Learning to Ride

Fun development happened last weekend! I decided to get in touch with a friend of mine (who we'll call E) who has taught riding lessons in the past and also is one of the very few people in my area who actually knows something about English riding and specifically dressage.

You can't imagine how excited I was when she got back to me and said she could come and watch me ride.  Eeeek!  I was pretty excited to say the least.

And nervous. I have actually never ridden around someone who is a lot better than me. Never had a lesson in my life. I think I'm pretty good, and I do have a lot of knowledge in my head, but how do I measure up to someone else?

I actually was sick the morning of the day we arranged and almost cancelled because of it, but I was so glad later that I didn't. I squeezed a nap in and felt quite a bit better - good enough to ride at least with mediocre skill!  Lol...

Pretty much the whole time was spent on a circle with the middle portion on the lunge (which I definitely needed).
We weren't working on Lady, but on me, which was perfect because Lady is an angel and I'm the mess... right?

I wish it were this green again...

Biggest thing that I remember was that I need to keep my shoulders back and my elbows underneath my shoulders.  I have a bad tendency to slouch/tense my shoulders, so I'll have to work harder on that.

Main things I need to work on...

• Shoulders/elbows: create that line through shoulders/hips/heels.
• Push her forward with my seat/hips. I thought I was doing this, but it wasn't enough.
• Drop my heels in two point, and then drop them further.
• Pinkie finger goes under the rein, thumb stays on top. Don't let it slip.
• And I need to drop my stirrups every ride. Yeah...
• Ride the halt - its a transition.

I enjoyed every minute of the ride and I loved getting feedback about my riding. If the weather holds, we'll be getting together again on Sunday, and I'm really really excited.