First Post . . . Intro

I decided to start a blog to record my experiences learning to ride. Really learning to ride, not just standing and sitting in time to the trot, or using the right rein to turn right, but really ride. I am taking dressage lessons with an awesome trainer and riding her awesome horse. I am learning to be a rider instead of a passenger.

I am a full time univeristy student, at the moment I am only able to ride once a week due to finances and time. I feel that this is a mixed blessing, on one hand I am unable to get as fit as I would like sometimes I feel as though I am not really progressing, but on the other hand I get a week in between rides to mull over what went wrong and fill my head with theory. I have been riding for . . . it'll be three years in June. Started riding at a not so great riding school, focus was really on jumping, by a year of riding I was jumping jusps that were 2'6" and cantering smaller courses. After a particularily bad lesson, riding a green mare involving 2 whips and the instructor chasing me to get over jumps I left the "bad" barn. I started lessons at my current barn with the H/J coach riding their H/J school horses, I rode with her for 6 months, then this injured myself so had to stop riding for a while, just before my injury I had paid for a package of lessons, during my break the H/J trainer moved away, so I came back and took the rest of the lessons with the dressage trainer. Have been riding with her since the fall. Was riding the H/J schoolies but am now riding my instructors thoroughbred gelding.

"T" is a 13 year old chestnut thoroughbred, he's schooling second level dressage with some higher level movements. My instructor bought him as a 5 year old as a PSG prospect. She things that he had an undetected injury at some point so he had some pain issues in his right front coffin bone. So canter on the right lead is a bit funny for him. He isn't an easy ride, he's quite demanding of his rider and I'm not always up to the job especially in canter, he's actually my dressage trainers horse and has been for a few years, he wants me to ride like my trainer but I can't always go that.

He's teaching me to "ride every stride".

I'm doing my best.