Adventures of a Supermom...: Thursday riding...

I'm very happy to be riding again, consistently. I also feel that I have gotten much better, as affirmed by my instructor, which is a huge deal for me. In the last month, aside from being focused and my head being totally clear (since I'm no longer stressed with work), it's really about having more time to ride. No matter how I intently listen, analyze and conceptualize what my instructor is teaching me, everything only falls into place when you finally feel it in your riding. Classic example is feeling the correct and wrong diagonal in a trot. This is only possible if you spend more time on a horse, no matter how much reading you do to understand. Using the correct aids and to transition the horse in the different gaits also feels so much better for both me and horse, eventually becomes natural. That's when it starts to make sense.

I also don't feel as I did before, about being a lousy rider and feeling I was a "trying hard wannabe" and didn't have what it took to be an equestrienne. Light bulb moment when I realized that there are so many riders that have been doing it for years, since they were children, yet the learning is a continuous process and up to now, they still have lessons or attend clinics to improve their skills and continue to learn. My ultimate girl crush, Charlotte Casiraghi, who has been riding since she was very young, has the best horses and instructors, still have moments during shows when her horse refuses a jump, etc. Not that I'm any close to being a comparison (in my dreams!), I guess I shouldn't be so hard on myself when I have bad horse days. It's all part of the learning process.

These geese are the funniest! During lessons they freely roam the bullring, fearless of the possibility of being trampled on by the horses.

Rider P cantering in a circle with the objective of bending the horse more towards the inner circle to allow him to be more balanced and avoid a hollow back.