I have been taking horse lessons for almost exactly a year. My first lesson with Sara was in the first week of April 2012. After a year of hard work and preparation, I had my first show on Sunday! it was the thoroughbred classic horse show in san juan capistrano.
jon and i woke up at 3:36 am, hours before the sun rose! we drove 35 minutes to the farm I ride at in San Marcos and woke Gerry up. He was laying down and sleeping in his stall with his blanket on; it was so cute. he rolled over to gain momentum and got his feet underneath him to stand up. he is so interesting because he's been going to shows forever, he knows exactly what to do and what to expect. he knew why we were there and was ready to get started! we met sara and corina and packed up the trailer. we drove another hour to san juan capistrano as the sun was rising. we got to the mission viejo horse park at 6:30am. that gave us time to check in, look around the grounds, get gerry ready and warm up. corina came to help and i am so glad she did. she got gerry tacked up for me while i was checking in, it felt like i had an assistant. (she also let me wear her show coat which was really, really sweet) sara was awesome. she knew exactly what to do and what to have me do. there was never a moment where i was sitting on the sidelines for more than 5 minutes getting nervous about my next class and sara never showed any nerves or anxiety at all. before the classes started, i went to the warm up arena and trotted around and got on the same page as gerry. in between classes she prepped me and had gerry and i walk around so we didn't get anxious.
here we are getting ready for the first class which was English Pleasure. sara shined my boots, fixed my hair and helmet and tied my number around my waist.
the english pleasure class included the walk, trot and canter. the only problem we had was picking up the right lead. i had to take him back down to the trot and pick up the correct lead. we still won third place out of ten!! when they called my number and Gerry's show name (Original Concept) I was so surprised! the second class was another English Pleasure class and we had no issues! we picked up the correct lead both times and we got 3rd place out of 11 people! those classes were really fun and totally boosted my confidence. gerry and i were a good pair and were totally comfortable out in the arena together.
the third class was Hunter Hack and included some flat work (walk, trot, and canter). i picked up the incorrect lead again, which set me back a lot. then all the people in the class took turns jumping two 2' verticals. the other girls picked up the canter and went over the two jumps right away. sara suggested that i trot a circle and then pick up the canter and go over the jumps. i did just that and it went really well! i got 4th place out of 7 and i was really happy about how the jumps went!
here is the video of my little course:
the fourth class was a cross rail course! there were six jumps at 1'6" including two lines (a jump one right after another). the first three jumps were a bit tentative, but on the second line (the 4th and 5th crossrails) i just got off gerry's back and let him go. those two jumps ended up being the best because gerry is awesome. right before my last cross rail gerry broke from the canter and started to trot. he picked up the left lead before the jump instead of after it like you are supposed to do. you can hear sara (swear...and then) explain what she thought happened in the video. i knew i wasn't supposed to pick up the left lead until after the jump, i just wasn't pushing gerry enough to keep him at the canter. whoops!
here is the video of us jumping our course!:
my next class was another 6 cross rail course. i must explain that i have a faulty memory. i know exactly when and why my memory started to fail me, but that is another story for another day. soon after high school my memory started getting bad. i now rely on jessica and lyndsi, jill and my sisters memories of funny stories and fun moments we have had together! during my lessons i sometimes forget what jumps i'm going over next and sara has to remind me or she is sometimes just like "??? what happened to my jump??" when we were doing the first cross rail course, at one moment i completely forgot what we were doing. we went over the 2nd and 3rd cross rails and then i drew a blank. when i looked back at the course it came to me and we finished great. so...sara prepped me for the next course (mind you, i only had like 4 minutes to memorize a new course and i hadn't seen anyone else do it yet). i felt good about the course until right before i went on. sara was telling me where i needed to pick up the canter and go over the first jump and i looked to the red jump as she was telling me this. i went into the arena, picked up the trot then canter and aimed at the red jump. i started hearing sara yell "go right, go right!" i was soo confused. i looked down to make sure we were on the correct lead and we were. i had no idea what exactly she was saying, so i tentatively went over the first jump. i heard her yell from the sidelines "you're off the course!' i brought gerry to the trot and heard over the loud speaker "unfortunately our rider 165 is off the course." I had gone over the wrong jump! the very first one!! the correct jump was actually to the left of me, so sara had gotten her right and left confused, haha. we were both confused! i was so bummed. it was my last class and i had made such a simple mistake right off the bat. i was scared sara was going to be mad at me, but while i trotted toward her out of the arena she was waiting for me with a smile. she took me over to the warm up arena and had me go over a cross rail a few times at the canter and then over a vertical about 2' high a couple times as well. it was all very smooth, gerry and i were riding well together. sara had us jump together so that we ended on a good note. she gave us a few minutes alone and we just walked around the arena. i almost started to cry because i was so disappointed. a few minutes later jon came up to us and we started to talk before we were cut off by the loud speaker announcing the results to the first cross rail class. they announced 165 Original Concept and Alexandra Hagerman as the first place winners!!! even though i had went down to the trot and picked up the left lead prematurely, we won first place out of 4 people! i could not believe it! the only, and i mean ONLY other time i have ever won anything was in 9th or 10th grade when i won first place in a piano competition. it immediately lifted my spirits and i could tell gerry felt better too. sara pinned the blue ribbon to his bridle and we got our photos taken. it was such a good moment.
