I had my first lesson!

Boy did I have fun! It felt so great to be near a horse again after not seeing one in over a year. I wasn't the least bit nervous either which surprised me!
Even after owning my own horse for a year I've only ever ridden a horse maybe a handful of times, I think I did really well!

My instructor is very nice and very clear in her instructions which helps a lot.
We worked on my balance. I had to hold my arms out straight while the horse walked on a lunge line. I then had to touch my right hand to my left toe and vise versa (that one had me a bit worried but wasnt as bad as I thought). Then I had to lay straight back which was really fun. We went over foot positioning, hand positioning (english riders hold their reins really oddly).

Then we worked on walking and halting and how to sit deep in the saddle. We worked on the que to walk and "working walk".
Then she let me lead her by myself and we worked on leg ques and hand movements.
We worked with stirrups and without. Besides getting my legs mixed up every now and then I didnt have much trouble.

We tried to trot just a second so I could feel her movement but I started bouncing all over the place and we stopped LOL. If I can accomplish sitting the trot I will be over joyed!

The horse was an older 20+yr Trakehner mare. She was a bit on the lazy/sluggish side (really had to coax her a couple times to keep up with the "working walk") since she hasnt been used in months but shes very very sensative to ques which is nice. Shes wonderful to ride to!

So all in all I was just too over joyed with the way my first lesson went and I cant wait to battle it out with the evil sitting trot next week!

Sounds like it went well.

That is wonderful! I'm glad it was great, & I'm sure it will continue to be fun each time!

Congrats! It sounded like a really fun/interesting lesson. Glad things are going so well. And yes... oh the evils of the sitting trot. I still find it hard sometimes.

Keep us updated!

sounds like you had fun! My cure for the sitting trot, no sturrips and bareback! lol that might be awhile for you! lol I'm the only one at on our team that LOVES riding sitting trot!

Hehe my ultimate goal is to be comfortable riding bareback. I remember when I was little, a lady threw me up on her horse bareback. The horse was a sweetie and couldn't care less about me but I was soo terrified of sliding off!

Good for you! It's great that you are getting lessons. It sounds like your instructor started you off well. The in saddle exercises are a great way to get comfortable with yourself in the saddle and get used to the movements of the horse. I still remember my first riding lesson when I was a little kid and we did much of the same thing.

One thing that has always helped me when I'm sitting the trot is to take deep breaths and focus on relaxing the muscles in my belly and back. This sounds really simple (and really it is) but it helps so much to absorb the "bumpiness" of the trot. Give it a try next time. Just take a deep breath and focus on relaxing those muscles.

Keep us posted on how it goes!

Jubilee

Congrats on starting the lessons! Have fun with them. I love to sit the trot on the one horse I ride, but on other horses it is still a bit tough.

When I do the sitting trot, I think about something other than the sitting trot, because when I start thinking about troting, I bounce around more. Let you knees and ankles absorb the shock of the bounce.

My next lesson is tomorrow so I'll let you know how it goes! I'll probably be sleeping through the sitting trot since I start work at 6:30am, get off at 3 and start my lesson almost immediately afterwards. =/