Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Who knew?

I would fall in love with horseback riding..
4 "lessons" ago I thought I would just give it a shot and try it out for "fun", Fai was supposed to be the one that was really "serious" but I think I am more in to it now compared to him, which is pretty strange because just about a week ago I knew nothing about it and of course didn't know it was going to be so fun and enjoyable.

I love horseback riding because.. Well.. I don't have to warm up (I hate doing push-ups and chin-ups and.. I think you get it.), you jump on the horse and start RIDING or do splits and its's fun, you get to go at your own pace (You can always slow down the horse but who would want to do that when it is SO much fun trotting?), you get to wear "fancy" clothes (Mmm... Love them boots, gloves and riding choppers jodhpurs! But i don't exactly enjoy wearing a helmet...)  and you get to be around these lovely creatures called, horses!

Reached the stables at 740Am or so..
I went on King (Again! But they did mention that I could ride any one of their horses after today's lesson! Can't wait for that!) and the boys shared Ali, another dark down horse.

I had a bit of trouble during the first 20-30 minutes or so because King just wouldn't obey my instructions or my pulling of reins, which ever you prefer and would stop and NOT trot, maybe he did but only for 10 seconds... Then started walking again, yeesh.
Then I was told I was being bullied by King!
So I had to shorten the reins even more, by about 6 inches (On the first or second lesson when I was riding I was hold the reins like... 20 inches from where I was holding them today! No wonder it didn't listen to me at ALL on the first or second lesson...
I guess it felt better once I had shorten it and I was given a little stick like thing to tap the back a bit (Not whack!) when he wasn't listening!
Tried the stick once when he was slowing down while trotting to see what it does... He suddenly went super speedy/hyper and nearly knocked me off! Never underestimate the power of thy little stick!

My rising trot was also corrected to make me balance better.
It was a strange way to correct the rising "rhythm", you correct it by sitting down while the horse is trotting and bounce twice then get up again and do the rising trot, strange?
If you are going clockwise you are supposed to to "rise" when the horse's right front foot goes in front, then sit when it goes down and the other way round if you are doing it anti clockwise.
Got shouted "Diagonal!" (Am not sure why it's call that.) a lot today, hahaha! But the feeling when you get it right is awesome and you would have to maintain that "rightness" once you get it which was quite tricky at first  but you would soon get it!

And I was also told to "Not push myself too hard", which was strange to hear because... I always do.
What's the point of doing something you love and not doing your best at it?
I am not someone who likes looking back and regretting on why I didn't try harder when I could.

Also discovered that the quicker you "rise" the quicker the horse will trot!

Spent 2 hours on King instead of the usual one hour and I somehow didn't exact feel tired once I got down!
I never knew I could ride for such a long time, comparing myself to the first lesson..

Am feeling hungry! Goodbye! Next Rapidash/Horsea/Ponyta post-Friday, tomorrow's my (And my jean's! Today discovered, after riding that if I used my calves to grip the horse, which felt much better than using my knees, my jeans start to... RIP! Better get those jodhpurs soon before all my jeans get ripped, eh Mommy?) rest day!
 
~K

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