Back in the saddle again

Had a very cold 30 min pootle in the manège last night. It was late, as I had to wait until the last lesson finished at 8:45 before I could go in, so I was a bit stiff at the beginning.

I went into the manège with no intent other than just riding, so no matter what happened it would be positive.

We only walked round for a couple of minutes before trotting as it was really too cold to potter around. Although I rode for about 20 mins on Saturday, I'm really counting this as my first proper ride of the year.

My first impressions:

My horse is a furry yak Which is hardly surprising at this time of year - but when his fur is all puffed up to keep him warm it looks like is is about 2 ins bigger all over lol

I've lost a lot of muscle tone My core muscles are practically non-existant, and I found it very difficult to get in balance when trotting at first.

I've forgotten how to rise It took me a while to sort my rising out. i was either leaning too far forward or sitting too straight. then I was concentrating too much on the rise and over doing it... I'm sure Pinto wmust have been thinking "what on Earth is she doing up there!"

Pinto is unfit Despite being ridden 3 times a week by a lovely lady, he was really breathing quite heavily after only 10 minutes of trotting, so we had a little break. As I didn't have a cooler or stable rug handy I didn't want him getting too warm... this will change though *ebil laugh*

Pinto is a real tryer Pinto really looked after me last night, and put up with all my faffing around, being unbalanced etc

I still have nice hands I think anyway. I kept checking and they weren't bobbing up and down.

I have a TERRIBLE habit of looking down at the ground in front of Pinto's nose, rather than looking up and ahead between he ears.

How did the work go?

I was really pleased with how Pinto was, even if I couldn't say the same things about myself! He tried so hard, even though it was late and it was very cold. I found his pace a bit uneven, though I guess that was mainly due to my unbalancedness, so I tried to concentrate of asking him to maintain an even pace. Once we got over the first few minutes of "OMG I've forgotten how to ride!" Pinto was trying to run down the long side of the school in a full-on cob-trot, so we did lots of circles until he stopped rushing as soon as he hit the long side.

Some things to work on over the next weeks

Sort out my rein length I'm conscious of not wanting to be hauling on the reins all the time, but also conscious of not allowing Pinto to run on at any given opportunity. Of course this also relates tot he lack of core muscles atm!

Improve Pinto's fitness this will obviously come in time, but I think increasing sessions of sustained trotting, like we started last year, will be very beneficial to both of us. thn hopefully once the weather turns we will both be fit enough for some nice long rides.

Long term plans

I'm desperate for some private dressage lessons to work on my own position and efficiency. It may mean a trip to the UK, so it will be as and when I can afford it!

Best aspect of the training?

Well, a couple of times when Pinto was running on, he broke into canter for a couple of stirdes, and I was able to say "silly boy" and ignore that it happened :yay: :happy dance: rather than panicking or getting into a fuss over it.