Some pics and videos of horse-riding (finally!)

[Miss Z]

For quite a long time I've really wanted to show you all some pics of me riding, and now I can! I never trust my dad with a camera, so my friend Katherine (midget gem) came along to the stables this Sunday just gone and took a grand total of 91 photos and 4 videos Of course, I won't bore you all to death with all of them, but I picked the best ones, she really is a good photographer, thanks Katherine!

Oh, and before I begin, yep, I know that in some of the photos I'm doing stuff wrong. Seeing myself on the photos has helped me a lot actually, I do a lot of stuff better than I thought but now I can clearly see the stuff I need to work on. I have just started to learn dressage, a type of riding that has always fascinated me and one that I'm finding very fun to learn! It doesn't seem too exciting on the ground (no pretty jumping or exciting galloping around) but it's taught me so much about the principles or riding in just 6 weeks, and I believe in that time I've learnt more than in the past ten years of general riding!

OK, onto the pics then! The horse I am riding here is called Millie, a 15.3hh chestnut mare. I think she's about 6 or 7 years old, 'm not really sure what breed she has in her. But she's a lovely girl, very bouncy but a pretty responsive ride.



Getting the stirrups sorted out, I always forget the front bit goes outwards, so I have to sit and think for a few seconds!



Setting off



I randomly like this pic, I think the slight shadow makes it look as if a great plain would be a fitting backdrop



Extended walk, I see here I need to work on extending the horse's back legs a little more as well as the front.



More coming up...

[Miss Z]

Hey camera!


This pic makes me laugh, I look like I'm going into some sort of medeival battle, me-thinks



Off into trot, here is a nice rounded medium trot a horse should give as a natural trot



Collecting the trot, here I think I over collected Millie a little too much and caused her to slow up, but you'll be able to see the difference clearly between the medium trot above, the collected trot here, and then the next one...



Extended trot! Ha ha, OK, in this one I seriously got carried away and lost the nice rounded frame completely but at least you can see how Millie's legs are stretching to cover more ground with each trot stride.

More to come....

[Miss Z]

Here I tidied up the extended trot a little more, LOL



This was just finishing a leg yield where the horse moves forwards and sideways so the legs cross over, you can just see this final cross in Millie's hindlegs before we go straight on the track.



Aaaaand....canter!



LMAO, my attempt at collected canter, I REALLY need to work on this



This is one of my favourite pics, it looks like I'm riding some wild horse as Millie looks so funny in the pic

Just the vids....

[Miss Z]

And the two videos, the first is trotting a serpentine, the second is cantering on a circle. I really don't like uploading to photobucket, it seems to darken my videos, but ah well.





Hope you all enjoyed!

[buttercup132]

Aw cute half chaps Zara lol That horse is so pretty I like the way she is shaved.

I don't think I could handle havinf lessons, with insturctor yelling what and what not to do while I'm trying to concentrate.

Just one question.. WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG!!!?!?!?!

[GreyhoundGirl]

Hehe, I see what you mean with that medieval battle, I see it too.

[Zippy]

Great pics and video.I love your medival battle pic.
I also love the second pic.
I want to take up horseback riding when I move to New mexico.Then You guys can all laugh at my horseback riding faliures and falls.

[Alysser]

Great photos, Zara! I really enjoyed seeing them, Millie and you work great togather. Millie is a very pretty Mare, she looks so cute in the "canter" pic lol..

[I_luv_rusty]

What a beautiful horse Millie is!!! Love the pictures. I wish I could ride more often...

[Kalei]

Wow what a pretty horse! I can't wait to have my own horse someday and take riding lessons, i can ride a horse if it listens to me, but I don't know much about it like you do. Like the things you said you was doing wrong, I didn't even know the difference lol. Anyways post more sometime too! you looked great out there!

[Miss Z]

Thank you so much everyone!

Aw cute half chaps Zara lol That horse is so pretty I like the way she is shaved.

I don't think I could handle havinf lessons, with insturctor yelling what and what not to do while I'm trying to concentrate.

Hee hee, the half-chaps are pretty cool, especially with black jodhpurs and a blue fleece I think Millie has a blanket clip, I'm not entirely sure though. I suppose I'm used to all the 'yelling' of instructors, believe me, I've had some really horrid ones before, but my current instructor is really nice and I've come on loads with her. I think for dressage you need someone on the ground yelling at you what you're doing wrong because it's so precise!

I want to take up horseback riding when I move to New mexico.Then You guys can all laugh at my horseback riding faliures and falls.

Nikki, don't ever worry about looking silly when riding or falling off! I used to do the exact same thing for about 3 years straight, and it did come back fairly recently although I can conquer it now. It's all part of riding, the top riders fall off all the time, but it's all part of the experience! Everyone fails on horses sometimes, I could tell you a billion stories when I've thought to myself 'Hey, maybe I don't want to ride anymore'. But don't ever let that get the better of you, a lot of riding is based on how much you trust not only the horse but yourself, and once you have that, riding becomes so much easier.

[Suki Wingy]

Yay! Finally! You look great! Does dressage sometimes require heels up? I have to push my left heel up sometimes because my ancle won't flex .

[Miss Z]

Does dressage sometimes require heels up? I have to push my left heel up sometimes because my ancle won't flex .

Thanks Eva! I'm pretty sure that in dressage the foot has to be kept as flat as possible. I too have a bad habit of letting my heels go up, mostly because I'm stronger in my right leg than my left (inherited striking leg from my dad! ) so have to work hard to keep more weight in my left leg.

[midget gem]

thanks for the compliment about my photos, Zara, but they only look good because you are a natural on a horse . Glad you liked them! Oh, and Millie is adorable!!!

[GreyhoundGirl]

ooo No idea what the words mean, but cute pics.