Chessington 28

26th August 2010

Chessington Equestrian Centre, Chessington

When I arrived I saw Rowan was tacked up, and knew they'd put me on him instead. But with only two of us in the lesson, I wasn't nervous about holding everyone back, and was quite happy to be on Rowan again. He seemed harder work today, and not to go as nicely, but then I wasn't particularly trying to make him go in an outline, whereas yesterday it was the focus. With just the two of us we worked in open order and took it in turns to canter circles in the middle of the school. Rowan was going quite nicely, but our circles weren't especially circle shaped, and the canter broke a couple of times but I'll take the blame for that. We went over some trotting poles, and he was good, then went over a couple of cross poles and straight poles about 2ft high. Not knowing what he was like over jumps, I was a bit apprehensive, but he (lazily) popped over the cross poles, then went we approached the straight for the first time, he dithered to one side then the other. My steering went out the window and we went around the jump instead of over. I'd just expected him to go for it! The next couple of times I was ready and we went over ok. I also watched L ride him around a few times, so see how well he *could* go. He's not the easiest in that he seems to be quite lazy, and needs a lot of leg, but he is responsive, not dead to the leg. I wasn't as wowed today as yesterday, but then yesterday we were working on going in an outline, which I've not done before, so that gave me an additional boost. Plus yesterday was a private lesson so I only rode for 30 minutes, but today was for an hour, so it took more effort! I think he's a perfect first horse, my only concern was that I wasn't really looking for a first horse, given that I'd shared before. But as I lost my confidence so easily two weeks ago, I probably need to under-horse myself a bit. And it would be my first time as a horse owner, even if it's kind of 'owner-lite' by being on working livery. If in a year or two I was desperate for something more advanced, I could buy another as well, or even instead of. Whilst I like the idea of a horse for life, it's not always practical. Anyway, thinking of the here and now, he's ideal for what I need currently, and is available at a suitable price, and I already have a home for him, in fact the very stable he's in now. And I think he's adorable. Surely that's a good enough reason to buy? I'll hack him out on Sunday and Monday, but then it may be time to make a move...