My little bit on the side...

A week or so back things took a turn, giving me yet another opportunity to experience life from an alternative position. This came in the form of a native of spain; beautiful, lithe and athletic with that innate latin pizzaz! Boy can he move! One session with him put a huge grin on my face and made my muscles ache for days. in truth I couldn't sit down without wincing! :P

His name is Perla and he is a Spanish dressage horse trained in the art of side saddle. For years I have ridden as most do: astride. However the opportunity to learn something new and I have to pounce! Side saddle is the traditional way for women to ride with both legs on one side of the horse allowing them to wear skirts, it uses different tack and an entirely different skill set.

A Side Saddle.

The two horns allow you to sit with your legs resting to the side with security. This is difficult to do without twisting especially when you sit further back on the horse and are using new aids. I definitely found a tendency to wriggle about rather than stay straight. However this is a technicality, in terms of staying on and getting the horse to do as I wished the lesson was highly successful. I easily found I could accomplish walk, trot and canter without any fear and after forty minutes could perform Spanish walk and passage without too much trouble.

I can't wait to have another lesson. It was so much fun even if very tiring, so as soon as I have the strength I'm going to give it another go in a week or two and hopeful have some better video! Maybe one day I'll get this good; I shouldn't rule it out!!