).

Walk, trot, turn around. Still in the roundpin. I couldn't get him to lope by myself so Marlene said she would control his speed and I just work on me (the horse already knows how to do all this. Poor creature has to walk around while I figure him out) It took a while as I kept losing control of my balance.

She said she works me harder than any of her other students and never does this by the fifth lesson. I said "cool" and I meant it. There's so much I don't know that I don't even know what I'm supposed to know or what level other students are at but I know I want to be pushed and learn as much as I can.

The horse kept slowing down when my balance goes askew. He was taking care of me. Good horse. Finally... magic! two times loping around the roundpin and she slowed him down. It was amazing to feel the horse move like that and move with him and not fall off! You just can't feel that in a saddle! I was in heaven with a big grin on my face. Marlene was so happy and said none of her other students can do that. Her Son in Law got pictures so I'll post those soon after I steel them from her blog.