It's been a busy week but I have managed to ride too. Have been suffering from a slight lack of funds too, so decided to rein in the amount I spend on lessons. The amount has been growing to around £55 per week, as I have two private lessons a week, and sometimes more if I am doing some 'semi-private' ones. So I have decided to alternate, so that I mainly have one private a week and then weekly jumping lessons which are 'semi-private'. Will need to break the news to my instructors. But I have to be a bit sensible... The amount of money I spent on R on top of the standard livery charge has grown over the summer and there really is no need. I can ride her for free, so I don't always need an instructor by my side to give orders at £25–30 per hour. Besides, it's probably more beneficial to have one lesson a week (a schooling lesson) and then have at least two days to hone those learnt lessons on our own. Besides R isn't that passionate about schooling, I can tell, but I have to do them for our both sakes – and for me to learn! – so tough.
We've also had nice hacks this week with friends. On Friday, we got soaked as it started raining big fat drops, horizontally, and we slightly got lost as tried to find a new route. Well, not lost, but once we went around these fields my friend knew would lead up back to the 'main route' we take, only to find out that the last leg of the route, through a farm, had been closed off. A very surly sign with words 'Private – No Walkers, No Horses' made it very clear so we had to turn back. In the rain. So the horses, the riders and the saddles were soaked when we rocked back to the yard. Did get a nice canter in though, although I was a bit 'rude' by cantering on when my friend's beast decided again it was too much and broncoed again. We finished our canter at the end of the grass verge, and patiently waited for our friends to finally canter to us 'neatly', with no broncoing.
This rudeness towards my other friend (not that she minded, as I apologised for having been selfish and she was OK) must have been stored in the karma bank as, yesterday, when cantering on another verge, with another friend, while I was doing my very best jockey impression – egging Rainbow on – I suddenly see a discarded bit of black cabling on the ground. I knew R would clock it too (snake!), and I actually prepared for a rightward evasion movement. The evasion came, but so did a couple of sharp bucks too which I didn't have time to react to. I was still in the light seat, with no time to lift my hands up or to kick on, so I fell off. Luckily it was a quiet bit of field and R proceeded to immediate grazing, so, despite slightly walking away from my friend (who was still on her pony) and me at first, we soon caught her without major commotion. My friend was brilliant, not that I was hurt – I was back on my feet as soon as I had hit the ground – but she kept talking to me and instructing where to get back on R and she held the saddle from the other side, while I clambered back on using a grass verge as my stool, and talked about the Red Kites (bird of prey, not a kite the flying object) that were circling above us on this gloriously bright and sunny day.
We trotted off and Rainbow was a bit 'swoosh' after the incident, and attempted to spook at something else. Again, Becca's reassuring commentary helped; when R was a bit spooky, she told me to kick her on and show who's in charge. It's what you know you should do, but after falling, the adrenalin automatically starts to race through the veins, then, afterwards making me a bit jelly-like, it's good to hear a friend to tell you what to do – it just sort of confirms it and reassures you.
We got onto the second verge where we often canter (and where I'd had the nice canter on Fri) and I said we could trot and if I felt R was listening I might quietly raise another canter. My friend's pony was quiet and well behaved, so they came behind us and didn't mind which gait we did. So I trotted on and eventually raised a controlled canter. Rainbow was fine and stopped OK too. Afterwards, it actually seemed she relaxed and was back to her normal 'non-swooshy' self. So it was good to have a clean canter without R doing a rodeo show and mummy falling off like a rag doll. :)
I am hoping this won't scar me for a long time, as I have been feeling confident on R in the recent months. But I intend to go out again this week and do a canter.
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