Mum was a bit anxious when we left for my next lesson with Hannah Moody, it was getting foggy and the road to there is twisty, narrow and dark so we left early and made really good time on the motorway. That changed when we turned off and started to wind our way through the country roads with the fog getting thicker around us. Soon it was so thick that we could barely see in front of us! The mist swirled around the car menacingly, making us blind to the world, blanking every feature out and turning trees and branches into weird twisted shapes that seemed to lurch at us as we drove along with Katrina behind in the trailer. It was terrifying! More than once mum had to stop to see where the road went but we couldn’t go back because we couldn’t see anywhere to turn round.
Finally, we arrived safely at Hannah's, I got on quickly and began warming up, doing serpentines and lateral work, getting Katrina supple. As it had been a while since my last lesson, Hannah just had me working for a bit to see if I had made any progress. She thought that our canter work had improved, and saw we were now able to get correct canter strike offs on both reins quite consistently. Hannah had us working on the frame and balance for the strike off on our strongest rein, and on the other rein we just had to work on the balance and forwardness.
Next Hannah did something truly evil. She took away my stirrups to make me stretch my leg down while we carried on working on the canter transitions. By the end I thought my legs might very well fall off. I usually don't feel all that bad when I ride with no stirrups, but since I had lost some of my fitness it was so painful and seemed to go on and on, then she gave me homework to do more! She’s still my favorite instructor though.
Katrina was such a good girl, she didn't make any mistakes and she always tries her best. I'm also proud of how good she was about the canter, it has been a big issue for quite some time. Happy and content from an awesome lesson, we had no issues getting home as mum thought the fog had cleared a bit. I was very glad to be home that night.
Thank you to my super supporters Stonehouse Solutions for the training bursary, Style Reins Magazine, Tottie Clothing, Egloves and the Emporium at Wentworth. you have made such a difference!
Alanna x