I Got to Ride Today!
Today was great! Aside from the usual day of teaching a lesson, spending time with wonderful people giving their time and energy to help some pretty awesome kids, I got to ride!
One of the things I need to do in order to pass my certification is pass a riding arena test. It consists of a series of patterns to be memorized including walking, posting trot, sitting trot, canter, halt, back-up, mount and dismount.
I’m pretty new to posting. I learned a long time ago (like when I was 12) to post in a western saddle but was never taught what it meant to “be on the correct diagonal”. I recently was able to take some riding lessons at a nearby stable for about a month or so and it was so helpful but alas, my budget didn’t allow it to continue.
Posting allows a rider to endure a trot without getting a sore bum. It also helps the horse because you are not bouncing all over its back. Imagine running with a loose, very heavy backpack on your back bouncing all over it. You can imagine how uncomfortable that can be for the horse.
So the posting allows you, the rider, to be “pushed up” out of the seat as the horses legs are moving forward, and then using your muscles sitting back down gently into the saddle. Squeezing with your thighs, and pivoting from your knees with your heels pointed down and your toes pointed up, you can ride the trot for a fairly long time at a smoother pace.
Writing this on paper makes it sound so easy but it really is a lot of work and takes getting the “feel” down and uses muscles you are just not used to using. I have left my lessons in the past sweating, sore and feeling like I just ran 5 miles! Once it becomes second nature, I’m told its not as bad.
Now consider all the things there are to think about while you are riding: posting, making sure your posture is correct in the saddle, keeping your heels down, toes up and being on the correct diagonal (which I haven’t even gone into yet) and steering the horse where you want him to go. It takes a fair amount of concentration – especially when you are new to it.
I will not lie – I am a bit nervous about this riding test. Because I do not have my own horse and cannot be at the barn every day to take advantage of riding time, I am going into this with a disadvantage. Once my friends get back from their certification at the end of January I will definately be picking their brain as to how intense or not the riding test is.
With all that to think about and wondering if I am going to have enough time to get my teaching hours in before I need to register for my certification, today was really, really great. I mean, I got to ride!
omg, SO jealous.
and it makes me miss lessons SOOOOOOOOOO much.
*sigh*
When is your riding test?