I Did It! I Did It!!!!!

I am just tickled purple (purple because I said that's what color Maya was going to be, lol)!!!! I finally got to ride Lucky off of the lunge line today...at my 3rd lesson! Whoo-hoo!

I was so out of it when we started the lesson today that I almost told Buzzy that I wanted to quit. My back has hurt so badly for the last week because of damp & cold weather. I was just not into it at all. I couldn't find my seat or my footing, I wasn't holding the reins right, I wasn't "steering" correctly, UGH! Buzzy kept telling me to lean back in the saddle, which he's never had to tell me before. I guess I finally relaxed and my back loosened up some...next thing I knew everything was going smoothly, thankfully. Funny thing is my back hurt like crazy before and after the ride, but not a bit once a found my seat and footing during the ride. Maybe I should stay on the horse!!

We did half ring circles then Buzzy took the lunge line off and we did figure 8's. I swear I got giddy, lol! It was so cool to not have Buzzy leading Lucky at all and to know that I was in control of him. Lucky is such a good horse, bombproof as you all say. Buzzy has him so well trained though that the horse knows the commands when he hears them, but he doesn't hear them from 20 feet away. It was so great to know that I was actually the one telling Lucky what to do and he was listening. I even rode him through the gate and into the barn. So cool, so cool!

AND this time when Lucky did his goofy little things like flinging his head around I didn't get upset, I just made him walk faster and got his attention on that...and it worked! and when I accidentally made him go in tight circles I didn't get upset either, I made him stop and I started over (I still don't know how that happened).

We also double checked the stirrup length this time and we lowered them a bit (I think) and my ankles didn't bother me at all. I think something was goofy last time.

I may have also found another place to ride, but I'm not certain yet. I'll have to see how it works out. A guy that DH works with has a horse and has offered for me to ride. His kids are grown and out of the house and no one really rides the horse anymore. He says the horse is well trained, but that can mean a lot of different things to different people! It's soooooo very nice of him to offer, but I wonder how long it's been since the horse has been ridden. We'll see if it works out.