Lesson 2/13/12

Tonight when I got to the barn, next to my name on the list was a blank. I went up to the riding ring and my instructor said that I should continue riding Kilo, since it would be easier for now. Because of the snow, we could only use the small ring, so it was just easier to ride a horse that I already knew a little bit about.

 Anyway, by the time I went back down to the barn I was a little bit behind everyone else in the tacking up process, so I tried to go faster. Of course, Kilo was being grumpy as usual and kept trying to bite me whenever I even looked at him the wrong way. I just had to do everything really slowly and carefully, and when my instructor came down from her previous lesson she helped me. She basically has to do the whole saddle part because Kilo gets extra bite-y near his legs and stomach, which I'm fine with. She told me that if you just watch Kilo's head the whole time, he won't bite as much since he thinks he's going to get caught (which he will).

Once in the ring, I realized it was going to be very tricky to navigate in such a small area with four other horses and riders. It was hard to try and walk at a good pace without getting too close to another horse. After a while we were all spaced out pretty good, and when we started the figure-eights it was easier because we could turn in different directions at the intersection. After warming-up our instructor had us do an exercise where we would ask our horses to walk faster on one long side of the ring, then just relax until we came to that long side again. All of our horses were pretty happy with this exercise. The one horse, Chester, who had spooked last week, was the calmest I'd ever seen him. All of the horses looked so relaxed and it was relaxing for me too.

After a while, we did the same sort of exercise except this time, when we came to the one long side we had to ask our horses to walk almost fast enough to trot, but then relax right before they actually trotted. Kilo did surprisingly well with this - he was actually listening to me and doing what I asked. After we did that exercise, we did the same thing but with trotting. Then we just had to trot until we caught up with the horse in front of us, so basically taking turns. Kilo was very responsive with this as well.

As I said before, I was really happy with Kilo tonight, other than the issues he had while tacking up. He didn't even do a huge stumble like he's done the past two weeks! Overall it was a good lesson, and I'm definitely looking forward to next week's.

Also, something I didn't mention earlier was that one of the horses in the lesson was apparently sick. He's a new horse, so I hadn't seen him before, and I don't even think he had a name. Anyway, they said he might have had something called strangles, which is apparently contagious because when I was leaving my lesson horses were being moved so their stalls could be disinfected and things like that. One of the ladies who rode with me was going to another barn afterwards, and she had to change her gloves and wash her hands really good to avoid spreading the sickness. Just thought that was an interesting side note!

Lesson 2/6/12

It was a really nice day when I rode - it was sunny and not very cold. I rode Kilo again at 5:30, as that is the time I'll be riding at for the time being. As soon as a hooked Kilo up to the cross-ties in the barn though, he started to turn his head to try and bite me. He wouldn't even let me get near him without pinning his ears and biting. Eventually my instructor had to hold his head to make him stop doing that, which was annoying because I hate when I have to have someone help me with something like that. Anyway, after Kilo stopped biting I finished grooming and tack him up.

For me, this lesson wasn't very strenuous. A lot of my instructor's attention was on the other two riders, which is the downside of a group lesson. I pretty much did my own thing except when all of us were instructed to figure-eight or trot or something. So after some warm-up circles, we did some half halts, and I tried to work on getting Kilo to move faster. Even though I had a crop with me it was really difficult to get him to pick up the pace. 

After a while, we started to trot a figure-eight. Our instructor taught us a way to try and get our horses to bend around the circles, which was by leaning slightly on the side that we wanted or horses to bend into. For example, if I wanted Kilo to bend to the inside, I would lean a little bit on my inside foot while turning from my center at the same time. It actually worked a couple times, but it was hard to get Kilo to do that when I was more focused on getting him to actually move at a good pace. Towards the end of the lesson I had to smack him on the shoulder just to get him to trot at all. That sounds harsh, but I was doing everything I could to make him trot and he just wouldn't, so I kind of needed to.

A problem I, and my instructor, have noticed is that Kilo stumbles a lot. He actually did this last week too, but in this lesson when I was trying to get him to trot Kilo's knees just sort of buckled under him, making him fall a little bit. It was really scary, as it felt like I was going to be rolled on by this huge animal! Luckily though, he got his footing and was up again fairly quickly, but after that I just stopped walking for a while. My instructor looked concerned and I was a little freaked too, because who wants a horse start falling and possibly squish them?

