Today is not a good day. It should have been, but I worked a little too much yesterday, accomplished a little too little and have too much to do today. Add the usual end of semester and holiday stress on top of that ... and I am not coping.
So, I am going to think about this week’s lesson for a bit. Because it was fun. Maybe not a huge step forward, but it felt good. I was on Heddvig (that’s our resident North Swedish Horse), and we had cantering to do. Not an easy thing for a pretty untrained horse that a) has been bred primarily for trotting and b) has been spending most of her life until the stable got a hold of her herding cows.
However, it went a lot better this week than before. I stayed calm, sat still and just tried to let her pick it up at her own pace. She’s actually very good for teaching me to not overdo things, so she’s a great counter to Murphy in that. And we did get some okay canter, even on a circle. Of course, she was in a bit of a mood (she’s a bossy, sassy mare with lots of opinions) and did make it harder for both of us by showing attitude towards the other horses. We talked about that, though. Then, after cantering on the right lead for a while, we switched to the left. Now it got really interesting.
This was harder for her, quite clearly, and she treated me to some rather impressive bucks when I informed her that it wasn’t optional. And then she actually gave me a better canter to the left than she had to the right. Not for long, just half a circle, but it felt good. What felt best though was feeling those bucks and not getting the least scared. I just kept on pushing, I didn’t back off. In fact, I probably pushed more than was necessary, which almost got me bucked off, but I still didn’t get scared.
For someone who would be crying hysterically if the wrong horse did that (actually, if the wrong horse did much less than that), its a great feeling. I mean, I know it doesn’t extend to every horse and every situation (I’d be a bit more timid outdoors), but its still a boost for my shaky confidence. I don’t think I’ll ever be comfortable on anything much over 15 hands, and it bothers me that the riding school only has 2-3 horses that I can ride, but at least I know I can manage on the right sort of horse.