"I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music... "
So, here's my first entry!
I started lessons when I was about eleven or twelve, but had wanted to since I was like four! I rode for about two years, the first year with this great instructor named Mindy, who I really liked. Then she got pregnant, and took 2 years off to have her baby and remodel her house. So I started with a new instructor named Sarah, who I liked even better. I was riding Tennessee Walkers, mostly, especially a BEAUTIFUL gelding named topper, who I am still in love with. Anyway, I rode with Sarah for a year, working on jumping mostly, and I lurved it muchly. Everyone that saw me ride said I was a natural, the barn owner even told me she'd never seen anyone progress as fast as I had. (Just to clarify, I'm not bragging, just stating facts so what's happening now will have more context.) I competed in two shows my second summer, just in walk-trot classes, and I won a third and fourth place ribbon. But at the second one, where I won the fourth, I got entered in to the wrong class and was with a bunch of little kids, and because they were all so little, they basically awarded prizes by youngest and cutest. After my class competed, and prizes were awarded, one of the judges and my instructor came to me and told me what had happened, and said they were sorry and if I had been in the right class I would have won first. So anyway, I was obviously doing quite well. But this happy time could not last...
The owner of the barn where I was riding got injured pretty badly being thrown from a horse she was training. She was in PT and all kinds of stuff, so between the costs and time of that, and surgery, and the recovery time, she couldn't run the barn anymore. So she sold the barn and her house and moved to a smaller place, but kept her horses there. The new owner was evil, and decided to add a HUGE charge to the lesson price if one did not own their own horse. So, I couldn't afford lessons anymore. I ended up not being able to find anywhere else in the area to ride, so took a while off.
Now it is a year and a half later, and I am back in lessons. I have been for a month now, and there is only one problem. I SUCK! I seem to have completely lost all the naturalness of it, and I can't keep my body position right to save my life! I haven't even gotten out of a trot yet, when last time I was taking lessons I was cantering into two and higher foot jumps.
One part of this may be that I am riding a bumpy old Morgan now, not a Tennessee Walker, but still, I have a lot of issues too. I am really disappointed in myself! Can anyone help me out of this? Advice? Comments of any kind?
"...Life seems to go on without effort, when I am filled with music."
