Well, I had one of those lessons on Saturday. You see, I have a horse in training at Bluebonnet Farms. He is getting a very late start as he turned 5 this year and is only now being broke. Here he is as a weanling being shown in the Texas Futurity:
With that training, I get a riding lesson every week. I cherish them. I think about the last lesson I had until Wednesday.... okay - my sore muscles keep reminding me of it! .. but then when the soreness starts to fade, I start getting excited about the next weekend lesson! I started the lessons only riding their lesson horses so I could get my riding muscles back into shape. After 4 weeks of that, I started to trailer Oliver up there and ride him aside again. Sandy, the head trainer of Bluebonnet Farms, divulged to me that she used to compete aside! Oh - how thrilled I was to hear that!!! She has been front and center every time I ride sidesaddle and I am just ecstatic about that!! Once my sidesaddle lesson is over, I still ride a lesson horse astride and am still learning new things... are you ready... for the first time, Dora (the Assistant Trainer..and amazing equitation trainer!) made me ride without my stirrups. I am 49 years old...FORTY NINE! Do you know how painful that is...
Yeah - lets just say that this week I may be thinking about my last weekend riding lesson until Thursday.. or maybe even Friday!
2 comments:
After you get over the sheer horror of it, you will find how helpful it is. On New Year's I took off my stirrups and hung them in the tackroom. Then two weeks later, I bought a taller mounting block and retired the saddle for the winter. It took my three weeks to let go of the mane. But when Spring finally arrived, and we headed outdoors, I sort of regretted having to put the saddle back on.
I was forced to ride without them for 2 months when I was a teenager. It didn't hurt that much then, I'm no so sure how well I'd fare now. The good news is it makes riding bareback a breeze by the time you get used to it!
Post a Comment