Western Riding Lesson 4

After a loooong, long weekend and with a bit of "I don't really want to" attitude thrown in on the Monday morning of the 21st of March 2011, I arrived at GAS for my 4th Western Riding lesson with Debbie Griffiths.

Both Gerhard and I did our own groundwork and warm-up quite effectively and proceeded to tack up our noble steeds.

We worked in the lunge arena again and I had a lesson together with my fellow student Gerhard Koekemoer.

We steered our ponies around obstacles without reins using just our feet. We learned about "the banana" and the "gears" (i.e. where to apply pressure to squeeze the fruit and get the correct response for the "gear" we want).

This was followed by jogging, with no reins and our hands on our hips, with no reins! That was fun!

I wasn't really in the mood for this lesson, but ended up enjoying it greatly in the end.

Some things I should keep working on:

• Shoulders up and open
• Back straight
• Heels down
• Toes in

Besides that, I've been told I have a good seat and that I am doing well.
Practice makes perfect I guess.

You can read previous posts in this series here: http://timonmeerkat.blogspot.com/search/label/western