The stack

Okay, the title is so obvious that I will get to the point.

A lady came out to assess my riding level on Gally and Crownie. Another couple of ladies came out to get assessed on their horses, because it's cheaper to buy assessments in bulk.

One of these lovely ladies was going over a jump when I asked Gally for canter. And "bang", off he shot like from a shot gun, and I fell off.

At this point Gally got put away, but I still got assessed on Crownie. Still did the required walk trot and canter, some jumps and a gallop up and down the hill. (Okay, I just trotted down the hill. Close enough.)

Now, I've fallen off before, and I've fallen off Gally before, but some events hammer things home stronger than others. This was one such event. Now, if you're thinking that I am now going to give up riding, and close this blog, you are wrong. Phew, I'm glad we got that out of the way. (The thought did cross my mind).

A whole lot of things actually got hammered home. I could sit here for a whole week writing about them. But the thing that got hammered home the most was, I haven't been listening to my intuition.

I have been aware of a whole heap of problems bubbling on in Gally, and from the first time I saddled him my intuition was screaming at me to take him to my trainer. Not my dressage coach. My horse trainer. The guy who taught me how to teach Princess not to rear.

So why didn't I do it? Logic. Too much logical thinking. "Well, the horse was broken in, and another girl has been riding and training him, and my coach rode him and said he is fine." The list of logical thinking goes on. But my intuition was screaming at me to seek help from Mark.

And I think this is the first key to horse riding. You must let go of logic, and follow your intuition.