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	<title>trot &#8211; Equestrian from Crete</title>
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	<description>A Greek islander explores equestrianism</description>
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		<title>Back in the saddle: Who says it&#8217;s always pleasant?</title>
		<link>http://www.equestrianfromcrete.com/back-in-the-saddle-who-says-its-always-pleasant/</link>
					<comments>http://www.equestrianfromcrete.com/back-in-the-saddle-who-says-its-always-pleasant/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[chriszygakis]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 01 May 2015 02:57:45 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[My adventures]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[arena]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[canter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[equestrian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[horse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[horseback riding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lesson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[stallion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[stubborn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trot]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://equestrianfromcrete.wordpress.com/?p=554</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[The Easter break is over at last, and lessons in the Trent Valley have resumed for our riding club. I was excited and looked forward to working on my trot and also hoped I could learn how to canter -which happened unexpectedly. What is more, I planned to speak to Laura about my thoughts about getting to the BHS helper certificate over the summer. But Wednesday&#8217;s session was not ideal. When we arrived in the arena, I was given an uncooperative, old fart (old fart because he was old and was farting all the time), strong stallion. It was obvious from the first moment that it was not his day. Plus, why cooperating with a lady who couldn&#8217;t get his name right? He wouldn&#8217;t stand even my pats. Eventually, we all got into the saddle and the lesson started. My stallion was not very happy to be ridden. So, what was he doing? He started dragging me across the arena! You know, a square or triangle instead of a circle. He preferred to have his mouth broken, than opening the circle. I started pulling the reigns towards the outer side, but he was refusing. My arms hurt so much! Eventually, I started practicing my Cretan way of making the horse go to the direction I want. This way is simple, although it takes time for the brain to get used to it. When we pull the one side of the reign, we slightly lift the other side. This will make my request clear, and, if I rise my the reign higher, I will &#8220;lock&#8221; the horse&#8217;s neck, preventing it from dragging me to the opposite direction. But even this &#8220;lock&#8221; was not working, I&#8217;m afraid, since the horse I was riding was far too strong! Laura insisted that I pulled harder. Poor horse, I didn&#8217;t want to do that, but no matter how hard I was pulling, he wouldn&#8217;t give up! Finally, I found a way about that. Pulling the outside reign as hard as I could (sadly), while holding the inside reign as high as I could, leaning it towards the horse&#8217;s neck as strongly as I could. But if only it that was it. He would not trot either. Every attempt for a trot took countless strong kicks. In one of my attempts to get him moving, he got angry and started cantering across the arena. I yelled &#8220;whatever&#8221; merrily and enjoyed the ride! The terrifying thing was that the horse wasn&#8217;t wearing his extra and it was the first time I had cantered properly, without assistance. But I managed to stop him at least. Ah, yes, I forgot about the farts. Oh, my God! He was constantly farting. Each fart would be as long as an eathquake and would smell like, well, I can&#8217;t describe it. I felt that we were going to take off like rockets or something! Laura eventually gave me a whip, which I used and also took the long whip that trainers use in order to&#8230; you know, &#8220;motivate&#8221; the horses, as none of them could bother! Of course, mine was the laziest! In the end, finally the horses started moving, we started practicing the canter, which had been my desire for so many months. And while I had been quite relaxed earlier, when my stallion was crazy, when I realised what I was going to do when my turn came, I got terrified! The distance we had to cover cantering was not so long, but I just panicked! The only thing I remember from that canter was myself grabbing the front of the saddle and holding on! The whole thing ended in so much pain for me! Even now, 40 hours after the lesson, I am in terrible pain. My thighs, my arms, my shoulders, my neck and my my back had been hurting since I got off that damn saddle! That&#8217;s for now! Time to go to bed!]]></description>
		
