If you look to the end of the last post you can see that I scheduled a sidesaddle lesson for next Friday. Actually next Friday at 11:00 am to be precise. Apparently, my instructor isn’t into fine details. I decided to check my email this morning before heading out to hike trails. There was a message from her saying that she was going to be a bit late because she left the house without the right saddle. She should be here by noon though.
Ok, so she’ll be an hour late and a whole week early.
Probably for the best though. I’m sure as next Friday got closer I would start to worry about Prize being good for her lesson and whether or not I’d fall off (even though I’ve been assured repeatedly that it is next to impossible to fall off a sidesaddle.) Now I can just compress the worry into a few hours and get it over with.
I’ll add to this post later to tell how it all went. I’m charging the digital camera as I type!
____________________________________________
I survived! I felt much better today than I did at the clinic in December. I was just as unsteady at the beginning but I felt more stable pretty soon. It is an incredibly scary feeling to let the horse start to walk off with you perched precariously on her.
I rode around for about 45 minutes. Prize was in a foul temper because her nap was interrupted and she doesn’t like working in the arena. She also is very leg trained and without the right leg she was getting confused. Being confused makes her mad. We did manage a bit of the trot though. Not very far at any given time but we did it.
Here we are standing pretty.
This is standing pretty from the front
And from the right side
Walking
I’m not posting the pictures of the temper tantrums but they did make me a more confident sidesaddle rider. I really learned to grip with my thighs to secure myself. I didn’t even feel like I was going to fall off after a while. I also managed to get her to sidepass both directions and do turns on the haunches both ways. Of course she was much better when she was being cued with a leg but she figured out what I wanted even when I didn’t have a leg to guide her.
Been trying to post about your ss stuff for a while! Whereabouts are you? Looks like you may be a more comfy with your left leg a bit longer, but otherwise you look good!
Thanks for the comment about house…I even went to the fox message board for house…it didn’t seem to bother anybody there but I’m hoping the writers see it…I love the show but it would be cool if an herbalist or something show the “God Dr” what what what for once.lol.
Have you seen our Shuvani Stables line of stuff yet…would you like some free samples?…just go to the main url, click on the shuvani stables link & let me know what you would like to try & I’ll send some out…love your site by the way.