Beginner's last lesson

Yesterday was the eigth and the last lesson of my beginner's riding course where we learnt to walk, trot, control and interact with the horse. It was also the most scary and the lesson where I learnt alot.

I quite reluctantly dragged myself out of bed LATE.. and self-whipped to faster go for the last lesson.. I had the belief that the last lesson was supposed to be a horse grooming lesson, so was half-reluctant to go.. but didn't want to waster the 80 bucks.. and will also need to know how to groom my own horse.. so I dragged myself there..

To my quiet surprise, we were told to lead our horses out of the stables, i.e. we were riding again! (I think it was because Keith, our instructor for the first six lessons went to a competition and Adre who took over isn't clear which lesson we're at.. so maybe confused and thought we should be riding and not at the grooming lesson!)

Lack of sleep and exhaustion from the week gave me little energy. Not to mention, of the eight lessons, they had to assign me "Report Time" in the last lesson. (The other seven were all on "We Are On"). So here I was, trying to make friends with "Report Time" and putting some energy controlling it as I wasn't sure if it understood my intentions.

Interestingly, it was much easier task to get "Report Time" trotting than "We Are On". However, I initially didn't adjust the stirrups properly so the first trot was not successful as the stirrups were too long for me to balance on. After adjusting the stirrups, my second trot wasn't great either as I had a hard time keeping balance on "Report Time", either due to exhaustion or disability to catch her trotting rhythm. My third trot was a little better but I was still too nervous and pulled too tight on her reins so she felt held back and difficult to trot comfortably...

The highlight of the day, however wasn't me. It was jessica on "Moonlight". I think jessica's few times on "Moonlight" too, so she was trying to get "Moonglight" to go into trotting when suddenly, Moonlight jerked and Jessica fell off the horse!. Moonlight den went into a frenzy, not knowing where to run! The instructor later chided as somebody's mother brought the dog near "Moonlight" and gave "Moonlight" the scare! That was why "Moonlight" reacted so... I was so shocked as I saw how Jessica fell and then picked herself up and her expression of shock and pain still remains freshly engraved in my mind..