Well, honestly, last Tuesday's practice session was a bomb.. Fortunately, I've read enough other people's blogs to realize that it happens to everyone sooner or later.
That evening, there were a total of 5 horses in the arena at once. One wasn't a part of the lesson - just schooling - as the rider loudly repremanded the horse every few strides. Of the other four, two riders hadn't ridden at all in several weeks.
I noticed when I first got Doc from his paddock that he was acting a bit squirrely and not connecting with me. Unfortunately, the number of horses around and time constraints weren't conducive to playing on the ground much before mounting up.
Our teacher had set up a pattern of ground poles for us to practice over (involving a circle). Since there were so many of us in the arena, we each took turns with the pattern, and spent the rest of the time in a small area.
I used this time to practice backing, flexing, a little sideways, etc. But, what Doc and I really needed was a period of time to move "our feet" without pressure in order to warm up and get in sync with each other.
In addition, I was feeling stiff in my lower back, and I'm sure that I didn't feel as comfortable or stable to Doc as I have previously.
Even though not as fufulling as previous sessions, I still learned a lot this time about the importance of "prior and proper preparation" for a successful outcome!
A PNH friend stopped by to watch the lesson. She gave me some great insights and I look forward to riding more with her in the near future. :-)
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3 comments:
So in light of what you learned, was the session truly a bomb or just not what you had hoped?
Early in my journey with Cricket I took a group lesson from a 3* instructor. At the time, I thought it was a disaster. I got so mad at Cricket and I felt like I wasted my money. In retrospect, what I learned about myself in that lesson has paid dividends in every clinic, course, lesson I've taken since then. Turns out it was the best money I spent in my horsemanship journey.
Any session in which you learn something about yourself, your horse or your horsemanship is a good session. It's not always what we want but sometimes it's just what we need.
~ Lisa
Thanks, Lisa. I agree. It is funny, but the fact that we weren't in harmony during the last session, highlights that we WERE in harmony in previous sessions - and that it isn't something to take for granted.
Fortunately, I recognized that I was feeling "out of sorts" myself in the situation and stopped trying to force things (much). ;-)
Sounds pretty savvy to me. Also sounds like you learned a little bit of feel for disharmony which may pay huge rewards as you translate things back to Guinness.
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