Here comes the report on yesterday’s lesson. To start, I’m not that happy with the introduction of the saddle. Suddenly I went from a point where I could sit to the trot and canter comfortably, to one I feel I’m being tumble-dried. I found it harder to relax and kept making a mess of any attempt to impersonate a rider 
. I though it would be easier to sit through the motions with the saddle, boy... was I wrong! I want my saddle to go away <sobs> It doesn’t like me <sobs> I was soooo happy with my lunge lessons <sob> It’s not fair... <sobs>.
Even rising trot was not that pretty. I would get one smooth landing out of four. I thing the mare’s to blame, she was the one giving me a bumpy ride! Yeah… and the saddle, don’t get me started on the saddle, it was just plain crooked and was messing up my balance! And the wind, it was typhoon class wind blowing, trying to knock me out of the saddle! Don’t forget the phases of the moon… and the solar flares! This is all a conspiracy against me! It just couldn’t be my fault, now could it? Could it? Why is everybody so quite? You’re certainly not trying to say I’m to blame, are you?
The good thing is that I have a friend of mine that is going to help me out learning the basics properly. Eventually he will help me get up to speed and become a decent rider. You might have heard something about him – he’s called Mr. Time ;-). He’s definitely a great help. With the contribution of Mrs. Patience I will get there. And hopefully will have lots of fun on the way. That part at least is going well – I’m having a blast!
In fact yesterday we had a good laugh with one of the mares. We were doing solo work (you probably all know what this is all about, but bare with me), the one in front would accelerate to the trot or canter, do one or two laps and would end in the trailing position. The next one in line would repeat everything until all had had their turn.
Everything was going just fine. As I was first in line, I got Fofinha (Fluffy) up to trot, did my two laps and pulled in behind. The next one in line did the same, no problem. Now the third…as soon as she saw herself leading she did a tight full circle and pulled in nicely behind me. It did her no good, in the end she did the same exercise, but all three times she would catch her rider distracted and would do the same. I tell you, that mare was a fighter pilot in a previous life! Way better than Tom Cruise! I could just imagine her with one of those WWI flying helmets and goggles going "He’s after me. I can’t shake him! He’s on my tail! Wait… maybe if I do a tight circle I can loose him… Yeahhh!!! You’re all mine now! Ra-ta-ta-ta-ta!".
We did some other exercises, like the sitting trot: "IIImmm dddoooiiinnnggg sssooommmeeettthhhiiinnnggg wwwrrrooonnnggg hhheeerrreee!!!". And the rising canter: "I'm… ouch… out of… ouch … phase… ouch!". We also did some circles – those went OK as long as I didn’t make a mess of the reins. They were more squares, triangles, ovals, spirals and eights than circles, but it is the thought that counts, right?
Finally we did some trotting in a stiff upright position, leaning forward.
Every day I love horses more and more. I can relate to the lazy disposition of school horses, being pretty lazy myself (though I won’t let them get away with it). Just hope my boss doesn’t read this! I could just picture him coming up to me and start kicking me in the ribs shouting "Why isn’t this bug corrected yet <kick> do you really need all this time to code one feature <kick> work faster <kick> <kick> what’s this story about wasting time posting in New Rider <kick><zap>!". Though to be truthful that would be the only way of making me work on monday mornings or friday evenings .
Will our hero ever be able to sit on a horse in any way resembling a proper attitude? Will he bounce himself to a pulp? To find out more stay tuned for next week’s episode of "The Chronicles of a New Rider"!
Pedro Fortunato
P.S.: Six thousand years of artificial selection and they couldn’t breed horses with shock absorbers and steering wheels!
. I though it would be easier to sit through the motions with the saddle, boy... was I wrong! I want my saddle to go away <sobs> It doesn’t like me <sobs> I was soooo happy with my lunge lessons <sob> It’s not fair... <sobs>.Even rising trot was not that pretty. I would get one smooth landing out of four. I thing the mare’s to blame, she was the one giving me a bumpy ride! Yeah… and the saddle, don’t get me started on the saddle, it was just plain crooked and was messing up my balance! And the wind, it was typhoon class wind blowing, trying to knock me out of the saddle! Don’t forget the phases of the moon… and the solar flares! This is all a conspiracy against me! It just couldn’t be my fault, now could it? Could it? Why is everybody so quite? You’re certainly not trying to say I’m to blame, are you?
The good thing is that I have a friend of mine that is going to help me out learning the basics properly. Eventually he will help me get up to speed and become a decent rider. You might have heard something about him – he’s called Mr. Time ;-). He’s definitely a great help. With the contribution of Mrs. Patience I will get there. And hopefully will have lots of fun on the way. That part at least is going well – I’m having a blast!
In fact yesterday we had a good laugh with one of the mares. We were doing solo work (you probably all know what this is all about, but bare with me), the one in front would accelerate to the trot or canter, do one or two laps and would end in the trailing position. The next one in line would repeat everything until all had had their turn.
Everything was going just fine. As I was first in line, I got Fofinha (Fluffy) up to trot, did my two laps and pulled in behind. The next one in line did the same, no problem. Now the third…as soon as she saw herself leading she did a tight full circle and pulled in nicely behind me
. It did her no good, in the end she did the same exercise, but all three times she would catch her rider distracted and would do the same. I tell you, that mare was a fighter pilot in a previous life! Way better than Tom Cruise! I could just imagine her with one of those WWI flying helmets and goggles going "He’s after me. I can’t shake him! He’s on my tail! Wait… maybe if I do a tight circle I can loose him… Yeahhh!!! You’re all mine now! Ra-ta-ta-ta-ta!". We did some other exercises, like the sitting trot: "IIImmm dddoooiiinnnggg sssooommmeeettthhhiiinnnggg wwwrrrooonnnggg hhheeerrreee!!!". And the rising canter: "I'm… ouch… out of… ouch … phase… ouch!". We also did some circles – those went OK as long as I didn’t make a mess of the reins. They were more squares, triangles, ovals, spirals and eights than circles, but it is the thought that counts, right?
Finally we did some trotting in a stiff upright position, leaning forward.
Every day I love horses more and more. I can relate to the lazy disposition of school horses, being pretty lazy myself
(though I won’t let them get away with it). Just hope my boss doesn’t read this! I could just picture him coming up to me and start kicking me in the ribs shouting "Why isn’t this bug corrected yet <kick> do you really need all this time to code one feature <kick> work faster <kick> <kick> what’s this story about wasting time posting in New Rider <kick><zap>!". Though to be truthful that would be the only way of making me work on monday mornings or friday evenings . Will our hero ever be able to sit on a horse in any way resembling a proper attitude? Will he bounce himself to a pulp? To find out more stay tuned for next week’s episode of "The Chronicles of a New Rider"!
Pedro Fortunato
P.S.: Six thousand years of artificial selection and they couldn’t breed horses with shock absorbers and steering wheels!