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Looking forward to see my equine friends again
The Easter holidays will be officially over tomorrow for most of the academic world in Britain. And I recently realised that equestrianism is probably the most effective cure to my chronic health problems. I have been informed that I’m in the list for this Wednesday’s lesson in Trent Valley and I’m so happy! Hopefully I won’t mess up with that trot! And hopefully my gloves will be dry by then! Well that’s all for now! New adventures are coming! I am excited and I wanted to share this with you!
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Are horses more responsive than we think? Ben’s self-esteem
I don’t know how many times yet I will speak about last Wednesday’s lesson and exam at Trent Valley, but anyway, here is another story that proves horses’ responsiveness to humans in situations that have nothing to do with training, instructions and circles around the arena. So, we all had done our stuff and we were holding the horses until the next class arrived. The next class was 20 minutes late, therefore we had to hold the horses in the arena for just as long. I was holding Ben, whose winter coat had started falling already, plus he had not been groomed, or this is how it seemed to me.…
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Lesson gaffes!
Yesterday, after my exam and lesson, I found myself helping out with the new beginners’ class. These are students from the University of Nottingham who did not register with the club in September, hence they are newbies. So, I was holding Smartie, with whom I was walking and running at Laura’s instructions for one hour, as Smartie was being riden by a nervous student. I soon observed that Smartie was too energetic as well. As it was a beginners’ lesson, halting and walking were included in the instructions. On one of our halts, Smartie kept trotting. What the heck?! I asked Laura for help. “Well”, she said, “he keeps going because…
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Off we go to the equitation exam!
March 2015 has been an exciting month for me; I went to my first para dressage show, I am probably going to next week’s dressage show at Trent Valley, and today I had my first equitation exam. So, today I woke up quite excited. I had a healthy breakfast with yogurt, honey and oats, did my workout, got dressed (wearing that polo-neck blouse to keep myself nice and tall in the saddle), picked my whip and got out. No stress, just happiness and pleasant impatience. But this changed, as I went to the hall’s shop to grab some healthy snacks. The shopkeeper asked me whether I felt nervous. And then…
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Getting into the trot!
Those who follow my blog know it already; I suck at trotting. After 10 months of riding, my trot is not where it’s supposed to be. But today it just went right! Today I mounted on a bigger horse, Orlando. He’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’t follow Orlando’s…
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My first equine steps
Thinking about my first BHS exam, I remember those first days on horseback. In Crete, in EGVUS, a small equestrian club literally by the sea. Yannis, my instructor, a very stubborn man, who built his equestrian club with his own two hands, was determined to help me overcome my fear of horses and enjoy the sport. And he made it in two months! Last summer was very different to the ones I had lived bofore. My life changed through interaction with horses. I made new -equine and human- friends, offered joy to children and tourists, saw my life from a different perspective. Bebis (or Baby as we call him to…