Lesson 1

I was so excited to go to my first lesson. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, whether I would even get to jump on the first lesson, but I was prepared to practice over a few crossrails. My farrier was going to arrive (for my personal horses) right before I had to leave home for the barn with the kids, (only way our schedule would work - it's the first time he did them without me there), and he was a few minutes late. But we had planned ahead and still managed to get out of the driveway almost on time. Once I dropped the kids off at my MIL's, I suddenly felt the excitement of getting to ride - on my own. No kids to worry about, no rushing back in to the house as soon as I was done. I had about 2.5 hours coming up to myself and I intended to enjoy every minute.

I arrived at the barn and Kim was still finishing up her last lesson. She waved to me and soon came up to show me the horse I would be riding, a 16+hh chestnut TB gelding named "Simon." She pulled him out of his stall, and handed him to me in the aisleway, and showed me the wash stall where to tack him up, and pulled out tack for me to use, and pointed to the brushes, and walked off to finish her lesson. It seems my first lesson would also test my grooming talents, as it had clearly been a few days since Simon had seen a brush. But it didn't bother me at all - I have learned to really enjoy grooming, and got busy currying. I intended for Simon to be gleaming in my lesson, one way or another.

My first impressions of Simon were that he clearly knew his job - he had spent many hours in the wash stall getting ready for lessons before, and stood quietly while I brushed everywhere head to hoof. Kim mentioned Simon didn't like his girth too tight - so I was careful to make the girth just tight enough to keep the saddle on safely.

I lead him out towards the arena looking for a mounting block in the arena. I looked around for at least 2 minutes, in fact, standing near the gate. They didn't really expect me to mount this giant from the ground, did they? I saw a couple of hay bales in the ring, but that didn't look right. Finally, I realized I had already walked past the mounting block about 20 yards behind me - a large hand built wooden block with plenty of room to maneuver. Embarassed, I turned Simon away from the ring and went back to mount up. Thankfully, he stood very still as I mounted, and we turned back to the ring. Kim was there and I thought to myself - the last time she saw me ride I was a mess. Oh, geez. And then a little excitement - because although I told Kim I had been going to the gym, I was the only one that knew I was in much better shape, and she didn't. :)

"When you're ready, pick up a posting trot." And before I had made a large circle she added, "I know you're probably out of shape, so walk when you need to." I wasn't about to take the easy road here. Simon had a slow, steady trot, and needed quite a bit of leg to keep him going (I began to remember a school horse I once knew...) I pushed as hard as I could and when I felt I had gotten around as much as another student would, I came back to a walk. We trotted the other way, and cantered both directions. While I was cantering - at 2 point - Kim commented, "Have you been riding a lot? You look great!" I replied that I had been going to the gym since January, but not riding as much as I'd like. I was so proud, though, to hear that the workouts were finally paying off. Another time around the ring at 2 point and I began to realize there were muscles in my legs that I had not been using in my workouts. But I was determined to push through until I heard Kim say, "When you're ready, come back to a trot." I tried not to do it immediately, and when we transitioned to trot, I confess it was only a few seconds before I asked Simon to walk so I could relax.

There was another woman and her daughter taking a lesson from the other instructor at the same time as I was, and we started chatting while we were walking around. Turns out they are my neighbors and live right down the road from me! Small world!

Kim then asked the ultimate question, "So, do you think you want to jump today?" I nodded in cautious excitement, "Mhmm."

I watched anxiously when I saw Kim moving standards around and set up a crossrail. My neighbors took their turn first. It looked easy enough. Kim said, "Let's try trotting over this crossrail - and don't worry, it will all come back to you." I wondered to myself - was jumping really like riding a bike? What if Simon knew I wasn't convinced we would get over the fence? He had his slow steady trot - but was it really enough to get him over those little crossrails? And before I knew it, we were at the base of the fence, and I automatically gave a squeeze, went into jumping position and prayed, and over the fence we went! No trouble at all! Kim asked, "tell me again how long it has been since you jumped a fence?" I replied, "Oh, about 10 years. Since 1999 for sure." Neither Kim nor my neighbors believed that was possible. :)

We went back and forth over the crossrail several times, getting better and relaxing more each time. And Simon finally started to pick up his trot now that we were jumping - he had more energy! Forward impulsion always makes me more comfortable when heading towards a fence.

Then the other instructor asked her students to trot over the rolltop. I thought to myself - is Kim really going to ask me to go over the rolltop? That might be a whole 2 feet high! Yikes! Would Simon really go over it? And of course, Kim asked me to follow along. I'm thinking to myself how I would feel so much more secure cantering over any rolltop. What if Simon stops? He must have felt my anxiousness, or maybe I purposely asked him for more stride, but he picked up more energy and over we went! We did it!

My final test for the lesson was to canter the rolltop (on a diagonal) and turn to the right to do an outside line. I looked at the second fence in the line, and surely that was up to 2'3". But no time to worry. We chipped in a little at the second fence in the line (I was still learning my distances). But the next time we did it, it was perfect! Kim said, "That was awesome! You can either stop with that or we can chance doing it one more time." I decided it was safer to end on a great note than push it. Or at least that's what I told Kim. My legs were like jelly and I wasn't taking any chances. :)

After my lesson, I hosed Simon down, gave him carrots, and hand grazed him while he dried off. He seemed delighted. I noticed that was not the normal practice around here - most students kept their horses in the grooming/wash stalls to dry. But part of what I loved about my lessons so long ago was the ability to bond with a horse after the lesson - take them out to graze and relax, and that's what we did. One of my first instructors once told me, "You know, the horses remember you when you let them graze like that." And I knew that Simon would remember me.