We had another fun lesson last week - and my legs are getting back in shape! Yay! Good to know my muscles remember what they're supposed to be able to do rather quickly! :)
We started off with a normal warmup and then trotted in and cantered down the outside line - in what should have been 6 strides, we got 7 the first time, but then got back on track and did it in 6. I'd say the best part of the lesson was that Simon finally lengthened his stride - without getting carried away and crazy fast. When we cantered down the line we got 5 strides like the "big" horses should (instead of our normal adding to be 6) and we did it again on the diagonal line. We also managed to maneuver around the tight corner from last week without any bucking episodes :) .
I think it is a combination of Simon having more energy, and me feeling a little more confident going forward. I'll always remember (probably 20 years ago! OH I FEEL OLD!) when I was riding "Monday" and we took a really big spot and she did what I asked, but ended up crashing through the fence, and landing on her knees and falling hard... Anyways, that one incident is burned into my mind pretty well - so I tend to be cautious with the bigger spots. But Simon has taken such good care of me so far - and he knows what he can and can't do - and corrects my errors. He'll add a stride if he needs to, and occasionally takes a big jump when he sees a better spot than I do. But overall, he really has protected me from my errors so far. :) I'm very lucky that his owner lets me ride him in lessons! :)
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