here is the video of us jumping our course!:
my next class was another 6 cross rail course. i must explain that i have a faulty memory. i know exactly when and why my memory started to fail me, but that is another story for another day. soon after high school my memory started getting bad. i now rely on jessica and lyndsi, jill and my sisters memories of funny stories and fun moments we have had together! during my lessons i sometimes forget what jumps i'm going over next and sara has to remind me or she is sometimes just like "??? what happened to my jump??" when we were doing the first cross rail course, at one moment i completely forgot what we were doing. we went over the 2nd and 3rd cross rails and then i drew a blank. when i looked back at the course it came to me and we finished great. so...sara prepped me for the next course (mind you, i only had like 4 minutes to memorize a new course and i hadn't seen anyone else do it yet). i felt good about the course until right before i went on. sara was telling me where i needed to pick up the canter and go over the first jump and i looked to the red jump as she was telling me this. i went into the arena, picked up the trot then canter and aimed at the red jump. i started hearing sara yell "go right, go right!" i was soo confused. i looked down to make sure we were on the correct lead and we were. i had no idea what exactly she was saying, so i tentatively went over the first jump. i heard her yell from the sidelines "you're off the course!' i brought gerry to the trot and heard over the loud speaker "unfortunately our rider 165 is off the course." I had gone over the wrong jump! the very first one!! the correct jump was actually to the left of me, so sara had gotten her right and left confused, haha. we were both confused! i was so bummed. it was my last class and i had made such a simple mistake right off the bat. i was scared sara was going to be mad at me, but while i trotted toward her out of the arena she was waiting for me with a smile. she took me over to the warm up arena and had me go over a cross rail a few times at the canter and then over a vertical about 2' high a couple times as well. it was all very smooth, gerry and i were riding well together. sara had us jump together so that we ended on a good note. she gave us a few minutes alone and we just walked around the arena. i almost started to cry because i was so disappointed. a few minutes later jon came up to us and we started to talk before we were cut off by the loud speaker announcing the results to the first cross rail class. they announced 165 Original Concept and Alexandra Hagerman as the first place winners!!! even though i had went down to the trot and picked up the left lead prematurely, we won first place out of 4 people! i could not believe it! the only, and i mean ONLY other time i have ever won anything was in 9th or 10th grade when i won first place in a piano competition. it immediately lifted my spirits and i could tell gerry felt better too. sara pinned the blue ribbon to his bridle and we got our photos taken. it was such a good moment.
i could go on and on about both sara and gerry. gerry is such an awesome horse. the biggest worry i had going into the show was that gerry was going to get excited and bolt through the jumps like he sometimes does at home. i got thrown off one time, but it was only because my balance was off, not because he bucked or anything. during the show he went at my pace the entire time. he didn't pick up his speed before the jumps or after, he was so calm and collected. it is so cute that he comes down to my level and lets me do these simple things on him and he doesn't show his boredom or anything. he picked up every correct lead after the jumps and totally took care of me. when we picked up the incorrect lead the first couple classes it was because i wasn't asking him how i was supposed to and we joked that he was trying to teach me that he's not going to do it unless i learn how to do it right. he is such a good teacher:) i must note that he is also such a professional. he wore a halter up to the show with his show name Original Concept written on it, rode in a luxury horse trailer and was calm the entire time. most horses would get spooked or excited or nervous in situations like that. he loaded into and unloaded off of the trailer like it was no big deal. he is seasoned and it is so lovable! at one point during the class when me and the other girls had our horses lined up, the horse next to us got nervous and started backing up into gerry. gerry looked back like he couldn't believe they were doing that during the class. adorable.
then there is sara. she, corina and jon stood in the corner of the arena far enough away from the judge that sara could instruct me quietly whenever i got to the corner. every time i got near her i'd listen closely for her instructions. "heels down. toes forward. bigger trot. give him his head." and sometimes when i'd pass by her all she would say was "beautiful a.j. you're perfect. really good job. smile, breathe." jon and corina recorded the classes and i love watching them so much. sara had commentary most of the time, even when i was 100 yards away on the opposite side of the arena. interestingly enough, often when she would give me instructions while i was all the way over there, you'd see me responding. most specifically: right before i went into my first class she told me to breathe and count to three before picking up the canter when they told us to. i was on the opposite side of the arena when they asked us to pick up the canter and in the video you hear sara saying "one. two. three. pressure with the inside leg, nose to the inside, kick him with the outside leg." and i picked it up right then. that just goes to show that she is a consistent and precise teacher and that i value her instruction. (in the second video at :22 you can hear her kiss and i pick up the canter right then. amazing, right??) she is such an awesome teacher. i loved how calm she kept me the whole morning, how supportive she was and how kind her constructive criticism was. she said that i fixed something every time i went into a new class and i consider that a huge success. jon told me later that when i won first place sara said "that made me day. no, that made my week. actually, that made my life." from that you can see that she is invested and cares so much about her students. it makes my heart hurt to think about leaving and having to find a new instructor and a new horse to ride. i can't picture trusting anyone as much as i trust both gerry and sara.
