Collegial Equestrian Blog Hop

I don't normally do these things, but it seemed like fun so here goes!  This is from Carla at The Collegial Equestrian.

Share a memory from:

1. The first horse experience you can remember.

My first horse experience was on a trail ride.  I don't even know where it was, but all I remember was that there was this mini oval track through the woods.  Your horse just followed all the other horses since it was blockaded by the trees anyway, and it only took like 5 minutes to go around the track.  You went around several times, I think.  Although I hadn't taken riding lessons yet, I remember being very angry that my horse was following all the other horses because I wanted to actually "ride" my horse.  It was probably years from that before I actually started lessons, but I have a lot of horse experiences in the early years on trail rides.

2. Your first "aha" moment -- when something really clicked for you as a rider.

I think my first "aha" moment was probably when I learned the difference between the outside/inside leg/hand.  For whatever reason, my first instructor really confused me on that when I was a kid so it took a month or so before I realized what in the blazes he was talking about.  Other than that, it was probably learning my diagonals, which I don't ever remember my first instructor even teaching me about.  I remember him yelling at me for not being on the correct diagonal, but I don't actually remember him teaching me how to find the correct one!  I figured that out much later!

3. Entering the ring.  Could be your first show, or another time when simply entering the arena could be considered a "debut" of sorts.

This is an easy one because my first debut in a show was this past summer!  Although I rode when I was  younger, I never went to any shows.  It wasn't until I bought a horse that I even set foot at a show (other than watching barrel racing or driving at our local fair).  I was a wreck.  My first class was Halter, and although Walker would not stand still, we managed to get Reserve Champion.  Perhaps if I showed when I was a kid, I wouldn't think of them as just a big ball of stress!  I'm working on that...

How to joint the blog hop:

1. Copy/past the logo, the prompt, and the questions in bold.
2. Respond to them on your blog.
3. Publish your blog post and copy the URL.
4. Come back to this page, click the button below, and enter your blog name and the post's URL.
5. Then click this link and copy/past the appropriate code in the HTML of your blog.  Enter the code at the very end of your post so it appears at the bottom.
6. The list will update on everyone's blog automatically once you sign up!