Back at the ranch...

FInally another riding lesson tonight, after being (theoretically) in England last week and just thoroughly spacing out the week before.

Not so much of interest to report this week, but I do want to keep track of my progress. Some highlights:

We had a visitor from the new Monday night class. She was actually impressed by how well we kept together and kept trotting. I was not especially impressed with us, so it's good to have a reminder that we have learned and progressed.

Mindy was in a horrible mood tonight, twitching and tossing and looking for excuses to kick or bite; but when we started working she got a bit distracted and responded really well. I'm learning the leg aids, especially for turning, because she responds to them much better than she does to the rein aids. I do not feel like I'm learning the sitting trot, but maybe I'm absorbing something anyway. Posting is finally automatic -- even when I've been gone for two weeks, my legs know just what to do. And my posture was mostly good, although I have a slight tendency to lean forward and/or post on my toes.

I was also reminded tonight of one of the main reasons I'm taking riding lessons: to build my own character. Horses are big and tall and strong, and therefore a bit scary. I'm already developing the confidence -- mostly physical confidence -- that I need to ride them, but I have a lot to learn on the ground. When Mindy tosses her head and snaps, I flinch, and it would help if I could learn not to do that, to be calmly in charge instead of afraid of her.

At the same time, I'm learning to work with the horses, even though I'm not yet very good at communicating with them. Most of all, I'm learning patience. Victor is calm and confident with the horses and patient with his students, so he's a good model for me. Still, patience doesn't come easily; I don't have much patience with myself, and I certainly don't have much patience with Mindy in the moments when she's acting fussy and beginning to frighten me. But I'm learning to calm myself down, because I know my only way of calming her down is to be calm and speak soothingly and make things OK. This will be a useful lesson when I have small children, and I get to learn it with no strings attached -- no responsibility for shaping a little human, and only an hour of work each week!