Lessons, Part 1

I've been working my ass off riding Curtis and still hit roadblocks on some things. But that happens with any horse. I've mentioned a few times taking lessons and always get crap from my person for wanting to pay someone to tell me how to ride because I've been riding half my life and should therefore, apparently, know everything.

This theory pisses me off because obviously riding is as easy as breathing for some people where as some people work 10x as hard to achieve the same thing, or ever half, of what the other person can do. I'm the person that has to work my ass off and still doesn't know what I'm doing sometimes. Sometimes I just need an objective party on the ground picking me apart and helping me get back together. Hell, even the professionals take lessons and go to clinics!

YOU ARE NEVER DONE LEARNING. 

As much as I've tried I haven't been able to get this point across to my person. He thinks I just wasted 40 bucks plus the all of 5 minutes it took to drive there and back yesterday. But I really seriously felt like I got something out of the lesson. And due to the tiny human, I probably won't go every week, even though her brothers live on site to babysit.

So.... it all started when all 3 of us were riding Sunday morning. I told my person I needed him to watch me on Curtis and see if he looked off anywhere (doesn't feel it but that doesn't mean anything) or get on him and see what he feels. He has this amazing ability to get on horses and diagnose teeny tiny little things that are wrong with a horse that you may not see from the ground but clearly effect movement. But he said everything looked fine and it's all me why he won't pick up the left lead. The horse has my number. I don't deny it.

I tried for 10 minutes until I was exhausted and fighting with the horse and I knew it wouldn't happen. He gets on and boom. Left lead. Whether he was just a fresh rider or he just did it differently, I don't know. But he could get Curtis to do what I couldn't and we ended fighting about it.  He said I should just do what he's telling me to do and the horse would do what I want it to. But he's not a very good instructor and we just fight. He said I should stick to QH's because I'm not gutsy enough for TBs. Which also pissed me off, because if you've been reading my blog all these past years, you know Twister can be a total shit head and often runs off with me or launches me over jumps or puts on his stubborn pants and refuses to go through ditches or past garbage cans. So far, Curtis has been a breeze. Even training wise. It's taken me 5 years to get Twister to look like a passable dressage horse and Curtis is already coming along nicer without all the yanking reins out of my hands or spooking at shit he's seen 100x or bolting. Actually, kid has breaks. Like body breaks. I can stop him with hardly any rein aids.

So after I got back in the house I sent a text and set up my lesson for Monday morning. Which of course I got eye-rolls for. Seriously though, $40 is cheap for a private lesson around here. And Curtis NEEDS to get off farm experience and the farm it literally 3 miles down the road with built-in toddler wranglers......

To Be Continued.............