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">554</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Getting into the trot!</title>
		<link>http://www.equestrianfromcrete.com/getting-into-the-trot/</link>
					<comments>http://www.equestrianfromcrete.com/getting-into-the-trot/#comments</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[chriszygakis]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 Mar 2015 18:26:41 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[My adventures]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Techniques]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[equestrian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[horse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[instructor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lesson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[training]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trot]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://equestrianfromcrete.wordpress.com/?p=357</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Those who follow my blog know it already; I suck at trotting. After 10 months of riding, my trot is not where it&#8217;s supposed to be. But today it just went right! Today I mounted on a bigger horse, Orlando. He&#8217;s a beautiful brown horse, maybe too big for me, but quite energetic and willing, hence a good opportunity for exercise. So, yeah, we were doing driving stuff with corners, poles and blocks, until Laura told us to trot! It was a disaster! I can say I got a bit panicked, when I realized that the stirrups were too long! So, although I was almost there, I couldn&#8217;t follow Orlando&#8217;s movement -what a poor animal! So I asked Laura the permission to stop to fix my stirrups. She fixed them for me anyway, since the straps were too long. And, back on track! A second trot attempt! At first, i could hardly follow Orlando, bouncing and leaning to the front a few times. But I was determined to make it. So, I just remembered all my usual mistakes in the negative form; &#8220;Don&#8217;t forget about your heels&#8221;, &#8220;don&#8217;t keep your feet too deep inside the stirrup&#8221;, &#8220;don&#8217;t think too much&#8221;, &#8220;don&#8217;t rise your body to much&#8221;, &#8220;don&#8217;t forget to feel the horse&#8217;s move&#8221;, &#8220;don&#8217;t forget to keep your reigns tight&#8221;. So, I complied. And while I was fixing this stuff myself, I heard Laura shouting at me &#8220;up-down-up-down&#8221;. And I followed her! It&#8217;s the first time ever, ever, ever! I&#8217;ve made it at last! For the first time in ten months, I felt I was one with the horse! So, as the lesson was going on, every time asked to trot, I wasn&#8217;t nervous anymore. I would miss Orlando for a few moments, but then I followed him perfectly. But we had to do the corners, poles, blocks and everything, trotting. Orlando wouldn&#8217;t do the blocks, no matter how I much was pulling, so I just let him decide and concentrated on my trot  instead (yeap, I messed up with the route a few times, but as far as I was trotting, it was fine). Then Orlando decided to trust me a bit more; at first he would do the blocks, but he wouldn&#8217;t trot. He was just walking when we pass past them, and after that, he was speeding up again. Later, we made it! We were doing fine, including corners, poles, blocks! And yeaaah! I made it! And next week I&#8217;m having an exam with the improvers! PS: One hour before I set off for the class, I did a workout, including specialized exercises for the trot. I think this helped as well! Oh! And I also prayed last night! I&#8217;m sure God did the hardest work!]]></description>
		
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			<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">357</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Posting or Rising to the Trot &#8211; Podcast</title>
		<link>http://www.equestrianfromcrete.com/posting-or-rising-to-the-trot-podcast/</link>
					<comments>http://www.equestrianfromcrete.com/posting-or-rising-to-the-trot-podcast/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[chriszygakis]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 08 Mar 2015 01:19:18 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Techniques]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[equestrian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[horse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[instructor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[podcast]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rising trot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trot]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://equestrianfromcrete.wordpress.com/?p=351</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[You are a luck person if you have iTunes. Today I subscribed to the podcast channel &#8220;Daily Strides&#8221;. As far as I understand, the instructor delivers several such podcasts every week. On the podcast below she speaks about rising trot. She touched all my mistakes; using the upper body etc, but I found interesting her opinion about the &#8220;up-down&#8221; instruction. She says it&#8217;s wrong, because it creates exactly this problem. Better, she advises instructors to use the &#8220;one-two&#8221; instruction instead. And I don&#8217;t get the difference here: why would &#8220;up-down-up-down&#8221; specifically makes me makes all these mistakes, while &#8220;one-two-one-two&#8221; works better? Any ideas? http://feeds.feedburner.com/stridesforsuccess/jcZh]]></description>
		
