I have been so blessed. I am able to ride in another Ryan Minor Clinic this weekend. Today, we worked on equitation classes. We started with Ryan teaching us the proper way to mount and dismount.
He demonstrated how we were supposed to mount and dismount our horses. We first stand near the horse's head with our reins gathered in our hands grasping the mane at the withers. Then we place our foot in the stirrup with the stirrup facing us and then do three hops. On the third hop, we grab the cantle of the saddle and place ourselves in the saddle. Mind you, I never knew there was a "correct" way to mount your horse, so it was a good lesson!
After that we did a lot of power walking. Basically we wanted our horses moving at a powerful walk. While doing this, we had to walk our horses over a small jump as though we were walking over a log on a trail ride.
We then moved up into trotting. We worked a bit on trotting where we would come down to a walk and walk our horses in a straight line then continue trotting. Ryan than added a trot pole to the other side of the arena where we had to do an exaggerated two point position. I don't have a photo for that, sorry!
Lastly, we moved into our jumping!
Even though I had taken a week off since I was sick, it really hasn't affected my riding skills. Surprisingly, it has actually improved my jumping. Well, our jumping. Hercules and I have improved since the last clinic and we will conquer our faults such as our speed and leads.
We started off with a small vertical and then added a small cross rail. Hercules didn't refuse at all until the second jump was higher, but that is normally expected with him, but we will fix that in the future.
Sorry for the blurriness! You get the idea!
Poor Hercules was getting bored when we had to stand and wait for our turn. He kept shaking his head up and down as if he was saying, "Come on, let's go!" I think most of the time when he was curving his head down that he was trying to chew his martingale. He's a strange little horse, but he's my baby.
Little kitty cat sunbathing during the clinic. TOO CUTE!
I think that is the highest I've jumped so far. I think it is about 2'6''. I will check tomorrow to be positive. Hercules and I will be doing our second day of the clinic where will be jumping a course. It's exciting!
Better jumping photo!
Finally, we cooled out our horses and went in the middle to chat with Ryan about how he has seen improvement in our riding.
My handsome man was such a good boy. He got many peppermints as rewards along with some good pats. He also got the privilege of rubbing his head on my back!
So glad my mum got this photo of him. He was just staring out the window at something I couldn't see. He is so photogenic. He should be in the Dover Saddlery catalog.
And there you have it, the end of Day 1 Ryan Minor clinic for me and Hercules. I believe we rode for about 2 hours or more since I had to get on to warm him up. It's astonishing because one of the girls in my group was 10 years old. The very age when I started riding. I love seeing younger kids ride; it reminds me of the past.
It made me smile to learn that a group of girls I know that ride at the barn were telling my mom that I was a good rider. One of them was bummed when I wasn't at the barn last week since I was sick; she wanted to ride with me. They were also in love with my winter boots. I love when younger girls look up to me as a more experienced rider. I enjoy being their role model. I wonder if they are riding in the clinic in the morning with me.
Toodles!
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