This lesson was challenging, rewarding and incredible…

Hiya!

Yesterday I did not expect a lesson, because the weather here has been NASTY, but Sophie offered a lesson, and very kindly the weather decided to be nice to me and the two-hour lesson I had with my favourite horse Maz was sunshiny!

Mum dropped me off, and since Sophie wasn’t out at the paddocks yet I let myself in and gave Maz some pats. He wandered up quite eagerly indeed, and gave me some vigorous head-itches. I’ve tried using the face brush to itch him, so he doesn’t use his enormous head and bowl me around, but apparently it’s not the same to him and rubbing his head vigorously up and down on me is the only acceptable form of cuddles…anyway, I gave him some head-itches, and then Sophie asked what my goals for today were. I actually didn’t know, because I jumped my PB last lesson, and although I love jumping, I was kind of keen for some smaller jumps that I could ride better, if that makes sense. I knew I wanted to work on my canter, though, which I’m so so happy to say is improving so much! I’ll freely admit my posture isn’t awesome at the canter, but it still feels awesome, and I’m keen to improve it.

Then Sophie suggested riding bareback! For the whole lesson! Yay! I was a little unsure, because Maz is kind of uncomfortable to ride bareback, because of his bony wither (which isn’t that bad, I’m probably being dramatic heh heh), but Sophie said we could borrow the blue bareback pad and I was READY. I took Maz to the stable and started grooming him, and I picked out his hooves. His hooves are so satisfying to pick out when he’s paddocked in the arena and front paddock, because there’s not a lot of mud, poo ect. that gets stuck in his hoof, so I can easily scrape it out in clumps. I know. I find weird things satisfying. I also borrowed Sophie’s shedding brush, and although we clipped Maz, it’s SO fun to use and it gets out rain scald and mud quicker than my dandy brush does, without clogging it up. Of course I used the dandy brush to brush out the dust, but for the clumps of mud the shedding brush is AWESOME.

While I groomed Maz, Sophie told me about her job (she works for a racing stable!!) and told me about the yearlings she’s training there. I love listening, and although I don’t think I’d be brave enough to work with highly-strung racehorses, I still like hearing about the horses she trains!

Then I put on a squishy pad on Maz’s back, and the bareback pad on top, and I did up the girth, and popped on his bridle. He’s amazing at having the bit in, which is a definite pro. In fact, he’s amazing at everything! Picking up hooves (he holds his weight for me, what a gentleman!), putting on the bit and helping me through my mistakes. Then we had some difficulty mounting, because Maz doesn’t usually line up straight by the mounting block. Usually I can put my foot in the stirrup and hop on a meter away, or mount from the ground, but bareback, I did have to wriggle on…it look a few laps before Maz could properly loosen up, and while he was working himself in, Sophie corrected my position.

In the saddle, it’s easy to learn bad posture habits, because you have the cantel, pommel, kneerolls, stirrups ect. to keep you balanced, so you can end up sitting lopsided and stuff. One thing Sophie reminded me about was pointing my toes forward, not duck-footed outwards. I also had to practice keeping my hands steady, because when we started trotting, I couldn’t rise, so I was bouncing, but I couldn’t jag at his mouth either.

Riding bareback is such a workout! There is so much to think about, and remember, it’s like I’m reliving my first trotting lesson on Zion! Heels down, eyes up, sit back, hands steady, correct diagonal, steady leg…there were a few times where I lost my balance, but the awesome thing to me about riding bareback is that I can feel when my bum slides off his spine, and I can feel when I’m gripping too tightly with one leg. The day after (today) my butt hurt sooo much! When I used to do swimming and did butterfly, my chest ached HORRIBLY after each lesson, and my ride bareback wasn’t much different! It was physically challenging, but still awesome.

I warmed Maz up at the trot, finding my rhythym and balance, and Sophie asked whether I’d like to do trotting poles or cantering next. I said trotting poles, because if Maz isn’t properly warmed up and loose, he can stumble at the canter. The poles were great fun – Maz picked up his feet fabulously, and it felt like we were floating on air! Then we tried a canter. I’ve cantered a few strides bareback before, but for some reason I felt nervous. It drained away though, when I squeezed Maz up and he cantered. Properly. He was rocking gently underneath me, and I didn’t slide off even a little bit once. It was so much more comfortable than the trot, and so, so, fun. We cantered poles, and then Sophie asked if I’d like to try a little jump.

I said yes, mainly because Maz was doing so well, and I had mane and a neck strap to hold onto if anything went wrong. Sophie set up the black pipe I first jumped Zion over, and Maz and I jumped it at a trot first. We grazed it, but that was my fault, really. I was so focused on not losing my balance that Maz slowed down, and didn’t have enough speed to hop over it. Our jumps after it were great, and soon we were sailing over it at a canter! eeeek!

