Lesson 8

OMG! I almost forgot to write about this one. Yikes, I might be losing my mind. I'm sure it's fine though. I'm pretty sure I'm the odd ball out by blogging about my occasional lessons haha. Not exactly the most exciting stuff if you know what I mean..

Anyways... It was a good lesson. I didn't fall this time!
In fact, my instructor rode the mare for a little bit before I got there just in case. Of course the mare was dead quiet. So quiet in fact my instructor laughed and told me "If she acts up this time then it's just you". Naturally this made me a little nervous because knowing my luck it would happen again.

Fortunately though nothing happened and she really was quiet as could be. It was a pleasant No-Stirrups lesson. And no I'm actually not being sarcastic. I am VERY weird and I enjoy no stirrups work. I'm not sure if the lesson was short or just felt short. It felt like 20 minutes. But it had to be longer I'm sure. I had it easy with this walk/trot lesson.

She had me work on my newly learned Haunches-In, lengthening and collecting, And of course my accuracy in turning. This sounds ridiculous because it sounds and looks like stuff that kids would be doing but I have a lot of catch up to do! And I'm not athletic so coordination is a struggle and so is depth perception. Let's just say my trainer finds it very entertaining....

As you might be able to tell from this and some other blog posts I've written I tend to put myself down. I fully realize how far I have to go. I'm a perfectionist so nothing is ever good enough either. I'm only that way about myself though. If someone else makes a mistake I am quick to say "No one is perfect, you did great" but with myself it's a different story...

It may sound needy. But I am the type of person that needs honest yet kind feedback. Simply because I’m my own worst enemy and I won’t believe flattery! So it was a really good feeling when my instructor told my husband “She rides a lot better then she did when she first came to me!”. It was honest. She wasn’t trying to flatter me. She was talking to someone else and she didn’t say anything exaggerated. That statement did not mean I didn’t still have a long way to go. Just that she see’s improvement. I trust her professional opinion more than my own perception of something I don’t do NEARLY as much as her. So even though I get down on myself for not being the rider I wish I was, I can at least take solace in the fact that I am improving and I may yet get to be the rider I want to be someday. Besides I take like 2 lessons a month, which isn’t much. So if I can improve in 8 lessons I can be a little more positive about my potential I suppose.

Thanks for reading again. Sorry I don’t have any pics from this lesson. I will get some next time!