3/26 Lesson

Oh gosh I have finally had a lesson! It has been weeks since I have had a lesson (which is a bad thing since I'm on the dressage team and we are suppose to have 1 lesson a week!) Life has just been ridiculously busy with my sister opening up her new grooming business (which is THRIVING already) and my grandmother getting sick, though she is better now.

I went to the barn around 12:30, though my lesson wasn't until 2. I had planned on doing a fantastic grooming job today before and after my lesson. I asked Bryn who I was going to ride and she was saying that Fiona hadn't been worked yet. Becky then mentioned that Asti hadn't been ridden either, and then Jax was brought up. I spoke up and said how it would be great to ride Jax, so that is who I rode today!

For those who aren't familiar, Jax is a dapple grey QH X Percheron cross. I have mixed feelings about this guy, mostly because sometimes his ground manners aren't up to par but I had seen Bryn ride him before and from what I saw he looked like he had potential.

So I grabbed Jax, spent a good 45 minutes grooming him, and then tacked up. I was warned not to over do the warm up because Jax is out of shape and will fry out before my lesson if I work him to hard in the warm up. At first it was really difficult to get him round, but mostly because I didn't realize how much arm strength Jax needed, especially when trying to supple him up, but once Bryn showed me how much weight I would need to carry I was able to get him round and he looked GREAT! For me the best part was when I was able to get Jax to canter by just using my seat and a little swing of my outside leg. Jax tried really hard in our lesson today and I was very proud of him, and my abs were very sore after.

The one thing that is coming along very well in my riding is my ability to use my seat efficiently, and also my lower leg. There is no more kicking from this girl to get a horse to be more forward! Instead now I turn to my seat and then an encouraging squeeze if needed. 90% of the time the seat does the trick (especially if I make sure that I am not tight in my thighs or lower back), but then a squeeze really gets the energy flowing if needed!

Thank you for reading :)