More horsie rides

On Wednesday, I went to the keuring to watch Wal. I went after work, however, and she had already gone. I spoke with Richard and Susan for a bit, and the guy that was helping them out spoke with us, too. Apparently, he had tried to get in with Richard doing what I'm doing (helping out with the horses in exchange for lessons), but Richard had told him he wasn't a good enough rider yet. During my lesson on Saturday--more on that in a bit--I was riding one of their mares, and the minute I got on, Richard told me to get her to lower her head and neck so she would relax. I was able to do it immediately, and Richard stopped me for a moment. He said another student of his had tried to do the same thing, and throughout the entire lesson, couldn't get the mare to relax and lower her head. So he told her he didn't have anybody for her to ride! I appreciate that kind of honesty, and I'm flattered (and privileged, I suppose) that I'm good enough that he's happy to have me riding, but if someone had ever told me the things he's said to some of these riders, I'd be heartbroken. I mean, we all have to start at the same place--right at the beginning. His reasoning is that he doesn't want someone else to ruin his horses, which is understandable I suppose. The guy that helped them out on Wednesday took the criticism the way it was meant to be taken, and has been working hard to improve his riding. He's a better person than I am... I would have taken it personally. :)

I rode two horses Saturday--Nokomas and Dansk. Nokomas (pronouned "nuh-KO-muss") is a cute little bay mare that was actually pretty fun to ride, but slightly difficult for me. It was easy for me to get her to reach for the bit at the walk, but the trot was more challenging. Eh, she's a mare, and therefore prone to pickiness. We did some shoulder-ins and leg-yields, some good, some bad. The canter was difficult to pick up. I'm still learning this whole "ask for the canter from your seat" thing, instead of the leg. It's almost like I have to shift my weight to the inside seat bone while also pushing with my inside seat bone to the outside. Yeah, it's hard.

Dansk was pretty good. At one point, and I'm still not entirely sure what I did, but during the canter, I must have shifted my weight to the outside seat bone, because he suddenly did a canter stride almost on the spot, changed his bend, and then continued on as though nothing happened. Richard said he thought I was asking for a flying change. I don't know. He did kick out at the canter at one point--apparently I let my outside leg slip back. Oops. We had a beautiful shoulder-in to the left. Sigh... when it's good, it's GOOD. When it's bad, it's... well... really bad.

I'm really curious as to what kind of rides I would have on these horses had this been three or four years ago. Probably a mess. I also wonder if Baloo wouldn't have been such a squirt (that's putting it very nicely) if I were to ride him today. My very first trainer accused me of turning him into a jerk--he was actually like that before I bought him, but it did get worse--and while I realize now that maybe she's partially right, #1 she shouldn't have put me on Baloo, much less let us buy him, and #2 she should have trained me correctly in the first place so that our issues didn't escalate.