Friday night's lesson was canceled due to rain - frustrating for us, good for the farmers. So we made plans to take L. back out on Saturday to ride. (She really needed to get some of her confidence back since being bucked off during her last ride.)
The arena was still too muddy and slippery on Saturday, so we loaded up the animals and drove out to the fairgrounds. Usually the covered arena there is only lightly used. Unfortunately, that was not the case this day. There was a polo tournament going on in the big arena and the teams were using the smaller one we ride in for warm-up/cool-down.
We decided to saddle the horses anyway. E. was nervous about riding with so much activity going on...and L. was just plain nervous! After getting on, both discovered that they could still ride their horses (imagine that, their skills did not disappear overnight!). A parent led L. and Q the whole time, to help her regain some of her confidence and insure her safety. I had to often remind her that even though I had him on a lead rope, she was still the one in charge. A typical exchange with L. while I was leading them would go:
Me: "L, Q is starting to run into me again. Make him walk closer to the edge."
L: "Oh, yeah." (She pulls the rein to make him shift over.)
After a few minutes,
Me: "L, Q is starting to run into me again. Make him walk closer to the edge."
L: "Oh, yeah." (She pulls the rein to make him shift over.)
This went on for about 30 minutes, but it was good for L. to realize that she was the one who needed to control the horse and that she could control the horse.
E. had a harder time of it. Curly was energized by the polo ponies racing around the arena and I'm sure he wanted to join in the fun they seemed to be having. As the polo team members would pass by, they would sometimes come so close that you could touch knee to knee just by shifting your leg out a little. So, E. rode for only 20 minutes and then decided there were too many distractions and opportunities for disaster.
Perhaps we'll get to go out again today. I need to ride Zane - it's been almost a week!
