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another sort of horse activity
Jul. 8th, 2007 05:52 pmSo... today I went to Ironstone Farm/Challenge Unlimited, another therapeutic riding center very close to where I live. They do 3-hour "clinics" as a way of drawing new people into their programs. There were two of us in the clinic, although the other woman actually already rides there.
The clinic has three parts: a bit on basic horse care/grooming/tacking up, then a lesson, and then after a short break a vaulting lesson. (Vaulting, at the higher levels, is gymnastics on horseback.)
About 75% of CU's horses are Haflingers, a nice sturdy breed of large pony/small horse. They are very mellow. I had Hans as my lesson horse. He very much fit the "we don't know anything about you as a rider, so we'll put you on our slowest safest pony" mold. Yes, he was sloowwwwww, but very sweet and well trained. The horseflies were really bothering him, though, and that made the riding a bit rougher. (BTW, one of his defenses against horseflies is to EAT them!) The instructor was generally positive about my riding, although she wanted a lower hand position and slightly different aids than I am used to.
Well, he was slow except at the very end, when the instructor set up a little tiny jump, maybe a foot tall, for us. Hans *loves* to jump, enough that he totally stops plodding and becomes quite the speedy pony. So we had fun with that, taking the jump about 4 times. The instructor said I looked great!
We got Hans cleaned up and put away, and then moved on to vaulting on a different horse, which -- thank G-d -- was held in CU's brand new indoor ring. One of us led the very patient pony at a walk while the other rode. We did the basic positions (two kinds of kneeling with arms extended sideways, "round the world" where one starts facing the horse's head, then sits sideways, then backwards, and then the other side, etc.) There were a few other things like "Superman," which is looking a superhero flying through the air while laying sideways with legs on one side of the horse and arms on the other, and belly on the horse's spine. More advanced students do this with the horse trotting; while my riding lesson was happening, we were sharing the ring with a group of teenage girls doing vaulting on a Suffolk Punch draft horse, and they were trotting.
Well, if I need another horse activity, this is what it should be. It is excellent for building balance and strength, and I could tell it would be really good for my left side, which is much weaker than my right side. As a kid, I might well have been a candidate for therapeutic riding lessons; I compensate well for the problem, so most people don't even notice it unless they know to look for it, but I could not do that during the vaulting exercises
I went in with an open mind, and was pleased with the results. No, I won't quit Windrush for riding lessons; the quality of instruction there is so good that I don't think I'd find CU acceptable. But since I have stopped taking tai chi, I have a little bit of extra money that could go towards vaulting lessons at CU, and I'm seriously thinking about it, even as my legs are turning to rubber from the unexpected workout. Scheduling might be an issue, though.
And... oh, besides the legs turned to rubber, I have nicely sunburned arms, thanks to stupidly not putting on sunscreen this morning. D'oh!
The clinic has three parts: a bit on basic horse care/grooming/tacking up, then a lesson, and then after a short break a vaulting lesson. (Vaulting, at the higher levels, is gymnastics on horseback.)
About 75% of CU's horses are Haflingers, a nice sturdy breed of large pony/small horse. They are very mellow. I had Hans as my lesson horse. He very much fit the "we don't know anything about you as a rider, so we'll put you on our slowest safest pony" mold. Yes, he was sloowwwwww, but very sweet and well trained. The horseflies were really bothering him, though, and that made the riding a bit rougher. (BTW, one of his defenses against horseflies is to EAT them!) The instructor was generally positive about my riding, although she wanted a lower hand position and slightly different aids than I am used to.
Well, he was slow except at the very end, when the instructor set up a little tiny jump, maybe a foot tall, for us. Hans *loves* to jump, enough that he totally stops plodding and becomes quite the speedy pony. So we had fun with that, taking the jump about 4 times. The instructor said I looked great!
We got Hans cleaned up and put away, and then moved on to vaulting on a different horse, which -- thank G-d -- was held in CU's brand new indoor ring. One of us led the very patient pony at a walk while the other rode. We did the basic positions (two kinds of kneeling with arms extended sideways, "round the world" where one starts facing the horse's head, then sits sideways, then backwards, and then the other side, etc.) There were a few other things like "Superman," which is looking a superhero flying through the air while laying sideways with legs on one side of the horse and arms on the other, and belly on the horse's spine. More advanced students do this with the horse trotting; while my riding lesson was happening, we were sharing the ring with a group of teenage girls doing vaulting on a Suffolk Punch draft horse, and they were trotting.
Well, if I need another horse activity, this is what it should be. It is excellent for building balance and strength, and I could tell it would be really good for my left side, which is much weaker than my right side. As a kid, I might well have been a candidate for therapeutic riding lessons; I compensate well for the problem, so most people don't even notice it unless they know to look for it, but I could not do that during the vaulting exercises
I went in with an open mind, and was pleased with the results. No, I won't quit Windrush for riding lessons; the quality of instruction there is so good that I don't think I'd find CU acceptable. But since I have stopped taking tai chi, I have a little bit of extra money that could go towards vaulting lessons at CU, and I'm seriously thinking about it, even as my legs are turning to rubber from the unexpected workout. Scheduling might be an issue, though.
And... oh, besides the legs turned to rubber, I have nicely sunburned arms, thanks to stupidly not putting on sunscreen this morning. D'oh!
