Frustration. Level. Rising.

So I had Cameo (yet again. Kristy likes giving us one horse for several weeks before she switches us to someone new) tonight. Kristy wasn't teaching though, as she's on vacation, so we had someone else (whose name I can't remember for the life of me right now).

I didn't magically fall off on my feet this time (thank goodness).

But I did have a bitchy horse.

It's weird, because the first three or so times I've ever ridden her, she was pretty cooperative. Just last week she started with the "no, actually, I don't want to do what you want to make me do" routine. Tonight that mostly manifested in her popping her inside shoulder and doing the noodle-neck routine as she tried to move into the middle of the ring. Though I think she did get a couple of little bucks in, too, when I was trying to make her canter.

So yeah. That going to the inside of the ring thing kept happening for probably a good half of the hour or so lesson. I couldn't even cross the ring (to keep her from running up onto a slower horse in front of her) without her trying to stay in the middle of the ring and so on. And my first inclination (to pull with the outside rein and pull her back out) doesn't really work because she just noodle necks. Intellectually, I know I need to create a wall with my inside hand and leg and move her whole body over but actually putting it into practice is rather easier said than done.

So this kept happening. And I kept feeling like an idiot. And there was a new teacher (and someone else in there observing) and nobody else was having this issue. So the frustration was really there. For a minute there I was almost in tears (such a baby, I know) because she just wouldn't settle in and work (last week it didn't take nearly as long to get her going) and then there's this new person instructing and I just kept thinking she must've been wondering why I wasn't back in some beginner class or something (again, intellectually, I doubt she thought that, but who ever said I was always rational?).

Fiiiinally, she did settle in, though not after I'd worked at getting her to canter to the left several times around. But by the time we switched to going to the right, she was ready to go and that was just fine. I didn't really have any trouble with her after that (thank goodness).

I will be doing working student lessons again starting on Friday so the extra time in the saddle again will likely help. That and I'm going to try to set up an extra private lesson with Kristy on my day off next week and I'll ask her to work with that with me. Maybe I'll even ask her to put me on Cameo for that.

Though, honestly, there was a point in the lesson tonight I was tempted to write Kristy a note saying "put me on anyone but Cameo next time, please." But then I figure that's just giving in to the bossy mare and I want to learn how to ride the difficult horses (and I'm sure she isn't the worst I'll ever have to deal with) along with the easy ones. So the note will stay unwritten. :)

Substitute!instructor did say that this is a thing Cameo does a lot and if she's been in more lessons lately with kids who aren't ready yet (or strong enough or whatnot) to make her mind, then she's more likely to be inclined toward thinking she can get away with it. Which might help explain why she was easier to ride for me before as compared to lately. Or it's possible it's the change in the weather (now that it's cooler) that is also at play here.

Anyway, I figure if nothing else, it's research for the novel I'm writing for National Novel Writing Month. I'll torture my main character with a horse like Cameo. ;)

Well, I can sit a bucking school horse!

Tonight's lesson was. Exciting. Yes, that's the word.

I had Cameo, who I've ridden in the last two lessons and got along with pretty well.

First, though, she copped a bit of an attitude when I was re-situating her saddle (it had shifted too far back before I got her) and then tightening the girth. Which is kinda par for the course with her, she's a tad girthy. Then she wanted to start walking before I was fully in the saddle. Also par for the course, but annoying.

Then, the class gets going and we're warming up trotting and I'm thinking my stirrups feel weird (I can't describe it better than that, really). I think the left one (which was the inside stirrup at the time) was a little too long or something. I just felt kinda discombobulated. Then, as I was going up to post, my foot managed to slip out of said stirrup and I totally lost my balance and came off the horse.

Luckily, I managed to somehow do this so that I was basically dismounting while trotting. I'm not entirely sure how it happened. Luckily, Cameo stopped. I don't think Kristy is sure what happened either because I think she only saw me suddenly standing on the ground.

Anyway, I got back up and we continued.

There were a couple of times where, getting Cameo to trot from a walk, she'd pin her ears and feel like she was thinking about bucking, but she didn't do it. Also on one end of the end of the arena we were working on, she would keep moving to the middle of the circle and we'd have an argument about moving back over. Still working on how to straighten a horse out that does that because my initial reaction isn't really the right one. That and, according to Kristy, I'm not getting after her enough and she knew she could get away with it.

So there was that but it wasn't too bad. I chalked it up to the weather turning colder overnight (as it had) and Cameo just being grumpy.

Until she bucked once on that end of the arena as I was pushing her back over and keeping her trotting. Pretty sure I let out a "shit!". First time a horse has done that to me in a while. Other than that, we kept going and it was okay.

Then we started trying to group canter (actually only half the class at a time, but still). The first time, she thought about bucking, wouldn't canter, and came into the ring (where the other half of the class was waiting). According to Kristy, I still needed to get after her and she was "getting into my head" and I needed to not let her do that.

So we went again. Again there were a few bucks before she straightened out. But I sat them! And didn't lose my cool.

The next time around when we went the other direction was much smoother as she apparently decided to more or less do as I'd asked.

Then we did a bit of work on trotting into a low crossrail and cantering out. I had no trouble getting her to canter there (in fact, Kristy had me drop my crop as she definitely wasn't in need of me carrying it). Mostly then it was keeping her from going before it was her turn and, once, we went over one of the "high" ends of the jump. And cantered a little too far into the other class on the other end of the ring. *facepalm*

Those last bits were much more me at fault than the horse, though. ;)

Anyway, it was definitely an exciting lesson. I left feeling like a big dork, though Kristy said I didn't do that badly, especially considering how Cameo was acting.

I suppose I figure I should be able to, at this point, just magically work with the horse and it works. Which is silly because I've only been riding again as an adult since February or so.

And even after I fixed my stirrups after that almost-fall incident at the beginning, they still felt kinda weird to me. It was just a weird night, I think.