A lesson, for real this time

I did get Keane in for a lesson this past Friday. It had been two weeks since I'd ridden him, so I didn't have high expectations. There were a couple of other horses in the arena during my lesson, Christine was riding Katrina's 5 year old mare Maggie and one of Michele's boarder on her mare. As I lunged Keane, he was a little wound up and distracted by the girls, so I focused on keeping him at a steady pace and waited for him to calm down a little. Michele warned me against chasing him around in the trot, just keep the rhythm steady and use half-halts on the lunge to get him to come into the contact with the side reins. Eventually I was able to work him at all three gaits in the side reins, and by the time I got on him he was a pooped out little bugger.

I just walked him around a few times, he was still a little distracted when the other horses came near, but overall it went much better than I expected. He went much quieter and into the contact when I wasn't tense with my seat or fussing too much with the reins. It's hard when you're nervous! But a few more lessons and my confidence will come back.

I trucked over yesterday and lunged him again, again there were a couple of horses also being ridden, both youngsters, so I erred on the side of caution and didn't get on. He was still a bit distracted by the young mares, but I was able to get some good work out of him, he should be even better for tomorrow's lesson.