Chessington 14

15th July 2010

Chessington Equestrian Centre, Chessington

Arrived after a very breezy bike ride, and saw Mikey was tacked up and waiting in the yard, ok so I'd be riding him today as planned. As I was early, I spent some time with him while I was a waiting, mainly observing the grumpiness! Got on and started walking him in. This time felt completely different to last week as he was going forward nicely and being very responsive. Sadly after trotting round for 10 minutes or so, his stiffness behind hadn't worn off, but was getting worse, and after getting a few the people to observe, it was decided that was that and I would ride Harvey for the rest of the lesson instead. Harvey was quite willing to move forward today, and I felt like my position was good and I was working him well. Did a few 20m and 15m circles, had a couple of good canters and I nearly fell off!  Lost my stirrup down one side, decided not to try and get it, then somehow lost the other one and my balance around the corner went awol. Managed to check myself and stay upright, but the best thing is that I didn't panic. If I'd panicked, I'm sure I would have tensed up and not been able to get my balance back, but as it was it was just 'one of those things'. I'd actually forgotten about it until I started mentally dissecting the lesson to write this. It's odd, as I didn't do anything 'better' than on Tuesday, and indeed only did more basic stuff, yet it just 'felt' better, and I left the yard feeling really positive. Except for the sharing part. Mikey will be seen by a vet to establish the reason for the unsoundness, but he's off the list for being my possible share. I'm actually really disappointed, as he's a lovely ride, a lovely looking horse and I think the fact that he has 'issues' with handling makes me want to work with him a lot. Next week, I've been talked into finally starting the group lesson. My first group lesson since I was 14 years old. I'm getting nervous already...