I'm worried that my barn doesn't give me enough bang for my buck. I think that the board and the lessons are well worth the price, but it's like a cowboy taking lessons from George Morris. It still isn't worth it.
Then I decided to stop being so judgey. After all, did I not just have a rant about others judging me like two days ago? I haven't even seen a lesson, let alone ridden in one.
I want to jump and do dressage. I would like to do cross country too, but I have mentally lumped that into the jumping category because if you can't jump in a stadium, you aren't going to do so well out in an open field. These are my current interests.
But the sad cold hard reality is that I just need to ride. I have been out of the saddle for 3 - 4 months (give or take the occasional ride), and I spent the last year and a half getting out of my flopping around like a beginner stage. I'm by no means an experienced rider (or perhaps even an intermediate rider), and my riding needs streamlining in every way.
Matchey matchey - his shoes match his dress :) |
So I decided to enroll myself in one month's worth of lessons at the barn. I get to ride and decide if I like the program (and it seems like the barn manager is not so obsessed with The Program as my barn owner, which is a plus). If I do like them, I can use this time to get to a happy place in my riding. My barn owner has since assured me that they do teach jumping, and even though it's mostly small stuff, I can barely jump a crossrail so who am I to judge. If after time, I'm ready to move on, Walker and I will simply move on. If I don't enjoy the lessons, then we will move on sooner.
And who knows, maybe it's simply a matter of establishing myself at the barn. At my last barn, I got off to a slightly rocky start, but by the end, I could have burned the place to the ground and no one would have faulted me for it. Maybe with time, I can have the best of both worlds - I can stay at this barn and convince my barn owner to let me bring in other trainers or lesson elsewhere occasionally.
Sounds like you have a good thought process. I hope that you enjoy the lessons!
ReplyDeleteI think this sounds like a great plan! I'm sure the lessons will be worthwhile, and like you said, you can always move when they no longer do it for you. Walker looks cute in light blue :)
ReplyDeletegood plan and good outlook
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good idea. If you go through the program for a while and you don't like it, you can always make a change!
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