Fin
All things come to an end at some point. This isn't quite the end, but it feels like I've turned to the first page of the last chapter.
Last week was my final lesson with the IHSA team. It came after three days of final assignments and exams. On top of that, the past few weeks have been emotionally exhausting. It sucks to say that I was feeling empty when I got picked up and didn't really want to ride at all.
We're always given the option to pick the horse for our last ride of the semester. It doesn't always work out how we want, but our Coach does her best to accommodate our desires. Most people had their last lesson on the horse they rode for their first lesson. Y'all know who I rode for my first lesson?
Twinkles. No shade to my team's blonde haired beauty, but I still wanted a challenge for my last ride, so I chose Twister. He's the only horse that I had yet to ride for a full lesson, so it felt like a fitting way to close things out.
He got a long turn out that day so was a bit tired and lazy. It took quite a few kicks to get him going and then to get him going in the right direction. I felt decent on him. It was just hard to make him do anything. The canter transitions were especially dodgy. That being said, Coach had plenty of good things to say. Sure we were slow, but we were put together, and he Twisty didn't seem bothered at all by me swinging a leg over.
Jumping was shockingly better than flatting. He's usually a wierdo to jump. Legs go up and down obnoxiously and his head comes up as if he's about to take the biggest, grand prix oxer. For reference, we don't jump over 2'0" in our lessons.
The horses have all been a bit aggressive about taking fences going towards the gate. It's just what happens when we start going outside. Twisty was cool, calm, and collected when we popped over a crossrail going towards the gate and offered a nice simple change afterwards. We got over a vertical very nicely afterwards.
We also went over the sunshine jump a couple times. First time was great. Second time, which was the final fence of my IHSA career, was not as hot. I guess it's not surprise that I never made it past Advanced WTC.
Last week was my final lesson with the IHSA team. It came after three days of final assignments and exams. On top of that, the past few weeks have been emotionally exhausting. It sucks to say that I was feeling empty when I got picked up and didn't really want to ride at all.
We're always given the option to pick the horse for our last ride of the semester. It doesn't always work out how we want, but our Coach does her best to accommodate our desires. Most people had their last lesson on the horse they rode for their first lesson. Y'all know who I rode for my first lesson?
He got a long turn out that day so was a bit tired and lazy. It took quite a few kicks to get him going and then to get him going in the right direction. I felt decent on him. It was just hard to make him do anything. The canter transitions were especially dodgy. That being said, Coach had plenty of good things to say. Sure we were slow, but we were put together, and he Twisty didn't seem bothered at all by me swinging a leg over.
Jumping was shockingly better than flatting. He's usually a wierdo to jump. Legs go up and down obnoxiously and his head comes up as if he's about to take the biggest, grand prix oxer. For reference, we don't jump over 2'0" in our lessons.
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| Exhibit A |
We also went over the sunshine jump a couple times. First time was great. Second time, which was the final fence of my IHSA career, was not as hot. I guess it's not surprise that I never made it past Advanced WTC.
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