Riding Lessons

It turned out dry today, although chilly, which was a surprise. Michele, Pamela and me went over to see the horses in the early evening. The ground in the main paddock has reached maximum saturation and has turned into a small marsh. All the horses were huddled near the second gate and wouldn't come into the first field apart from Cori, who braved muck up to his fetlocks to be fed carrots at the gate. He looked great, despite an enormous belly, being covered in mud and having what looked suspiciously like the beginnings of his winter coat growing through. Days of clipping are not that far off. I don't like to think about that. Humphries and all his equine and goatish companions were in the garden when we went into the yard, so it was easy enough to smuggle Humphries out and leave the others locked in the garden. Michele was able to put the head collar on Humphries and lead him, which was a marvelous feat considering her dislocated shoulder. Pamela acted as decoy to lure Shianna away with carrots, but the canny skewbald was not fooled and followed her friend to the door, where I crouched waving my arms in the air. Michele led Humphries to the stable where we had to tie him up to groom him. He was a bit stroppy, but not bad, and only misbehaved slightly because it has been so long since he has received this sort of treatment. Pamela brushed the body while I brushed his face. When we were finished, I helped Pamela tack him up. Then I led him out to the arena, where he gave a great big whinny to Shianna in the garden.

Pamela mounted beautifully from the mounting block and the lesson began. Because Pamela is a beginner, I led Humphries to help her get a feel for the movement of the horse. First I led him by just walking around the arena and he followed, while Michele helped Pamela with her position and got her to do exercises with her legs and arms. Then Pamela tried to make Humphries go around the arena without being led, but he made things difficult, so I clipped on the lead rope and led him again and Michele encouraged Pamela to ride standing in her stirrups. When Michele thought she was ready, she talked Pamela through the motions of rising trot and took over the leading. Together we got Humphries to trot nicely forward and I took over with teaching Pamela in the trot. I wasn't teaching exactly, I am not fit enough to trot a horse for very long so Michele had to do that and she couldn't run and watch Pamela at the same time, so I had to do that. Pamela picked up the rhythm of the rising trot really quickly and improved with each trot. When the trotting was finished, she tried riding him without being led again and it went much better. She even attempted a couple of trots on her own. Her lesson finished, Pamela dismounted and Michele hopped on for a few minutes. She rode Humphries in a lovely outline and got him more responsive to the aids in mere minutes. It was lovely to watch. She led him back to the stable where Pamela and I untacked him and gave him carrots for being a good boy. Then I opened the door to the garden and let all the others out. I was really pleased because Harvey came right up to me and let me rub him on his face and I didn't even have any food for him. We said goodbye to the horses and went home.

Riding Lessons

Humphries gave another riding lesson today, this time to a complete beginner. I wasn't there to see it, but I believe it went very well.

Riding Humphries

Ha!Ha! Fooled you! Bet you thought the title of this post meant that I was riding Humphries, but no, I have not clambered upon the death train that is known as the horse. Madeline did though. She rode Humphries this afternoon and got a great lesson from Michele. He has lovely paces but is very slow (lazy or unfit, I'm not sure which) so Madeline had to work hard to keep him going, which is hard when you are riding a horse you are unused to and especially when you are riding one that is so wide!

Teacher and student

trotting standing up - tough work!

Michele put Madeline - and Humphries - through their paces. At the end of the lesson, Madeline tried some canter. As Humphries was so difficult to get into canter on the lunge, Michele and I were on hand to give her a hand with the transition. We stood at one corner of the arena and Madeline rode in walk towards us on the outside track. We were all ready to encourage Humphries into canter, but it was like he already knew what was expected of him. I don't know if he is a keen observer of body language, incredibly sensitive to the rider's aids, or can understand English, but when he came to that corner he went straight into canter. He only kept it up for a couple of strides, but the next time round Madeline kept him going for the long side of the arena and she left it at that. The whole incident reminded me of a time when I was learning to ride. I was on Humphries in a group lesson. All the other riders were either more advanced or more confident than me because we were doing walk to canter transitions. I didn't like canter very much and the thought of going into it from walk did not appeal to me, so as I waited in line for my turn to come, I let Humphries know that I was against the whole idea by clamping my body tight around his back. When my turn came, I told the instructor I didn't want to canter. I don't think he even wanted me to try a walk to canter transition, I was allowed trot, but I still didn't want to canter. He tried to persuade me to reconsider, so I reluctantly agreed and relaxed my position. Immediately Humphries went into canter, and I was the first person in the lesson to complete a walk to canter transition. I think Humphries had been watching the proceedings and knew what was expected of him, so he was just waiting for me to give him the word. He is a very intelligent horse.

J.B and Cori are glad to see Michele Don't they look lovely!

After the riding lesson Michele went out to the horses in the field and fed Cori and J.B some treats. They were glad to see her. They must think it is odd she hasn't been out to see them in a quite awhile.