Such a quiet week from me, brought about by first off by much activity at work and later by another terrible flat work riding lesson this week that left me at the point of despair and ready to chuck it in. My riding seems to be deteriorating week on week right now, and I have begun to approach lessons with not the usual exhilaration, but rather a feeling of dread, sometimes feeling close to tears by the end of another gruelling often fruitless hour of failing and flailing. It is all in the head now, I know that. It is one of those 'conquer you demons' and mine is an affront at any failure of any sort. By the close of Thursday lesson I concluded that it is time to give up riding the harder horses. I brokered a deal with two of my riding school mates to get there early and grab a horse of my choosing for a few consecutive weeks to see if I can remember how I used to seem to be able to ride until around 6 weeks ago when it all started to unravel.....wish me luck!
 |
| copyright equineartportraits.com |
On the Art front, it took a few days to recover from said lesson but today I found my way back on track with my art and started a new piece in acrylic and canvas....only started and 'in the rough' although maybe not quite as rough as my shockingly bad riding! Here he is, propped up on my piano so I can get a better look at him in the morning with a nice strong cup of coffee.
Don't give up riding!! The rewards are so worth it. I have cried at lessons. The first place I tried for lessons, I had an instructor that yelled a lot. Not a great confidence booster. Sometimes you have to take a couple of steps back to be able to go forward. I think you are on the right track. Good luck!!
ReplyDeleteI have to read a few more back posts to understand what is going on in your lessons. I am sorry you are frustrated. I do think lessons are worth it - sounds like you are going to have a better horse next lesson (?).
ReplyDeleteThe new painting looks great! Can't wait to see more.
Hi, thanks for the encouragement from you both!
ReplyDeleteJuliette, I have switched to riding some of the less reponsive horses and a lot of flatwork with transitions in awkward places, and it's all kind of come apart....my technique and seat go to pot as soon as I need more leg and don't get the right response and the harder I try he worse I get! I have a good instructor but she doesn't let anything pass, so I have become ridiculously aware of my shortcomings and my confidence has been really dented by it...not good.
I am hoping a few weeks on Pablo or Monty (both great and really forward going) will help and I am longing for a bit of jumping to release a bit of the flatwork tension!
I am enjoying the painting though, which is great. Spring is officially here in Scotland today, temperatures rising and things look brighter ...maybe riding wise I'll turn a corner this week.