the day as a whole was perfect. i think i needed to get disqualified to see sara's kind reaction to it, hear her advice and to be able to feel sadness in order to appreciate the true happiness of the day. getting the blue ribbon was so much sweeter after that.
i promise i'm going to write a blog about why i started riding and my whole experience so far. until then, i will share one more thing. in the weeks leading up to the show, two of sara's friends starting teaching her to rock climb. she was so focussed on reaching the bell at the top that she wasn't looking at the holdings right in front of her. they instructed her that it isn't about the top of the wall, its about the next step ahead of you. i have been so nervous about my show (i have had a rough time cantering a whole course in my lessons) and sara knew that. she explained to me that the course isn't 6 jumps as a whole, it is about 6 individual jumps. focussing on the jump after the one you are heading towards isn't going to help you on the jump you're approaching. isn't that life? it is so easy to get worried about where/when/if jon and i are going buy a house, what he's going to major in, what my career path is going to be, when we are having children, what jon is going to do for a living and where we will end up once he's finished with school. focussing on what he's going to do once he finishes school doesn't help our immediate worry about getting all of our pets and belongings safely to texas in june. life is about many individual moments and its silly to worry about them all at once.
so much of my experience learning to ride has pertained to real life. like i said, i will write a whole post about my experience so far and why i love it so much. in the meantime, i'm going to go watch my show videos a million more times while i kiss and cuddle my ribbons.
then there is sara. she, corina and jon stood in the corner of the arena far enough away from the judge that sara could instruct me quietly whenever i got to the corner. every time i got near her i'd listen closely for her instructions. "heels down. toes forward. bigger trot. give him his head." and sometimes when i'd pass by her all she would say was "beautiful a.j. you're perfect. really good job. smile, breathe." jon and corina recorded the classes and i love watching them so much. sara had commentary most of the time, even when i was 100 yards away on the opposite side of the arena. interestingly enough, often when she would give me instructions while i was all the way over there, you'd see me responding. most specifically: right before i went into my first class she told me to breathe and count to three before picking up the canter when they told us to. i was on the opposite side of the arena when they asked us to pick up the canter and in the video you hear sara saying "one. two. three. pressure with the inside leg, nose to the inside, kick him with the outside leg." and i picked it up right then. that just goes to show that she is a consistent and precise teacher and that i value her instruction. (in the second video at :22 you can hear her kiss and i pick up the canter right then. amazing, right??) she is such an awesome teacher. i loved how calm she kept me the whole morning, how supportive she was and how kind her constructive criticism was. she said that i fixed something every time i went into a new class and i consider that a huge success. jon told me later that when i won first place sara said "that made me day. no, that made my week. actually, that made my life." from that you can see that she is invested and cares so much about her students. it makes my heart hurt to think about leaving and having to find a new instructor and a new horse to ride. i can't picture trusting anyone as much as i trust both gerry and sara.
the day as a whole was perfect. i think i needed to get disqualified to see sara's kind reaction to it, hear her advice and to be able to feel sadness in order to appreciate the true happiness of the day. getting the blue ribbon was so much sweeter after that.
i promise i'm going to write a blog about why i started riding and my whole experience so far. until then, i will share one more thing. in the weeks leading up to the show, two of sara's friends starting teaching her to rock climb. she was so focussed on reaching the bell at the top that she wasn't looking at the holdings right in front of her. they instructed her that it isn't about the top of the wall, its about the next step ahead of you. i have been so nervous about my show (i have had a rough time cantering a whole course in my lessons) and sara knew that. she explained to me that the course isn't 6 jumps as a whole, it is about 6 individual jumps. focussing on the jump after the one you are heading towards isn't going to help you on the jump you're approaching. isn't that life? it is so easy to get worried about where/when/if jon and i are going buy a house, what he's going to major in, what my career path is going to be, when we are having children, what jon is going to do for a living and where we will end up once he's finished with school. focussing on what he's going to do once he finishes school doesn't help our immediate worry about getting all of our pets and belongings safely to texas in june. life is about many individual moments and its silly to worry about them all at once.
so much of my experience learning to ride has pertained to real life. like i said, i will write a whole post about my experience so far and why i love it so much. in the meantime, i'm going to go watch my show videos a million more times while i kiss and cuddle my ribbons.
