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Oct. 15th, 2007 09:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickI have a headache. Going to bed early, I think. No knitting progress today, none yesterday, none on Saturday. I really suck. I did manage to get a few miles on the IRH on Saturday and visit with the family some. Sunday I did opera with mom. Today I did work and then had dinner/pictures with Sandra and her kid. I need to sort through the pictures but not tonight -- I'm tired and my head hurts. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be pretty nice -- I might do pictures with Tasha for her pony stud (now going along under saddle). In other news, I signed up for riding lessons, which start next Thursday (not this coming up Thursday, which I have a grant-writing thing I need to attend in State College, but the Thursday after that). We'll see how that goes.
I'm taking riding lessons because I'm not even from left to right. I overweight my right foot, which (a) sores my horse's back (b) makes my right knee hurt and (c) causes my horse to interfere and mark up her hind right ankle. I need to fix the evenness problem and I don't know how to do it myself.
The riding instructor person says she needs to watch me ride before she can tell much of anything and I agree with her. It's near-impossible to assess someone's riding skill from a self-provided description. She did ask (on the phone) if I rode. I allowed as how I did, a little, when I was a kid, fell out of it in my mid-teens, got back into it in my mid-twenties, and put about thirty miles a week on my pony over the summer.
She said "Pony?" I said "Yes." She asked how tall I was and what I weighed and then said that there was no way I should be riding a 13.3 5/8 mare because that size horse couldn't possibly use up all my leg. (This is true. Nick doesn't use up all my leg. I am not going to rush right out and buy a damn sixteen hand monster to use up my excess leg. I didn't *ask* to be this tall and I didn't *ask* to be made mostly of legs. My horse does not need to feel my heels. She listens to my calves just fine.)
I do think that having someone else watch me ride and advise me on straightness and centeredness and the things that I need to be doing better will be useful. Also, my equitation sucks. Lots. It's *functional* -- I don't fall off a whole lot and I have a better seat than some people I've seen riding -- but it's not pretty. I can't switch diagonals without looking at my horse's shoulders. I can't actually post to the one diagonal without significant concentration. I don't know how to tell which lead I am on (without extensive staring at horse's shoulders) and I can't cue for a lead (because I can't tell if I've gotten it or not). These are basic skills that I don't have. I need them.
I'm taking riding lessons because I'm not even from left to right. I overweight my right foot, which (a) sores my horse's back (b) makes my right knee hurt and (c) causes my horse to interfere and mark up her hind right ankle. I need to fix the evenness problem and I don't know how to do it myself.
The riding instructor person says she needs to watch me ride before she can tell much of anything and I agree with her. It's near-impossible to assess someone's riding skill from a self-provided description. She did ask (on the phone) if I rode. I allowed as how I did, a little, when I was a kid, fell out of it in my mid-teens, got back into it in my mid-twenties, and put about thirty miles a week on my pony over the summer.
She said "Pony?" I said "Yes." She asked how tall I was and what I weighed and then said that there was no way I should be riding a 13.3 5/8 mare because that size horse couldn't possibly use up all my leg. (This is true. Nick doesn't use up all my leg. I am not going to rush right out and buy a damn sixteen hand monster to use up my excess leg. I didn't *ask* to be this tall and I didn't *ask* to be made mostly of legs. My horse does not need to feel my heels. She listens to my calves just fine.)
I do think that having someone else watch me ride and advise me on straightness and centeredness and the things that I need to be doing better will be useful. Also, my equitation sucks. Lots. It's *functional* -- I don't fall off a whole lot and I have a better seat than some people I've seen riding -- but it's not pretty. I can't switch diagonals without looking at my horse's shoulders. I can't actually post to the one diagonal without significant concentration. I don't know how to tell which lead I am on (without extensive staring at horse's shoulders) and I can't cue for a lead (because I can't tell if I've gotten it or not). These are basic skills that I don't have. I need them.