Soon after this happened, another rider was having problems with her horse, Chester. He was being difficult before I think, and I'm not exactly sure the details but Chester started to spook for some reason, going into a sort of canter and lifting his head up really high. He was moving towards Chachi, who of course also started to spook a little, but luckily the instructor was there to stand in front of Chester and calm him down a little. I was surprised how little Kilo was affected - we were literally just standing there watching this happen, and he didn't even shift or anything! I was grateful for that though, obviously. Three horses spooking at once would have been very bad news.

Once the spooking was over and done with, all of us got to trot a little bit longer just to end the lesson. I was actually shivering by the end because I had barely done any trotting. Despite all the problems though, it was still a pretty good lesson, and hopefully we can resolve Kilo's biting and stumbling issues next week!

Tack Shops and Riding Apparel

Hey everyone, since I normally just write about my riding lessons, I thought it's be a good idea to blog about something different this week as well. I'm going to write a little bit about the tack shops I go to and what I wear to ride. I hope this interests you a little!


Tack Shop #1: Rick's Heritage Saddlery

Ariat Terrain boots

Irideon riding tights

Since this place is so close to me, I like to go here whenever I need something for riding. I actually bought my first pair of riding boots here, which were called Ariat Terrain boots, and now I just use them to work on Sundays. I also got a really nice pair of breeches here for my birthday last year, which I use to ride in the summer because they are so light and airy.

Right now I usually wear a pair of pants my mom got for me at Target. I know that's a weird place to get riding clothes but they were in the girl's department and the tag says "breeches" on it. They even have a little knee patch on them! I like them for winter because they are thick and keep my legs from rubbing the saddle.



Tack Shop #2: Bit of Heaven Tack Shop

Paddock boots

Half chaps

I love this place mainly because it has a secondhand area where you can buy gently used riding clothes for a really cheap price. I almost always get gift cards to go here for my birthday and Christmas, so I love coming to shop here! When first I got relatively serious about riding, I came here to get my first pair of riding pants, boots, and half chaps. I got them all from the secondhand area too, so the boots and half chaps were nicely worn in.

I bought a pair of tan breeches and a pair of zip-up paddock boots Paddock boots are the basic riding shoe and I still where them - they are awesome! I also bought half chaps, which go over paddock boots and zip or velcro up tightly to give the appearance of tall boots. They also help a lot with gripping to the saddle when riding. As of now the pair I bought here still fit and work really nicely, so I plan to keep them for a while. I would eventually like a new pair of half chaps, not used but actually new, just to maybe get a better fit, but the ones I have are still good.

My riding gloves

I also bought my riding gloves here, which I wear at every lesson when it starts to get colder. I got ones with little beads on the fingers to help with grip, and I love wearing them. I've only had my current pair about a year, but I've already had to sew up a giant hole that was worn into the thumb and  there are several small holes in the other fingers. I'm actually hoping to go with my mom to the BOH Tack Shop this Saturday to get a new pair of these gloves so my hands don't freeze.


Other than these two places, I don't really go anywhere else to shop for riding apparel. I did buy the jacket that I ride in from my barn, which is a green windbreaker with the barn's name and my name on it. The elastic is tight so it's good for keeping the wind out, which is why it's good for riding in the winter in.

Well, I can't really think of what else I wear to ride, but I hope you enjoyed reading about all of this stuff. :)

Lesson 1/30/12

After my lesson being cancelled last week, I was very eager to ride last night. I rode Kilo again, but this week my lesson was at 5:30 because my instructor has been trying to combine lessons to make it easier. So it was darker and colder when I rode, but it actually wasn't that bad. This week I rode with three other people, one of which is actually one of the girls who rode a lesson I used to volunteer at.

Also new this week was that I had to put a breastplate (see the picture) on Kilo. It's used to keep the saddle in place on the horse's back and to prevent it from sliding backward. Basically you put on the saddle and the girth, thread the bottom loop of the breastplate through the girth (between the horse's two front legs), and clip the top two clips to the saddle. Hopefully you can see that a little in the picture.

Since there were so many people in the lesson, I basically got to do my own thing to warm up. I just did some circles and basically went where there weren't other people riding. After a while our instructor told us to do a three-loop serpentine, just looping around the ring in a figure-eight sort of motion. It was a little tricky to do this without running into other horses, so a lot of the time we had to loop back or cut across the ring.

