Today I had my last extra lesson for the holidays, and again I found myself cheated out of Murphy. The instructor started saying his name, then realized she’d actually put me down for Gamir. Gah. My nerves had mostly recovered since Tuesday, but I still really wanted to ride Murphy. I requested him four times, and only managed to get him once, and that does make me a bit annoyed. Unfortunately, my mood wasn’t improved as I realized that we wouldn’t be having my regular instructor, but rather then senior instructor at the riding school. Don’t know if they changed, or if I got it wrong when I signed up, but that was definitely a surprise I could have done without. Although she’s a highly qualified instructor and and a lot of people like her, I have never been able to ride well for her. Partly because she never seems to understand just how frightened I get in some situations and on some horses, and partly because her style of instruction just doesn’t work for me.
But, not much that could be done about that today, so I got Gamir ready (with a minimum of fussing from his side, which was good, considering that he often tries to kick a whole in the wall of his stall when being saddled) and headed down to the arena with the rest. I was really worried someone would set off any firecrackers. especially at the start of the lesson, but things went pretty smoothly. Malupin did get startled at one point (so I am glad I changed to asking for Gamir as my second horse), probably from a firecracker, but most of the other horses didn’t react. I did, however, shorten my reins just to be on the safe side, but of course my instructor told me not to almost immediately. I know the horses ideally need to walk on a long rein to start, to soften up, but when I get nervous I just can’t make myself do that. However, she never understands that.
The exercises today concentrated on lateral work as well as work on a circle. The lateral work Gamir does extremely well, and I was able to concentrate on the things my instructor wanted to improve in regards to my hands, though it still felt odd (as it always does with a different instructor) the way she would pick on completely different things than my regular instructor. Always takes a bit of getting used to. This was especially noticeable once we moved to working on a circle, and she kept nagging me about getting him properly curved along the path. There’s just something about the way she instructs me that doesn’t sit well with me, no matter how hard I try to keep positive as well as focused.
So, it took a while before I got anywhere, though once I had felt how it should be once it was a bit easier to find it again later on. I find it very awkward how she always asks for longer reins, though, as I felt much too out of control once Gamir had been ridden enough forward that he found a pretty big, scopey trot completely unlike his normally very short strides. Even though he moved pretty darn well at that stage, and was coming nicely forward and down with his head and neck, I couldn’t quite enjoy myself as I did notice that he was energized enough that the canter was very, very close. To me, he felt a little too rushed, though it could be that the difference between his regular trot and his good trot was just big enough to make me feel that way.
On the whole, I wasn’t too happy with the lesson, though I am not sure that riding Murphy for her would have been much better. He’s pretty difficult to get anywhere with, and it never works if I try too hard from the start. I just have to cross my fingers that I will get him for some regular dressage lessons next year. Provided, of course, that there’s a suitable class available for me to attend. Its looking a bit bleak at the moment, and I will go utterly insane if I don’t get to ride each week.