Blog Hop Debut

So in honor of this first hop, the theme is: debut. No one is born knowing how to ride so all of us have memorable firsts.

Share a memory from:

1. The first horse experience you can remember.
2. Your first "aha" moment--when something really clicked for you as a rider.
3. Entering the ring. Could be your first show, or another time when simply entering the arena could be considered a "debut" of sorts.

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Here are my answers for this week:

1. The first horse experience you can remember. I know I had pony rides before this, but the first really vivid horse memory I have is when I was 9 or 10. My neighbor had a horseback riding birthday where everyone who attended got a real group riding lesson (in shifts). God knows how much her parents spent on that party, but I'll always remember it because it was the first time I really rode a horse on my own without anyone leading me. Do I remember the lesson? No. Do I remember the horse? No. Do I remember how insanely jealous I was that Laura got riding lessons every single week, not just on her birthday? Yes.
2. Your first "aha" moment--when something really clicked for you as a rider. When I was learning to ride I was always very timid. Well, I was a timid kid in general. If my lesson horse wanted to cut the corners---well, okay. If he wanted to break into a trot--well, okay. If he wanted to hop over the wooden logs that bordered the ring to eat grass--well, okay. When I got my first free lease horse, Spur, he had a problem with rooting and bucking after jumps/whenever he felt like it. With him, I really had to learn to be assertive, and I learned to not be afraid of a good gallop. The story of how that happened is here.
3. Entering the ring. Could be your first show, or another time when simply entering the arena could be considered a "debut" of sorts. I have to admit that I included this question because I felt like other people might have something more interesting to say than I can think of. I've already shared the story of my first show (also in a blog hop), so I'll share another first--my first day teaching, not so long ago. Honestly, I'd be hard-pressed to remember the exact details from student to student that day, but I do remember I had my lesson plan in a spiral notebook for each student. I introduced myself to everyone,  checked everyone's tack, brought them the mounting block...and then left the notebook there. It was helpful to have a general idea of what to accomplish, but I realized that there are so many things to adjust on the fly that having a lesson plan is just that...a plan. Not a schedule.

Well, I hope you enjoyed that and that if you have a blog you'll consider participating! (hint: it makes a good post when you can't think of anything to write about!)
---- UPDATE: So sorry! I added in the wrong script. Click here if you participated and would like the blog hop code for your own blog. Thanks to Dragon for pointing out the error.