After about four full serpentines around the ring, we were told to trot. I got Kilo to trot fairly easily, and he actually went along at a nice pace for the majority of the time. The only time it got hard to keep Kilo trotting was where the ground was especially hard and frozen. At those spots he would slow down and I would have to just push him along until he went faster. For a while I was actually the only one trotting, because the other horses kept having problems for some reason. Of course, then I started to have problems.

After trotting so nicely for so long, Kilo just kind of stopped trotting, and he would not pick up another trot. I wiggled my legs, a nudged him, and then finally kicked him a little, and he still would not trot. Eventually my instructor noticed and gave me a crop to use, which got Kilo into a trot soon after. For the rest of the time Kilo and I trotted comfortably (at least I did) until the end of the lesson. Down at the barn the instructor said that my ride was very nice, and I have to say I agree. What I mean by that is it felt really good to ride after missing a week, and I felt like I accomplished a lot and got more comfortable trotting on Kilo.

Lesson 1/23/12 Cancelled!

I just realized I never blogged about last week's lesson. I have no idea how that happened! I definitely thought I had written about it, but I guess not... Anyway, I would be talking about my lesson last night, except that it was cancelled.

As soon as I got home from school my mom told me that the barn owner had called to cancel my lesson, because of the awful conditions of the barn. As you probably know, it snowed last week, so that would have been a mess by itself, but then it also rained yesterday, so everything at the barn must have been wet and muddy and, overall, these are not good riding conditions. Of course, today is one of the nicest days, being almost 50 degrees, but that's usually the way it is.

I'm not sure if I'll get either another lesson, a practice ride, or a refund, but even so, I will make sure I blog next week about my lesson - let's hope the conditions are nice by then!

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. :)

Lesson 1/2/12

First lesson of 2012! :)

When I arrived at the barn and saw the list of who was riding who, under my name it had three horses: Kilo, Captain, or Daisy. I talked to my instructor, and since Daisy was in a lesson at that time I had to choose between Kilo or Captain. My instructor sounded like she wanted me to ride Kilo, and he seemed like a cool horse so I chose to ride him. Unfortunately he has rain rot, which is some kind of skin disease (click the link to read more). Because he has this it makes him really sensitive to being touched anywhere he has it, so grooming was pretty difficult. Every time I even went near Kilo with a brush he tried to bite me. I just put my hand on him and waited till he stopped before I brushed him. I was extra cautious around his back legs, which he tried to kick me with, and I skipped picking his back hooves altogether.

Once up in the ring, I got on Kilo and I don't know if it was just me, but he felt really tall for some reason. I thought it might be because I hadn't ridden the week before or something. But anyway, I got used to Kilo's walk a little by walking in big circles and I practiced adding in energy by exaggerating my seat movements (I don't know if that makes any sense to you guys at all). That worked pretty well, so we moved onto trotting.

My instructor had me try and get Kilo to trot by just exaggerating my seat movements a lot, but that didn't work very well so she had me add in some leg pressure as well, alternately squeezing my legs. This worked fairly quickly, so I just trotted around the ring a few times, still going in big circles. Then my instructor told me to just sit the trot, without posting, and to give leg pressure until Kilo pushes me into posting, rather than me doing all the work. This probably sounds confusing, but what she was looking for was enough energy for me to actually be sort of forced out of the saddle. It took a little while to get the hang of this, but once I felt Kilo actually do that, it made a huge difference.

I basically practiced that for the majority of the lesson, so by the end my legs were killing me from doing so much sitting trot. After that my instructor had me trot one big circle, and then cut the corner of the ring as I came out of that circle. Then I had to use my inside leg and post diagonally to push Kilo over to the outside of the ring, which worked a couple of times. My instructor had me do this because she said it helped Kilo prepare himself for a canter, which is what I did next. I did the same thing as before - I trotted a circle, and as I came out of the circle I pushed Kilo over to the outside. This time though I asked him to canter as soon as he was on the outside of the ring. He cantered almost immediately, and I found that I actually liked his canter! I did that maybe two more times, and that was the end of the lesson.

Overall it was a very satisfying lesson, especially compared to the slightly disastrous one that I'd had two weeks before. And I was very happy to canter again after so long!