Craig's first lesson!

Taught my boyfriend a lesson tonight! so proud of him, he has come a longggg way. He is still cautious and at times nervous but works through it very quickly.

I had him do an around the world, excercises on the lunge, and then learn direction by weaving in and out of pylons. He also learned to brush, saddle, as well as ground work. He did 5 strides of a trot on the lunge :)

He looks happy to me!



















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He makes my horse look like a pony! she's 15.2hh however he is 6 foot 3.

He needs to work on putting his heels down, letting go of the reins more, and sitting up straight, but I am very proud of him & Willow because she was such a patient girl for him

Way to go, Craig!!!

What a terrific smile he has.....he really looks pleased with himself. Way to go Wil......and Willow looks lovely. great pix. :cowboyhound.gi

haha.. yup he looks happy to me too... way to go girl.. bring him up right.. teach him all the right things.. just think of the possiblities .. hehehhe

Awesome~! I remember teaching my Johnny to ride, hahaha it was a very happy day for me too.

My neice and I were riding Dexter on Sunday and the BF was just sitting there on his 4 wheeler watching. Do you think I could get him on that horse???

Way to go Craig! He'll be wanting his own horse in no time. :roughrider.gif

I'm not sure he will be wanting his own but I like that he seems to be enjoying mine. He says he wants a bay horse when we have them in the backyard someday.

I sort of pawned him into taking a full on lesson because I need to get Willow ready for the little girls that are going to start learning to ride on her next week. It didn't take much to convince him though :)

I am the only person who has ever ridden Willow in a lesson setting as I started her myself 6 years ago.. and go figure she tries to cut into the center to see me but i've seen worse Willow was actually better then some of lesson horses I used to teach with! I like that I know her inside out so it is very easy to know what mind frame she's in, what works for her and what doesn't. Craig was able to get her back "on the rail" very easily although the barn has no arena we marked off a small area inside an enclosed area.

Haha, same here. I've been Dexter's only rider for over 10 years and he was not wanting to listen to my neice. He kept looking at me as if waiting for a command. Finally I had to descretely raise the whip to get him to trot because she was trying with all her might but he wouldn't get going. I didn't want her to get discouraged.

I find the bond between horse/human incredible.. they act so different from one person to the other.

For an example, Willow is so rough with my BO on the ground as in she will rub her entire face on him because he lets her... but she wouldn't dare do that to me!

My horse is not very forward but she is reallly sensitive to transitions.. all you have to do is think about it and voila! I am not sure if this is a good, or bad thing for my beginner riders..... because, too much or too little leg/rein/seat aids will result in her either going downwards or upwards in her transition. Sometimes when I say "what" to a coach or person I am riding with she will go from whatver gait she's in to a dead stop. LOL it sometimes catches me by surprise silly girl thinks I'm saying "woah"

What I did notice and am very proud about was that when Craig lost balance Willow wanted to stop.. she didn't quite stop but slowed down until he felt more confident.