My best friend at school was under the same impression as me, one day we would be owning a horse. We made a pact together that we would save up and buy our own riding school, have loads of horses and loads of land, this I am sure kept us going through our school years and even now we are still in touch though our dream never quite happened.

“Please can I have riding lessons Mum, please” I asked again and again and again. But she kept saying No, Please, Please, Please, over and over and over again, Until she said “OK Yes” and I screamed at the top of my voice, but it did not come without a price, every night after tea and before I went out I had to do the washing up, can you believe that every single night for a one hour lesson on the Sunday. Ok so I thought it over for a good five seconds before I agreed to her terms,(I bet she thought I would say no) ha ha no way. Ok so today was Saturday and because the deal was set I made her phone up there and then to book my lesson for the next day, boy I was good.

Sunday morning arrived and I was up well early, dressed in jeans and trainers ready for my riding lesson. Dad drove me up to the stables and before he had completely stopped the car I was all ready out and running across the yard with him shouting something behind me, I turned and nodded having no idea what he said, but hoping that it looked like I did to him before I disappeared around the corner.

I booked in at the reception and waited for them to find me a hat that was the right size for me. When the lady asked me where were my wellingtons, wellingtons, I thought what for?” I explained to her that when I usually rode out I wore my trainers because they were much more comfortable, I thought that I sounded like I knew what I was on about that it did not bother me that she was grinning like a Cheshire cat at me. But I really had no idea.

She took me over to a huge barn where there was about ten kids all lined up in front of their ponies, a few of them looked scared to death of these four legged animals, and as I joined the group another pony was brought out to me, I could hardly stand still waiting for my turn to be helped on. Some of them just jumped on with ease, others struggled. Come on, come on, I thought, this is the easy part. Eventually they got to me and told me to bend my leg while they cupped it in their hands and on the count of three to jump, no problem, one, two, three. I am not sure but I don’t think that I jumped quite high enough and as I went to swing my leg over I missed and kicked my horse right behind the saddle, good job she was holding on to the lead rope, he shot forward as I fell tummy first over the saddle, she quickly tugged on the lead rope and he stopped and span around to face her, it was such a sharp spin and as I was not holding on to anything I just slipped straight over the top of the saddle and down to the ground onto the wood chippings, straight away I jumped up brushed myself off and tried to hide my beetroot colored face, not a good start.

Eventually we were all mounted up and ready to start our lesson, we were told to walk around the ring and then come down the middle and turn the other way, then we walked around doing a figure of eight, this is so easy I thought. Then the instructor said that we had to trot around the ring one at a time. How sorry I felt for my horse when it was our turn, bumb, bumb, bumb, I went. I had no idea how to do the rising trot so I just sat there like a bag of potatoes, slipping first one way and then the other, I had to grip so tight with my legs to stop me from slipping right off. My legs ached and felt really sore, so I was very thankful that we did not have time to trot around the ring the other way.

The lesson came to a end and the instructor called us all into the middle of the ring and to line up by the horse jumps that they had set out ready for their next lesson. She started to tell us what we would be doing in next weeks riding lesson, I was looking at the jumps and telling myself that in a couple of weeks I would be doing that, I was off in my own world paying no attention to what she was saying until I heard my name being mentioned, I glanced around and realized that everyone but me had dismounted, as she was helping me off I realized that I should really spend more time listening if I was to learn how to ride a horse.

Sliding to the floor my legs felt like jelly, but I managed to stand there as if I was fine, patting my horse on his neck and then threading up the stirrups so they didn’t smack against his side as he was led away. I started to walk across the horses yard to the car park but my legs were sore and burning so much, I stopped and pulled up my trouser legs to reveal two huge purple pinch marks, and said to myself from now on I think I will wear Wellingtons when I ride.

Now that I’d had a horse riding lesson and I in my mind I figured that I had learnt so much, I really thought to myself that day that it would not be long before I would be owning a horse of my own. I carried on limping to the car with a big smile on my face and thought, roll on next week.

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Filed under: Owning A Horse