Riding Update

Its been a long time since I posted anything on here.  I changed the url and lost a lot of readers and got a bit disheartened but just noticed a few new fans on the facebook page so thought I'd write a new post.

My BHS stage 1 course is nearly at an end now with only four days of the course left and my exam in just over a month.  I've really enjoyed the course and will be very sad when it ends.  I've made some lovely new friends on the course and learned lot about horses.  When we covered feeding, I groaned remembering having Sam on loan the winter before last.  No wonder he was lively being fed sugar beet and rolled barley twice a day when he was only being ridden three or four times a week for an hour.

I've definitely improved as a rider although had a few moments along the way.  I've decided 16"3 thoroughbreds are definitely not for me and that I much prefer a nice 15-16 hand cob type horse.  I've had a few scary moments.  Whilst I wasn't the first in the class to fall off, I was one of only two and I was the only person to have the distinction of not only falling off two different horses but doing it in the same lesson within ten minutes.  The horses were definitely more spooky than usual that day and when my horse spooked for the fourth time, I lost my seat fell forward and kicked her in the flank by accident causing her to buck and me to land on my head and take a kick to the head.  Ten minutes later, installed on a different horse who wasn't listening to me from the start, a lawnmower started outside the school and she bolted down the centre line nearly mowing down the instructor with me hanging on round her neck for the first 40 metres before once again landing on my head.  Amazingly I got up and agreed to ride yet another horse and managed a canter before the end of the lesson.  An examination of my hat afterwards revealed a very big crack in it which made me realise how important it is to always wear a riding hat as I knew that could have been my head instead.

I'm a little worried about the exam as still not really quite up to standard and it would be nice to pass but in some ways I have already achieved my objectives and improved my riding whilst having fun.  I need to get some extra lessons but am now working and with the year end things are hectic at work and time is limited.

In terms of my other riding, I am still riding at Trevelog in the Brecon Beacons which is great fun and they have some lovely horses.  I now get to ride the more fun horses and leave the plodders to the never ridden before brigade.  I also discovered a lovely place close to home where you can ride on the beach and have some lovely fast canters on the open beach and on the windy paths in the sand dunes.  Unlike the mountains,  where the terrain can be a bit too hazardous to ride in the winter and the centre closes, I can ride there in the winter too.  Riding at Ogmore is great fun and they are a good crowd up there too.  I even went to watch the point to point racing with them the other week.