Getting into the trot!

Those who follow my blog know it already; I suck at trotting. After 10 months of riding, my trot is not where it’s supposed to be. But today it just went right! Today I mounted on a bigger horse, Orlando. He’s a beautiful brown horse, maybe too big for me, but quite energetic and willing, hence a good opportunity for exercise.

So, yeah, we were doing driving stuff with corners, poles and blocks, until Laura told us to trot! It was a disaster! I can say I got a bit panicked, when I realized that the stirrups were too long! So, although I was almost there, I couldn’t follow Orlando’s movement -what a poor animal! So I asked Laura the permission to stop to fix my stirrups. She fixed them for me anyway, since the straps were too long. And, back on track! A second trot attempt! At first, i could hardly follow Orlando, bouncing and leaning to the front a few times. But I was determined to make it. So, I just remembered all my usual mistakes in the negative form; “Don’t forget about your heels”, “don’t keep your feet too deep inside the stirrup”, “don’t think too much”, “don’t rise your body to much”, “don’t forget to feel the horse’s move”, “don’t forget to keep your reigns tight”. So, I complied. And while I was fixing this stuff myself, I heard Laura shouting at me “up-down-up-down”. And I followed her! It’s the first time ever, ever, ever! I’ve made it at last! For the first time in ten months, I felt I was one with the horse! So, as the lesson was going on, every time asked to trot, I wasn’t nervous anymore. I would miss Orlando for a few moments, but then I followed him perfectly.

But we had to do the corners, poles, blocks and everything, trotting. Orlando wouldn’t do the blocks, no matter how I much was pulling, so I just let him decide and concentrated on my trot  instead (yeap, I messed up with the route a few times, but as far as I was trotting, it was fine). Then Orlando decided to trust me a bit more; at first he would do the blocks, but he wouldn’t trot. He was just walking when we pass past them, and after that, he was speeding up again. Later, we made it! We were doing fine, including corners, poles, blocks! And yeaaah! I made it!

And next week I’m having an exam with the improvers!

PS: One hour before I set off for the class, I did a workout, including specialized exercises for the trot. I think this helped as well! Oh! And I also prayed last night! I’m sure God did the hardest work!