For those of you that have been following along I did quit my old RS after being "kicked out" and sent them a complaint letter and asked for a refund for the rest of the lessons that I wouldn't be attending. I recieved a refund but no apology or explaination or regret of losing a costumer or anything, just a check in an envelope.
Dishearted and disenchanted I looked at my seatbone saver, my helmet, and my riding pants, that had cost me and my parents money and wonder why I even bothered getting hopeful in the first place. Still I can't see a picture of a galloping horse and not what to know what it must be like to be on it's back, running across the open countyside, wind in our hair and sunlight on our faces.
So there I went again. My chiropractor recommended the place his daughter rides at, that it's is less expensive and you get to spend more time with the horses. Ok, sounds as good of a start as any. I e-mailed the woman and explained the situation, the post-fall stress, the inexperience, the chronic headache; she seemed very willing to work with me.
I was understandably nervous, she teaches western so I could not use my seatbone saver, there's people of varioius riding ability in the ring and the whole thing seems like chaos. But it's organized chaos and I am having a wonderful time!
The class is mostly kids and they help out with barn chores, so do I. I was hesitiant cause I'm not strong and going back in forth in a small space for too long aggravates the headache. But really there isn't that much to do. We get to groom the horses and get them from a field. I've taken and let a horse loose out of it's stall to go out to the pasture at night but had never retreived one before. I was respectfully timid about being in a field with a new horse. Espically since me and the girl (who's done this before) were set to fetch the new (and pregnant) horse that she didn't even know yet. Well was I in for a suprise! She came right over to us as soon as she saw us! For a moment or two my mind stuttered and I had to convience it that this really was a horse and not an over grown dog. There was only friendly curiousity in her eyes as the girl clipped on the lead and we headed out of the field. She seemed to be following me almost and I was quite touched. Later I saw her following the RI around in the ring like a heeling dog. It was quite amazing. Her foal is due sometime in April, I hope I get to meet it one day.
My second lesson I was put on a Tenesse Walking Horse. I know most of my information about different horse breeds only from research so I had no preconception about what it would be like to ride her, other than my RI saying she had a bit of faster walk. I got on her and she started walking and I was overwhelmed with the sensation that she was gonna take off with me! I was getting more petrified by the second espically when the kids around me were getting there horses to trot. I though 'this is it, you're gonna fall today, she'd gonna take off and you're gonna fall off'. I tried to stay came and think things out logically: What do you do to stop? You sit down in the saddle and pull back on the reins and tell the horse (yes they actually encourage you to talk to the horse here) 'Woah'"
I saw the two horses in front of us start to trot and saw my horses ears go forward with interest. "Here we go." I thought. And there we did, she started walking faster and I tried to remain calm, she walked faster about 1/4 of the way around the ring then I asked her to slow down and she did! Her ears flicked back and I got the distinct impression that she was paying attention to me and even sensing my anxity. It was a big wait on my shoulders and a proud little moment for me. I patted her affectionatly and told her what a good horse she was and thanked her profusly.
Later she would put me through that exhausting "rookie" testing phase but never in a way I thought I was in danger. Just in that was of 'that's it, your quarter's up, get off now'.
My RI came along and said I could get her to walk faster and I asked how to do that without making her trot. She told me she didn't trot, she just walked faster. So I tried and off we went, speedily walking around the ring. Not for very long as she could tell I didn't know what I was doing and kept slowing down. But my what a ride! It was like floating on a cloud. My RI said she got her cause she was having back pain and her friend who was selling the horse said she had to try a Tenesse Walker. I can understand why! There was no bouncing at all, it was amazing. No matter how nervous or scared you might be I don't see how anyone couldn't just smile and enjoy that ride! My RI said she could ride that horse all day and never have any trouble with her back. And she said too that Misty (the horse) feels like she's gonna take off with you but she never does, just walks faster.
She was a really good horse, espically since one of the others was acting up and even bit her in the butt. But she never kicked or did anything that made me fear I would be unhorsed. I can't wait till my next lesson and hope I can get a few more in before the weather turns bad.
