Out of the Mouths....

This morning I gave a seven year old girl her first riding lesson ever.  She did a wonderful job, and was very safety-conscious.  When she first arrived I asked her if she knew the difference between english and western saddles.  She said no, so I showed her one of each and we talked about the differences.  I then asked her which one she would like to ride in.  She said "once, I rode a friend's horse and it was in a western saddle, so that's what I'm used to riding in all the time, so I'll ride in that today."

After we had groomed Cole, gotten him tacked up, and the girl was fitted with a helmet, we walked to the arena.  I helped her mount, and we talked about how to make a horse stop, go, and turn.  We walked all over the arena, and the little girl got to choose which obstacles we did with Cole.  I ask a lot of questions in lessons to help the rider identify different sensations to develop a feel for what she is doing.  When I asked her what it felt like to go over the jump (walking over a 6" cavalletti), she said it was like flying in slow motion.  Going over the small bridge and stopping with Cole's front feet on it felt like "taking off in an airplane" and when he stopped with only his hind feet on the bridge it felt like "landing an airplane."

My favorite comment of hers was about the barrels.  As we practiced turning by looking where we were going, I asked her what it felt like to ride Cole in turns around the barrels.  She giggled and said it felt like the horse was using a hula hoop, and that SHE was the hoop!  I thought that was a great seven year old description of centrifugal force!

Cole with one of his many proteges at a show a few years ago