Hi everyone!
So I’ve recently had my third lesson with Emma and I’ve learnt so much already. This time we worked on our showjumping and entering in the arena with lots of huge jumps and scary fillers was definitely daunting but I can’t even begin to tell you how much confidence I gained. Zaf had done a lot of work that week so was quite tired and ended up having a couple of stops to begin with; I learnt a massive amount from this. Emma helped me with (what she calls) finding my ‘grit’ which aided me in getting more determined faster and fighting those nerves while you are warming up as it easily transfers onto the horse. After we warmed up, Emma asked me if anything on the course made me particularly nervous- of course my mind instantly went to the wider oxers with fillers after a bad fall the previous year at a triple bar. She then gave me the option to either take them down or give it a go, I chose the latter (what else are you gonna say to a 5* eventer). So moving forwards we jumped each fence individually before putting it together as a course, I felt this really helped as I could focus on the course instead of the fences I was worried about, and zaf jumped absolutely amazingly. I hadn’t jumped anything like that in a while and I think I forgot how talented my little pony is even with all her quirks. My ‘lightbulb moment’ of that lesson was definitely that I cannot give up and ride defensively, even if I think she is going to stop I need to be incredibly positive. I feel I’ve gained so much from that lesson as I feel I’ve learnt to take control a lot more and I’m not actually going to fall off every time she stops!
The following week I took zaf arena eventing training at a venue near me, I instantly felt so much more confident on her just from last week’s lesson and I felt I rode so much differently and she just responded so so well! She is just feeling amazing at the minute and I don’t think I’ve ever been more confident on her. Emma is helping change my style of riding and already in just 3 lessons I feel that zaf and I are just completely different. I really couldn’t be happier with her.
Thanks for reading 🙂 xx