Thanks all for your support, it has meand ALOT to me.
Dishearted and disenchanted I looked at my seatbone saver, my helmet, and my riding pants, that had cost me and my parents money and wonder why I even bothered getting hopeful in the first place. Still I can't see a picture of a galloping horse and not what to know what it must be like to be on it's back, running across the open countyside, wind in our hair and sunlight on our faces.
So there I went again. My chiropractor recommended the place his daughter rides at, that it's is less expensive and you get to spend more time with the horses. Ok, sounds as good of a start as any. I e-mailed the woman and explained the situation, the post-fall stress, the inexperience, the chronic headache; she seemed very willing to work with me.
I was understandably nervous, she teaches western so I could not use my seatbone saver, there's people of varioius riding ability in the ring and the whole thing seems like chaos. But it's organized chaos and I am having a wonderful time!
The class is mostly kids and they help out with barn chores, so do I. I was hesitiant cause I'm not strong and going back in forth in a small space for too long aggravates the headache. But really there isn't that much to do. We get to groom the horses and get them from a field. I've taken and let a horse loose out of it's stall to go out to the pasture at night but had never retreived one before. I was respectfully timid about being in a field with a new horse. Espically since me and the girl (who's done this before) were set to fetch the new (and pregnant) horse that she didn't even know yet. Well was I in for a suprise! She came right over to us as soon as she saw us! For a moment or two my mind stuttered and I had to convience it that this really was a horse and not an over grown dog. There was only friendly curiousity in her eyes as the girl clipped on the lead and we headed out of the field. She seemed to be following me almost and I was quite touched. Later I saw her following the RI around in the ring like a heeling dog. It was quite amazing. Her foal is due sometime in April, I hope I get to meet it one day. My second lesson I was put on a Tenesse Walking Horse. I know most of my information about different horse breeds only from research so I had no preconception about what it would be like to ride her, other than my RI saying she had a bit of faster walk. I got on her and she started walking and I was overwhelmed with the sensation that she was gonna take off with me! I was getting more petrified by the second espically when the kids around me were getting there horses to trot. I though 'this is it, you're gonna fall today, she'd gonna take off and you're gonna fall off'. I tried to stay came and think things out logically: What do you do to stop? You sit down in the saddle and pull back on the reins and tell the horse (yes they actually encourage you to talk to the horse here) 'Woah'"
I saw the two horses in front of us start to trot and saw my horses ears go forward with interest. "Here we go." I thought. And there we did, she started walking faster and I tried to remain calm, she walked faster about 1/4 of the way around the ring then I asked her to slow down and she did! Her ears flicked back and I got the distinct impression that she was paying attention to me and even sensing my anxity. It was a big wait on my shoulders and a proud little moment for me. I patted her affectionatly and told her what a good horse she was and thanked her profusly.
Later she would put me through that exhausting "rookie" testing phase but never in a way I thought I was in danger. Just in that was of 'that's it, your quarter's up, get off now'.
My RI came along and said I could get her to walk faster and I asked how to do that without making her trot. She told me she didn't trot, she just walked faster. So I tried and off we went, speedily walking around the ring. Not for very long as she could tell I didn't know what I was doing and kept slowing down. But my what a ride! It was like floating on a cloud. My RI said she got her cause she was having back pain and her friend who was selling the horse said she had to try a Tenesse Walker. I can understand why! There was no bouncing at all, it was amazing. No matter how nervous or scared you might be I don't see how anyone couldn't just smile and enjoy that ride!
My RI said she could ride that horse all day and never have any trouble with her back. And she said too that Misty (the horse) feels like she's gonna take off with you but she never does, just walks faster. She was a really good horse, espically since one of the others was acting up and even bit her in the butt. But she never kicked or did anything that made me fear I would be unhorsed. I can't wait till my next lesson and hope I can get a few more in before the weather turns bad.
Thanks all for your support, it has meand ALOT to me.
