First Lessons

Whewwww am I tired.
I'm a big sleepy combination of jetlag, over load of information, and sore muscles. But here we go!
(P.s. I'm currently writing about yesterday, but I'm hoping to catch up on my day off)

Day 1 was pretty cruisy. I helped muck the yards and feed, tacked up a few horses for clients and then had my very first lesson.
Romeo was my ride, a Gelderlander, which is basically a heavy Warmblood breed. And he IS a giant. From the saddle I couldn't reach his ears!!

Full size boots baaaareely did up around his seriously thick legs, and thank God for mounting blocks.
In his last career he was an international carriage horse, and he looks like one. Just blows my mind the size of some of these horses!

My jacket for scale

Every time someone asked who I was riding, they groaned sympathetically when I named Romeo, and wished me luck keeping my position on him.
Just fabulous! There goes any hope of making a good first impression.

As promised, he was more than bouncy. I thought standardbreds had a big stride. Nuh uh!
I can see how he is useful for improving seats, though. I had to really REALLY work. He was super willing and sweet, I'm just not used to such a long, tall horse and that gigantic stride.

After getting to know his buttons a little, (note to self, riding a super sensitive, zippy Lippi is polar opposite to Warmbloods. Dear Lord, my legs and butt.)
We did an exercise called 'Satellite Circles', which starts on a 20m circle. At certain points of the circle we would change direction into a 10m circle, then change direction again back onto the 20m circle. First in trot, then doing the 10m circle in canter. All while keeping rhythm, bend and position, making neat transitions, and clear changes of bend.

Remember how I said Romeo is really long and big? Yep. 10m canter circles. I did it, but I had to ride my pants off. I honestly didn't think it was possible for me to get that giant balanced  on such a small circle, but there you go! What a champ.

After the lesson I watched an advanced client being taught by Tina. It is SO useful to watch others coach, particularly a coach as impressive as Tina. She sees things that I hadn't even thought about!

The afternoon was spent doing more stable chores, turning out, bringing in, rugging, feeding, mucking, brushing, washing, sweeping etc. Etc. Work never ends with horses.

I don't think I can write more right now. I'm falling asleep and should get to bed. The weekends are apparently manic!
Until tomorrow!