Rough riding....and a new Horse Painting

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! 

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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.

Four Seasons in One Day

I had a riding lesson today, thankfully indoors, as our lovely West of Scotland climate threw everything it could muster at us between the hours of 9am and mid-day. On the school run at 9am, light rain, but by the time I headed up towards the stables it was lashing. I headed up the hill through a river flowing down it from the Garden Centre Cafe.

Wading round a pond at the entrance door I regretted not putting the riding wellies being on - seemed like bad etiquette to wear you riding boots in a coffee shop, but it wouldn't be the first time - as I negotiated the water hurdle, and went inside for a quick coffee and half an hours work on the laptop before my ride. Nose down 30 minutes and work done, I looked out the panoramic window and Flaming Nora, it's snowing again and visibility has reduced to zero. I was delighted, couldn't have faced the icy drench again but had to sit in the car fully 10 minutes to demist a now freezing cold car full of wet clothes, not to mention a bit of snow.

Got to Hazelden and tacked up Monty for our lesson, managing to get nothing in a fanckle, which is unlike me. I had a great 45 minute lesson with Kerry and finding that now that my ego got over itself, I am learning much better. I have started to ride  a little more with my legs and less with my hands. Although my hands and waist still have a tendency to go awry whenever Monty stops listening but I am really starting to get this and am so much more aware when things are wrong. After about 25 minutes in Monty suddenly started to carry himself much better, moving forward well, but with a spring he was lighter in my hands and in a much better shape. The private lessons are so valuable at this stage. I have learned how visual and tactile a learner I am, and it is difficult to absorb the finer points in a group lesson. Today I found myself feeling the difference of a correct grip on the reins , my fingers wrapped around tighter but my elbows soft, and looking and seeing if those thumbs pointed right at Monty's great big donkey ears.

During the lesson the temperature plummeted and while I sweated it out in 20, 15 and 10 metre canter circles poor was Kerry frozen to the point at which you feel that someone must have severed your little toe while you were not looking and placed it back in your boot, right there but not attached. And yet, this afternoon the sun was shining and I headed out to pick up the kids in a lightweight trench coat. Only in Scotland, I am sure, can we experience at least 3 of the 4 seasons in the course of school hours!