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!)
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How to join the blog hop:

1. Copy/paste the logo, the prompt, and the questions in bold.
2. Respond to them on your blog.
3. Publish your blog post and copy the URL.
4. Come back to this page, click the button below, and enter your blog name and the post's URL.
5. Then click this link and copy/paste the appropriate code in the HTML of your blog. Enter the code at the very end of your post so it appears at the bottom.
6. The list will update on everyone's blog automatically once you sign up!

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This Week's Blog Hoppers:

1.	Collegial Equestrian	7.	Little Bay Horse	13.	Serenity Now
2.	Viva Carlos	8.	She Moved to Texas	14.	The Walker Chronicles
3.	Maggie Bright, The Blog	9.	All In- Henry and Karley	15.	The Horseless Horsewoman
4.	Equestrian At Hart	10.	A Little Slice of My Life	16.	From Racehorse to Princess
5.	Eventing In Color	11.	Tia The Rescue Pony	17.	Hand Gallop
6.	The Way To heaven is on Horse Back	12.	The Little Bay Princess

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

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.