Bloody rain!

I am sure no one will believe me after being so forgetful for my last couple of lessons but I did remember my camera last week. However, as it never stopped raining all week round here we decided that the photos would be too miserable so didn't bother to take any. The one good thing about all the rain though is that Sam hates it (he is a bit soft that way) and so automatically tucks his head right in in an attempt to escape it! Makes his outline 100% better.

Looking outside of my window at work now though it seems the sun has finally come back so I will a) take my camera to my lesson this week and b) get my instructor to take some photos to see if we have improved any. I am on a bit of a roll this week when it comes to arranging lessons - I found another instructor from an article in Your Horse who specialises in training riders in how to ride at speed safely (very good idea if you ask me - I attach a link to his site below which explains it all better). As he is also an ex-jockey he is going to show me what the correct aids for "good greif this is way too fast Samuel, slow down!" are. Unfortunately I only learnt that the racing aid for go faster is to pull the reins when Sam took off with me on a hack. But you live and learn.

http://www.msjump.co.uk/

One small step

I am sure things will not continue to run so smoothly on our path to elementary dressage but at the moment each lesson seems to be a hundred times better than the last! I had my third lesson last night and Sam was so good I could have cried – bless his cotton socks. Even though he still thinks the whole thing is a bit beneath him he picks everything up so quickly that when he finally does decide to co-operate the difference is brilliant. For at least a quarter of the time last night he was beautifully connected and moved in a lovely outline. Plus our major achievement was that he cantered on the right lead for both reins (albeit with at least ten attempts required on the left leg but lets not get into details)! What seems to be making the big difference is that my instructor is so good at explaining why I need to use certain aids and when that it is beginning to seriously improve my riding. This is probably the first time in fifteen years that my riding has gone up a level so there is hope for us both yet.

I will try and remember my camera for next week’s lesson so that I can (hopefully) show the improvements.

The course of true eventing never did run smooth (with apologies to Shakespeare!)

This week has certainly been one of highs and lows. To help Sam put some weight on (he was very skinny when we moved down from Cheshire) I had his levels of hard feed upped. The combination of this and all the spring grass that grows down South and it all went to his head. After two exciting (to say the least) hacks last weekend the inevitable happened and I fell off Sam for the first time. Wasn't a particularly dramatic fall - we went for a trot round the gallops at the yard and he spooked at a scary looking hedge. As I wasn't really concentrating I suddenly found myself trotting in mid air. I had that awful feeling of knowing you are about to hit the ground and then I dropped like a sack of spuds (no elegantly bouncing like I used to!). Sam the weasel promptly galloped off to see his mates without even a backward glance to see if I was still breathing. Ho hum, I think we have much further to go on the whole bonding thing. Thankfully some kind soul caught him for me though so no harm was done to me or him but it was still a bit of a shock the first fall and everything (well if you are as pathetic as me anyway).

Because of my issues with my knee I was a bit nervous about causing myself further damage as a result of the fall so I did not ride until Thursday so I could check myself out with the physio (who I was seeing anyway on the Thursday morning - I am not that hysterical!). After much shaking her head about my propensity for accidents she said all was well which meant I could do my dressage lesson that evening with my instructor that had been booked the previous week. Sad to admit I know but I did feel a little nervous just before the lesson (not helped by being stuck in traffic for an hour and a half to get there). Anyway, Sam was an absolute dream and he seems to be slowly learning what the whole idea of schooling and coming down onto the bit is (although he is not getting any better as yet about paying attention). I finished the lesson on a real high after (for the first time) doing canter circles with him on the right leg!! Doesn't sounds a lot but when you have only done the disjointed wall of death in the school before then it means a huge amount. The instructor and I both agreed it was a shame I hadn't brought my camera to show the improvement but she has agreed that from now on she will happily take photos (so my boyfriend is let off the job he is none too keen on). Next lesson is next week so I will try and get some photos up of that.

Lesson one done, one million to go ...

Well I had my first schooling lesson with the new instructor I found and the whole thing can be summed up in two statements - 1) the new teacher is brilliant and 2) Sam and I have a very long way to go!

To cover the instructor first - it turns out I made an inspired choice when I picked her details from the BHS website. She is an advanced eventer and most of her horses are ex-racehorses so she knows exactly where Sam and I are coming from and (more importantly) where we are trying to get to. She has a brilliant approach to thoroughbreds / ex-racers which is to treat them like small children. Her opinion is that as they are smarter and sharper than the average horse you have to respond to them the same way you would a small person. So in a nutshell ... when they behave well you praise lavishly, but when they throw a tantrum you don't respond (although this was easier said than done when Sam threw a fit in a corner of the school and tried to jump the fence!). The focus is all on giving them solid boundaries to work with - she believes when they play up it is usually because they lack confidence so giving them boundaries gives them this confidence to work with you.

With regards to the lesson itself - Sam played the ex-racer role fully and spent most of the first half throwing tantrums and generally making it clear that the whole thing was totally beneath him. You can see from the photos below he wasn't amused!

However, after much persaverance by the instructor and much ignoring of being hurled around the school by me we did start to get somewhere. The teacher worked us for a while with her holding the reins to show him how he should be holding his head (you can see this below). By the end of the lesson he seemed to have come round to what we were after and dropped his head quite significantly - indeed he looked a different horse. I would have liked to have shown you the result by the end but sadly my official photographer (boyfriend) got bored by half way through the lesson and went home! I may have to find someone slightly more willing for my next lesson (which is next week)...