I have been taking horseback riding lessons for a little while now, and it is the best! I would recommend lessons for anyone who is interested in horses no matter what your age. My lessons are every Monday night at 6 pm with Carly the best instructor I could have asked for.
I ride her horse Tilly.
Tilly is a 12 year old paint,
Carly also owns Tilly's daughter Tulip and if I remember correctly Tulip is 7 almost 8 years old. She is also a paint.
Then Carly also owns a little mini horse named Brutus ;he isn't even 2 yet.
I think Brutus is so cute! When he is older Carly is going to train him to pull a cart.
On the day of my first lesson I was so excited for many reasons!
First, I was excited about finally being able to take riding lessons at the age of 28.
Second, I was so excited that I get to ride Tilly because paints are my favorite kind of horse.
Third, I was really excited at how nice everyone one was at the barn especially Carly.
Last but not least, I was very excited to be getting out of the house, because if you know me you know that I'm home a lot during the week.
On my first lesson I learned how to groom a horse!
it was very exciting for me, since I had never done it before. I even learned how to pick the dirt out of a horses hoof!
I was very excited because I want to learn all about taking care of horses as well as how to ride them, since my ultimate goal is to own some horses of my own.
I would say that so far the hardest thing I have learned so far is posting. If you don't know what posting is its how you ride your horse when it trots.
Let me tell you there is a lot to remember!
You need to keep your heels down, ankles relaxed, knees and thighs out so you don't grip the horse with your upper legs. Then you need to use your calf muscles against the horse for keeping it going and I'm sure something else but I can't remember. Then your ankles need to be under your hips and your hips under your shoulder. You need to relax your hips and pull your belly button in towards your spine and you have to let your body move with the horse using the energy from the hind leg on the outside of the direction your moving in (it doesn't matter what leg you use if your going in a strait line) and when your posting you go up and down in the saddle. If you do it right it doesn't feel weird and is easy to do but learning to do it right is a lot to remember.
I'm sure I forgot something in my description of posting. I'm still learning!
You have to remember all that and then you need to be able to tell the horse where to go.
Horseback riding lessons are one of the best things I have done!
(aside from my family of course)
I can't wait till the day that I can get a horse of my own!
I would have never met Carly if it wasn't for Gina and Cheryl!
Thank you Gina and Cheryl!