Sophie was so incredibly kind and took videos for me, while instructing (talk about an incredible multitasker!!), so I could capture two of our best jumps. These jumps that I did were the best. LITERAL BEST. They were tidy, and Maz and I had a proper showjumper canter going. Incredible. They weren’t our biggest, but they were our best.

Between the fabulous jumps were a few refusals, though, and I’ll explain what happened in those.

I came around the corner at a trot, asked Maz for a canter, and he gave it to me. For SOME WEIRD reason, this canter felt huge to me, even though, on video, it was exactly the kind of showjumper canter we needed. Anyway, I didn’t line him up straight, and I already felt ‘GULP’ about the canter, so I steered him away from the jump. I did this. TWICE. My bad. I could feel myself getting cross with me, because I was teaching Maz it was OK to veer away from the jumps, and he was doing exacatly as I asked – getting a good canter going, and heading for the jump.

Sophie suggested trying the jump at a trot, just to do it and regain a bit of confidence. We did it, and then the second time we tried a canter and we ACED it. Literally ACED it. The jump after that wasn’t perfect, but Maz was.

A horse has a leading leg when it canters. When the horses’ head goes down and it’s ‘lead leg’ goes forward, that’s one stride. When you approach a jump, the horse has an amount of strides before it gets there. If it comes up a stride short, it has to leap up higher, resulting in what horsey people call a ‘stag jump’. If it comes to the jump a stride too long, it doesn’t have a name, actually. Last lesson, Sophie and I tried to figure out what to call it. I suggested a dog jump, because when our family dog, Sushi, jumps (I’ve trained her to jump hobbyhorse fences!), she jumps long and low. So on this blog, a long jump will be called a Dog Jump, ha ha.

This jump that Maz and I did was a miscalcuation of strides. You can see it in the voiceover video I made below, that there wasn’t enough space to fit in a full canter stride. Some horses would refuse and brake. But Maz is not ‘some horse’. He is the smartest, most experienced gentleman I’ve ever ridden, and do you know what he did for me? He put in one HALF STRIDE, and hopped over. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?? MAZ DID THAT FOR ME. I know, riding bareback, if he had refused, I probably would’ve gone sailing over his head. Luckily it was a little jump, otherwise he may have refused.

After this jump, we finished on our best one. The canter was powerful but rhythmical. Sophie suggested counting his strides as we approached the jump, and I will forever be doing this, because the benifit was awesome. When I’m counting Maz’s strides, I’m gauging the distance to the jump, and I’m thinking about the numbers. I don’t have time to worry about holding on, or if he’ll do anything dodgy. We just leap it. And that’s what we did! I sat it pretty well, from the looks of the video, and I’m so, so proud of that canter before it.

I cooled Maz down, and gave him a carrot. After that lesson, Maz deserves a dectillion carrots. He was really, really well behaved, and ah. I came home on cloud nine!

Tonight, I have big news. Tonight is actually the first night show of Equifest!!!! eeeeeeeeeee!!! Mum paid for me to see the showjumping nightshow, and the Saturday day, and Dad’s coming with me! I’m really excited to see the jumping tonight, because now I know what it’s actually like to ride the canter, wheras last Equifest I knew what it was like to sit on an inanimate big yellow barrel, ha ha. After the showjumping tonight is the barrel racing and scurrying, and I promised my cousin, Tess, I’d take pictures of the scurrying and keep an eye out for a palomino miniature pony, that could be a Goldie lookalike! (her pony is called Goldie btw) Tomorrow I’m looking forward to watching the Kaimanawa Colt Challenge, and Sophie even said she might be there! I hope I’ll bump into her sometime. I have an Equifest wishlist, even though I probably won’t get anything, but here it is:

. Jodhpurs! (I’d really love a pair, because my fitness pants just slide around in the saddle, but jodhpurs have grips on the inside of your pants, which could be really useful for jumping)

. A shedding brush! (So I don’t have to steal Sophie’s ha ha)

. A dressage whip (Dressage whips are longer, which makes it easier to tap Maz’s bum without messing up my hand positioning)

. Gloves (I’m assuming these might help with my grip on the reins? The reins usually slip through my fingers, probably because I don’t have a tight enough grip on them, but I also think gloves just look cool, ngl)

Sophie also said if we do spot eachother at Equifest, she’ll take me to look at the spurs. She reccomends getting a pair, and she’ll show me which, because it’ll free up my hands of the whip while I’m riding. She said if I do get a pair, she’ll show me how to use them. I need to learn to keep a stable leg, so that I don’t end up accidently hitting Maz with a spur because my legs are flapping around like noodles…

That’s the grand horsey world update! Tomorrow there will most likely be pictures and videos of the nightshow! I made a mini-vlog/voiceover out of the clips Sophie took for me, that you can all watch! It’s crazy I make them for my plastic people riding plastic ponies, and now I’m making real ones of real people riding real horses!!! Thanks so much for reading, and stay tuned for the next few horse-crazy posts!!! byeeeeee!!

Here’s the mini vlog I made!!