So today I had a riding lesson. We moved my lessons to Wednesday mornings, so I rode at 10am. Here's how it went.
Grooming/Tacking up
This snob was terribly behaved while grooming. While I was grooming his right side he tried to squish me against the wall twice, and after pushing him away from me, he gave a small side kick which he has never done before. He refused to pick up his feet for picking, and he hardly stood still. I thought about riding in the saddle because I expected bad behaviour while riding, but it's covered in cobwebs and dust because none of his riders use it anymore. So I grabbed the bareback pad and his bitless bridle and tacked up, then brought him to the arena.
Warm up
I first walked around the arena once with Rudy following just to our few liberty lessons and to get his attention on me. Then I had him side to the gate which I used to mount, because the mounting block wasn't in the arena. Then we walked around a few laps.
Main ride/activity
After about 5 minutes of walking, I asked him for a trot. We trotted a good few laps and then I gave him a small breather before turning him around and trotting the other way. He did really well and hardly tried slowing down. He did trip a couple times which threw him into a walk but he immediately went back to trotting without me having to push him which was nice. After a few minutes I gave him another small break. Then we walked a lap, trotted a couple laps, and then I asked for a lope. It took some urging as it always does, but he went into a nice, smooth lope. I've always wanted to try holding my arms out as if I'm flying while loping, so this time I went no hands, and it was one of the best things I've ever done tbh. It was really fun to do and Rudy was amazing. After a couple laps of loping I stopped him and gave him lots of pats. Then I turned him around and walked, trotted, and loped the other way. He went into a lope quickly and smoothly and had a very nice stride. I also felt very balanced and secure which helped a lot. So after a few laps of that, I stopped him again and let him have a little breather. After that, I walked the other direction then asked him to do a walk > lope transition. It took more urging but he did it and went into another beautiful lope. So after just one lap I stopped him and then ended the lesson there. And at one point in there I stood up on him just because I wanted to xD and it feels really weird but really cool to stand on a horse's back. Then he started backing up while I was standing and I nearly fell :joy:
Anyway, that was it for my riding lesson this week. I gave him a couple carrots and then let him back out in the pasture.
Have a wonderful week and stay healthy!
~HorseCrazy :purple_heart:
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