I've been riding since I was 7 or 8 years old... that's 22 years if you really want to do the math. I've even taught some young kids the basics up through walk, trot, canter, posting, diagonals, two point ect... So I know I'm not a horrible rider, but I've never really had self confidence either. Not being able to take consistent lessons has not helped my self esteem any or my leg and core muscles which seem to have disappeared & refuse to work anymore! Its easy to look at someone else and tell them what they need to fix, but not always easy to look in the mirror and fix your own issues.
Anyways, I promise this blog does have a point! Rio & I took our first lesson tonight with our friend Lizette. Prior to moving here my lessons were mostly general equitation and I eventually went down the path of dressage and got stuck in that rut. Lizette's training has been in hunters and let me tell you the two disciplines could not possibly be more different from each other. Hence the blog title... it's all Greek to me lol...
Where in the past I have been taught to ride with a wider lower base to my reins tonight I had to be constantly reminded to bring my hands up and together... though I have to admit I did get a positive response to the change from Rio. I also rode with stirrups much much shorter then usual, but had a better support base that way. Though I think if we keep this up I'm going to have to switch to a hunter/jumper saddle or my all purpose saddle. Holding the more forward position in my dressage saddle was not the easiest feat. He was less figity when I left his mouth alone and just used more body position to communicate with him. As his top line develops more I'll work on getting the nice head set that we used to have back. The less I did the more I got out of him which was nice. He even picked up his left lead canter which is sometimes a struggle for us so I was very happy.
The only downside to the night was that I pooped out 40 minutes into what should have been an hour lesson. The tendons in my ankle just did not want to hold up under the pressure.... I have a long way to go to get us both back in shape. Its so easy not to push yourself when it's just you and your horse schooling, but now that we are back in a lesson routine (hopefully!!!) If I don't really challenge myself between lessons I'll look like an idiot during lessons so I have some intensive to do the work on the in between days.
More cool than anything else that happened to night was the fact that I voiced my goal of doing a horse trial with Rio and did not get laughed at! I've been stuck going in circles for so long not moving forward with my riding that I'd kind of given up hope of that goal every happening. It was really nice to hear someone I respect tell me that I wasn't crazy and that it was a doable goal.
We finished the night with a short trail ride around the neighborhood with Lisa & Maverick. I have to say I love my horse! He'd never been outside the main property since we moved two weeks ago and he pretty much took it all in stride even going along a busy road with cars. This weekend will be another first for us... a trip to the beach! He LOVES water so if we can get past the fact that the water is moving and making noises we should be good. Its looking like quite a few people are coming so it should be fun!... If you don't hear from me with a blog update... send out a search party! Hopefully he will be a good boy and it will be another fun and uneventful first experience for us!
Until next time!...
XOXO Rio & Sam
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