stormiebaby - yeah, I was pretty tense. I had to work really hard to get him to canter, and once we got started, he didn't want to stop. But he really started to calm down near the end of the lesson, which is good becuase thats when we were jumping.

I don't know whether I'm a great rider. I'm good, but not AMAZING. I've ridden for 4 years, and been jumping for maybe 1.5 years? (Had a crappy trainer for 2 years who never pushed me or anything). Last tuesday, I rode jr and we jumping 3 ft(my all-time high). I normally jump like 2'6" or sometimes 2'9". I've ridden stubborn horses (JR!) before, and spazzy horses(JOEY!) and even reeeeaaaallllllyyy lazy horses (OBIE!). But they always slowed down eventually. Barney went on forever. Until he stopped (which isn't forever but whatever!). idk, it was like I couldn't ride when I was on him. It was really wierd.