But I'll back up. As you can tell from yesterday's post, I was slightly anxious about my lesson. I spent most of yesterday trying to calm myself down and convince myself that I would canter if the opportunity presented itself. Contrary to my original belief, the rain cleared up and it was actually nice outside so we ended up riding outside, I tacked Walker up and brought him up to the arena with everyone else, and it became very obvious that he was andy. I couldn't get on him so my instructor sent me down to the indoor arena to "lunge the hell out of him."
This was the 20 minute start to my lesson. When I returned, Waller was still a little hyper, and after about 3 minutes, he bolted. I was able to stop him for the first time ever but that's mainly because he stupidly bolted AWAY from the other horses, and when he realized that, he decided to listen.
From that point on I pretty much walked. My instructor had me do lots of transitions from walk to trot and back to maintain control, but nothing extraordinary. He tried to bolt a couple more times but I kept it under control. Since I missed half of the lesson lunging, the test went fairly quickly.
Looking back with 20/20 hindsight, I should have just trotted or cantered him anyway. I mean, what could have happened? The worst thing that could've happened was that I fell off, but more likely he would've cantered to the gate like he always does and then I would have simply asked him to go back out.
Having other riders changes the dynamic for both me and Walker. It changes things for Walker because he's more likely to bolt to them, but it changes things for me because I lose my nerve. If Walker fast trots when I'm alone, I just ride it out, but when other people are around, I imagine that he will bolt and pull him down to the walk. This is why I exclaimed to my instructor that I swear to God that I can actually ride my horse. Because I can, but mostly when I'm alone and I have no one around to verify that.
All in all, it was another wasted lesson that made me feel bad about myself for not forcing myself to be as brave and assertive with Walker as I normally am.
On a happier note, I've added a photo of the new foal. I didn't take this picture but it shows how cute he is - and tall. He's only three months old now and his legs are almost already as long as his mother's. He's going to be at least 16 hands for sure!
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