Lesson 1/9/12

I rode Kilo again today. He was pretty much the same as last week - trying to bite me, kicking out, the usual. My instructor was there this time to help me with it though, and she actually ended up putting on Kilo's bridle and finishing up for me, which I was fine with. I just wanted to get up in the ring before 4:30.

When we were up in the ring, Kilo again would not stand still. My instructor had to hold him for me while I tightened the girth. At this point I think I was ready to do something on my own, as my instructor had helped me with almost everything else. There was also a new horse up in the ring, a beautiful one that I think might have been a dun (coat color), so Kilo was very interested in him. This also made him not want to stay still.

Anyway, I warmed up like last week, just doing big circles in the corners of the ring. I again practiced making Kilo go faster using my seat, and I practiced steering from my center a little bit. Once the new horse left, Kilo got very upset. He kept turning towards him and neighing, which was a little irritating, but after a while he calmed down enough for me to trot. I trotted in a small figure-eight at one end of the ring so my instructor could help me more.

Kilo unfortunately kept trying to turn towards the gate, so I had to do some hard steering. I was doing it wrong though - my instructor told me that I needed to keep pressure on both reins, inside and outside, because otherwise Kilo would just turn his head and not his shoulder. Once I tried that a couple times it was a lot easier, and I was able to keep Kilo on track, for the most part.

Other than that, my lesson was pretty uneventful. Satisfying, but uneventful. It was a very good lesson though, and I got in some good circles at the walk and a good trot at the figure-eight. When I was down at the barn putting stuff away the barn owner, who had been up in the ring watching for a while, told me that I looked very nice doing the circles, and later my instructor told me that my trot was really good, so I was glad the lesson had turned out the way it did. Next week, my instructor said my lesson should be even better because this one was better than last week's, so I am now excited for my lesson next Monday. :)