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			<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">351</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Rising trot tutorials</title>
		<link>http://www.equestrianfromcrete.com/rising-trot-tutorials/</link>
					<comments>http://www.equestrianfromcrete.com/rising-trot-tutorials/#comments</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[chriszygakis]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 12 Feb 2015 00:21:20 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Equestrianism on the screen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[My adventures]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Techniques]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[equestrian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[exercise]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[horse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[horseback]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[instructor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[practice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[riding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technique]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trot]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://equestrianfromcrete.wordpress.com/?p=168</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Who has watched me riding knows it well; my sitting trot needs improvement. Desperately. And I know it well; I go mad every time I think about this. And my instructors both in Crete and England are often frustrated. Why? Why can&#8217;t I trot like other beginners who also ride just once a week? So, my instructors have reached the following conclusions: My legs need to get stronger. I think too much when I trot. More thinking than feeling. I rise up to the sky, which means that it takes me ages to return to the saddle (here&#8217;s some difference. It took me ages to rise from the saddle in the past). And this is mine: when they say &#8220;well done&#8221;, I get happy (too happy I would say), lose my concentration and mess up again. This is why I remind them not to tell me that phrase until I get off the horse. Ever. And I wish they never forgot it. So, yes. All these get mixed up, I guess, making my sitting trot infuriatingly messy. And the problem is, that even if your instructor sits there screaming instructions at you all day, everyday, your own effort is what matters the most. Especially if you know what to do, but simply can&#8217;t do it! But I&#8217;m determined to fix this, ladies and gentlemen! I&#8217;ve been serching around for tutorials with exercises and demonstrations. So, here&#8217;s what I&#8217;ve been watching today, focusing on what I can do during the week-long break. I hope to see some progress, sometime soon! Any other suggestions?]]></description>
		
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			<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">168</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>A training day at the equestrian club</title>
		<link>http://www.equestrianfromcrete.com/a-training-day-at-the-equestrian-club/</link>
					<comments>http://www.equestrianfromcrete.com/a-training-day-at-the-equestrian-club/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[chriszygakis]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2015 02:25:12 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[My adventures]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[equestrian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[equestrianism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[horse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[instructor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[riding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[training]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trip]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[whip]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://equestrianfromcrete.wordpress.com/?p=93</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[I might be from Crete, but this does not mean that I&#8217;m always there. I live in Nottingham now, studying War &#38; Contemporary Conflict. Thank God, there is an organized riding club, which has arranged training sessions and other events with Trentvalley equestrian centre Our transportation is admittedly a pain; the equestrian centre can be accessed from Nottingham only by car or train (about 30 mins). But when you have good companion, with similar interests and you head to an organized place, you really don&#8217;t realize how time passes. Yesterday it was my turn to get by train to the stables, along with many other riders. I left my hall at about 11:30. I took the bus to the Broadmarsh centre. Then I walked to the station, across Trent river&#8217;s canal, and realised I had arrived (again) one hour later. As I was walking, many people -including policemen- were checking out my long dressage whip. I can&#8217;t even remember how many security staff checked me out! Anyways, I waited patiently for the others to arrive, and in time the cross-country train arrived too. It was one of those sunny days which I love. The scenery was majestic; grass, trees and water everywhere, just a few clouds. We arrived at the stables at 13:45 and beginners -including me- had to get ready for the first lesson of the day. It&#8217;s the second session of our preparation for the beginners&#8217; exam (please help me remember its name). So, we were shown how to get the horse out of the stable. Next, how to fix the stirups, and girth and, finally, how to mount (well, obviously we knew that already). We also had to fix these things while seating on the saddle. My personal target this month is to make it to a decent rising trot. Thankfully, my instructor does her best to assist me. She observes me carefully and tells me what&#8217;s wrong with me. Finally, yesterday I made it! I wasn&#8217;t perfect, but still, I&#8217;m almost there now! So, we did everything included in the manual; walking straight, walking in circles, making circles around obstacles. After 50 minutes of intensive training, we had to unmount, sort the stirups properly, stand by the horse and waiting to deliver it to the rider from the next class. Before I finish, let me write about the challenges of a foreign rider trying to adjust to English riding. And that&#8217;s even more difficult if they are a beginner. First, it is the language barrier. I have to ride and understand the instructions being shouted at everyone at the same time. And I have to adapt to the English riding style. Yesterday I learned how I should hold a whip properly. It&#8217;s in my left hand, not in the right. And then&#8230; mounting. I&#8217;ve learned to hold both the back and front of the saddle, not just the front when I mount. And so many other little things. But thankfully, my instructor, Laura, is patient enough! Here are some pictures: My happiness and exhaustion did not allow me to take pictures from the return route. But, what the heck! I managed to do the rising trot, I learned how to hold the whip properly and my instructor said I would be fine on the exam day!]]></description>
		
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">93</post-id>	</item>
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