Chessington 13

13th July 2010

Chessington Equestrian Centre, Chessington

Hmm. Arrived and was told I was on Mikey, then we discovered they'd been unable to tack up Mikey so I was on Harvey. Doesn't bode well for me sharing him! I hadn't ridden Harvey since the early lessons, and from what I remembered he was lovely. I'll have to go back and read my report, as today's ride wasn't very lovely. Nothing went wrong as such, but I'm just feeling like such a mess in the saddle. I guess that after my stuttering start in May, something just clicked and I seemed to make good progress, now it all seems to have stopped. I don't even feel like I've plateaued, rather that I'm going backwards :-/ Walking him in was fine, he was actually very responsive and immediately gave me a nice active walk, but as the lesson progressed my riding seemed to regress. Working on transitions again, and the walk/trot were mostly ok, but again the canter was breaking at first, which I thought I'd got the hang of.  My stirrups again weren't comfortable - on one hole they were too long and I was losing them, and on the next they were jockey style. Played around with them a few times and eventually decided just to get on with it as they were. Steering seemed to have fallen by the wayside and we cut the corners a few times, again something I thought I'd got the hang of. We worked on the canter - trot transitions, and I did feel an imrpovement - I very much tend to put all my effort into the actual transition, then once it's done just tip forward and the horse falls apart, but we managed to get a few nice ride aways in trot. One good thing is that I learnt to feel when he was leaning and on the forehand, but then I guess the fact he was on the forehand in the first place is not so good. Then canter poles, and I think I went over them three times, not once in canter, Given Harvey is quite a forward going horse I'd say that was a fail. We gave up on that and did some work without stirrups, and I realised just how lucky I was to have Patchwork in my previous stirrupless lesson, as you hardly feel like you're moving. Harvey on the other hand, had a much bouncier stride, and again I felt like a mess. I do feel like I get a lot out of my lessons with Sarah, but today I just walked away feeling like a complete numpty. I think it doesn't help that life in general is getting me down a bit, and I'm pinning all my hopes on leaving the yard on a high. Which, let's face it, is a tad unrealistic. I was in such a bad mood that I blasted the cycle home, and on the last hill, refused to change gear and powered up to the top, then felt like my legs were going to fall off. I'm riding Mikey on Thursday, and Leon wants to talk to me about sharing. I'm thinking it's irrelevant whether they want me to or not, as currently I'm feeling quite incapable of sharing a horse. I think I should get back onto the lead rein.  Meh...I dunno...pass the ice cream...