I've been keeping a secret which I've been bursting to blog about :) And now is the time to finally blog about it, me thinks. K and I signed up for a basic beginner's horse riding class which has been taking place every Saturday, for the past six weeks for an hour. So yup we have been learning horse riding at the farm near our place every Saturday from 1.30pm, and yesterday was the last lesson.
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| The stables in the farm |
It first started last year when K suggested we should do something fun together, rather than sitting at home watching TV. (Even though sitting at home doing nothing during winter... sounds quite appealing.) Around the same time he found out the farm near our place has horse riding lessons and thus eagerly suggested we could do this fun activity together. My mind raced back to the only other time which I did horse riding. I was in Iceland with Cynthia and we did a 2h horse riding activity which both fun but scared me to bits because my horse loved going a little faster than the rest. And we were going up a canyon in the outdoors, not within the confinements of the farm. Plus you know me, I am not a very brave person... My whole body ached so badly for 3 full days because of all the unnecessary tension I placed on my back and trying hard not to fall off the horse I guess. And now K is suggesting doing a 6 week horse riding lesson. Hmm. I think I said yes. Meekly.
The first lesson was okay, not as scary as I thought. The arena which we rode on was not too big, and the horses look very tame. I was assigned to this horse Joey which reminded me of the play War Horse. Joey is a young horse and didn't quite like standing still while the trainer was teaching us how to control the horse. Luckily each of us had an assistant with us so it was reassuring. We learnt how to control the horse; left, right, start, stop. We learnt how to get ready the stirrups so we can mount the horses. Towards the end of the first lesson, the trainer said we could go faster and that was there we started to learn how to trot.
The next few lessons were spent learning how to trot properly. We learnt how to follow the trotting rhythm of the horse and we had to stand up and sit down on the saddle in tandem with it. That is one proper exercise if you trot properly non stop for an hour. The next 3 lessons I was assigned to ride this beautiful white horse called Poppy. She is such a sweet thing. When I go near her stable, she comes out and tries to put her muzzle near you to snuggle up. This white beauty makes me think of fairy tales with beautiful white horses.
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| Hello I am Poppy |
Yesterday we had our last lesson and because it is the 7th lesson set aside for students as a make up lesson, we found out we were the only two. Woohoo! It was like a private lesson meant for us which we were so pleased about. Boy, that meant all the attention was on us and the trainer made sure we trotted properly whilst making sure our horses went round the arena next to the fence without cutting any corners. I was assigned Jazz the cheeky pony who loved cutting corners, whereas K was assigned one of the biggest stallions in the farm, Taylor. His horse, according to the trainer, is like a Ferrari, so "please give gently signals", she advised. Whereas for Jazz, I had to kick him constantly to move faster. It was a sweat breaking exercise again as we trotted around the arena and at one stage, Taylor started galloping and I was shocked when I saw K on the galloping horse and slowly disappearing from its back. I was mortified. We looked at him falling in slow motion with my mouth wide open in a gasp. Thankfully his horse had stopped by then and K was still holding on to the reins so he fell rather gracefully with no injuries. Whew! An eventful last lesson I'd say. Since it's the end of our course, we asked the trainer Hannah to help take some pics for us.
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| Jazz and Taylor |
I am both proud and relieved at the same time finishing the beginner's course. Although I know we still need to work tremendously on our trotting skills. The trainer advised that we should continue to try riding as much as we can to keep up with what we have learnt. K, despite falling from the horse, was actually exhilarated he finally felt the rhythm and wanted to continue working on his riding skills. So eager that he signed up for another 6 weeks starting next Saturday. We debated between ourselves if I should sign up too, but because we both will be away for some weekends separately in the next 6 weeks, we arranged with the school that for the 2 weekends he can't be there, I will go in his place. So that works out 2 lessons for me and 4 more for him. I think this arrangement works. Seems like we won't be saying goodbye to these horses for now :)
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| Cheeky Jazz. Loves to cut corners. |
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| K on the "Ferrari" |
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| We'll be back! |
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