Today was my first riding lesson since the crappy ones with A C on Pearl. I believe he spent most his time on the phone or criticizing my horse. My Andrew spent weeks trying to find recommendations for an instructor that taught English, would accept an adult rider and was affordable. We found N through word of mouth and also a recommendation from Hawaii Isle Dressage and Eventing Association. I set up a lesson with her for Saturday, as it is summer all her young riders like to come out to the ranch and spend the day there. I got there just after noon and got to watch three girls get a short lesson. The horse I would be riding was used during this lesion and he was well behaved and really just wanted to stand still, my kinda horse for the moment! Duke was a good boy for me. He looks almost like a miniature Belgian. I mounted up and we fussed with my stirrups quite a bit, then she had me work on stretching my arms, legs, ankles, shoulders and everything else. We did some two-point (hold until it burns, sit, stretch, then repeat), and the same process with the posting trot. She focuses on riding your horse through the seat bones and legs and leaving the mouth alone. I gathered from her examples and explanations that she is a student of Centered Riding by Sally Smith. Thankfully I have read that book, but not in a long time and I don't know if I still have it.
Things we worked on:
- point toes forward, like a dressage rider, not at the 45*plus I have mine at
- don't grip with my ankle, just my calf, my ankle is for instructions only
- open chest to put shoulders back ( she was concerned about all the tension in my shoulders and suggested body work)
- keep legs forward more, near the girth
- don't rotate my wrists (right wrist wanted to rotate in and it caused my shoulder to close and come forward)
At home she wants me to work on:
- use an exercise ball especially for my thighs
- develop an independent seat
+ sit on a stool and work on being able to move arms and legs independently while remaining balanced on your seat bones
Things I was happy about:
- I did not feel nearly as nervous or scared as I have in the past. I did shake the whole time, and worse when I got off, but I did not mentally feel scared. This could also be part of the reason for the shoulder tension, we will see if it decreases the more I ride.
- I survived and felt more secure than I thought I would. I expected to be flopping around all over the place, and maybe I was, but when Duke tripped or got heavy I felt comfortable enough to help balance us.
Overall I am really happy with how it went. I got on and off with a good positive attitude and I think Nonie will be a great teacher.
* Side note: I had hurt my back ( pulled muscle maybe, or cracked rib, I really don't know but it hurt really bad the whole time. I did my best to work through it, especially since I don't want to be 'that person' who can't do anything because of pain or injuries. 10:17:00 AM
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