In Search of Confidence: Putting the Pieces Together

And then this happened. Photo by horselessinhalifax.

Riding my horse.

That's why I'm here.

We had a lesson two weekends ago that was really quite educational. I mean, they all are, but this one felt almost more like starting to ride my horse correctly like he understands his job, instead of constantly compensating for how green he is. I had to put my
leg on and ride STRAIGHT and trust my horse.

He's a damn good horse, by the way.


In case you doubted.

photo by horselessinhalifax

I was thrilled with him and happy with how I rode (once I got my possessed right hand sorted out) and felt like it was a great experience to build on.

And I felt like I needed more flatwork. Once I got Courage really balanced and going forward around his turns, he almost didn't know what to do with all that power and I was taken aback by how, well, FAST it felt.

Normally I like speed--Cuna and I spent more time galloping through the hills than taking dressage lessons, that's for sure. Since I don't have access to all hills all the time and I sort of think galloping laps around our arena is a mix of boring and terrifying, I had to come up with something else to get both of us rolling forward in balance.

Apparently the only picture of riding in the field

Enter pasture #3. It's my favorite field at our barn--it's flat at the top (by the neighbor's fence) and bottom (by the arena), but has this lovely little slope in between. It's big enough to really get flowing with forward motion and wide enough that I can do any number of swoopy curves.

So Monday, we went out there. I focused on riding really correctly--leg to hand, steady outside rein, keeping my inside rein honest. He responded with some of the best trot work we've ever done and then we rolled up into the canter.

Completely unrelated picture

Wow.

Just wow.

My little man was so freaking awesome. I finally got that really connected feeling with him at the canter--we almost didn't touch the ground and the fence posts were just flashing by. Up, down, figure eight, flying change. Hell, we even counter cantered a lap and it felt amazing.

As I rode him back to the barn, the jumps in the arena were just calling my name.

I didn't have time today, but even just the feeling of wanting to is so good right now. :-)