Lesson 2

After my first lesson, it was clear that Simon and I were a good match - he was steady and reliable, and gave me the confidence I needed as I was starting to ride again. Kim was there when I arrived and made sure I knew where Simon's stall was, and left it up to me to do everything this time. No problem.

I brought my own saddle this time - a nice flat panel close contact saddle I purchased back in 2000. I had no idea it was "out of style" in today's hunter ring - apparently knee rolls are the "in" thing nowadays. I've never owned a saddle with knee rolls, but I suspect the next time I buy a saddle, it will have them. I really enjoyed riding in the Stueben (with knee rolls) last week, but the stirrups were too narrow, and if I put my foot where it felt comfortable, my feet started to get stuck, and that is not a safe thing when riding. So, maybe next week we can get some bigger stirrups on the Stueben and everything will be perfect. :)

I got to his stall and you could tell he remembered me - his ears perked foward as I walked into his stall and he lifted his head to take a good look at me. He was already hoping for a treat as soon as I put him in the wash stall - you could tell as he was leaning towards me to see what I might have. Of course I was prepared with a bucket of apple flavored horse treats, and I gave him a few as I groomed him. He wasn't quite as filthy as last week, thank goodness, but still needed a good grooming.

Once we were tacked up, we headed out to the ring. I knew where the mounting block was, at least, but now I had a new obstacle - someone had closed the gate to the ring. They had a summer camp class going on down at the near end of the ring, and I wasn't sure if they would open the gate when I got there for me already mounted or not. But once I was in the saddle, I looked down to the far end of the ring where the other adults were riding, and gratefully I saw that there was another gate at the far end that was wide open. Whew!

The ring was very busy. There were at least 4 campers at one end, and 4 adults at the other end. Well, two 30+ adults including myself and two ~18yo's. Kim was already working with one of the "youngsters" and told me to go ahead and warm up while she finished working with the other young lady. As I was trotting around the ring, I anxiously watched the other instructor raise the fences to 2'3" and 2'6". And the little crossrail got moved up, too. I hoped that Kim would put them back down for me, but I wasn't convinced that would happen.

Simon again has a very slow almost lethargic trot when you first start riding him. He takes a good bit of leg to keep his momentum going, but no trouble. I tried a couple of walk-canter transitions, and realized that Simon didn't know my signals quite well enough to make that happen successfully - I ended up with a quick trot, and then brought him back a bit and asked for a trot-canter transition which worked perfectly. I noticed that my legs felt too long in the stirrups so I raised them a hole - Simon is not nearly as wide as Rocky - and they felt much better up higher.

Thankfully, Kim took the top rail off the blue gate (only about a 1' fence) and we trotted back and forth over it a few times. Then we trotted over the gate and turned right to trot into and canter out of the outside line. We added a stride, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Then we did the same 3 fences a few more times but keeping the canter around the corner into the line. Finally, the finale of the day, we added another diagonal line at the end for 5 fences in a row! It was awesome! We had to trot in to the last line due to some ring traffic, but Simon went up and over no problem - I'm sure the second fence in the last 2 lines were 2'6" - that is crazy! I could hardly believe I was jumping that size fence already - but Simon was smooth and steady. He gets a little excited when you start jumping and is more "exhuberant." He especially likes it when you tell him "good boy" and pat him - I think it makes him go even faster in glee. :) He's so much fun.

Kim again commented how much Simon likes me - she says he doesn't get along with everyone. He did at least 3 flying changes for me. (I'm not really sure that I asked for them, but I must have been well balanced enough for him to do them himself. )

After the lesson, we went for a short trail ride with my neighbor, Jodi, down alongside the fields to cool out. It was really nice to relax like that - I love trail rides, and I it was a special treat to get to do that!