Our first horse riding lesson

Paulino's horse, James, takes a liking to me!

We went on our first every horse lesson this weekend! Our trainer, Jessica, took us out for an hour in the blistering hot sun in London.

After getting his helmet and boots fitted, Paulino was ready to go and had no problem getting aquainted with his horse, James. I however, took a few turns to even get on my horse!

Paulino was a natural!

Jessica taught us how to sit properly on the horse, how to hold the reigns. We found it really interesting to learn that horses are very much like humans - they are each have their unique personality and each rider needs to respect and work with them to get the most out of their riding.

Once I finally got on, I was away! Nearly...

Jessica, a former jumping competitor herself, had some really interesting insights into equestrianism, saying that it is an age old sport deeply surrounded by tradition. 

We noticed that the majority of trainers at the stable were female, so I asked her - what is the male to female ratio in equestrianism? 

She said that it really was a mix, and perhaps while quite popular with females, that there were many amazing male equestrian riders, especially competing.

The beautiful view.

After about 30 minutes she even got the horses to canter! I was slightly terrified - and spent a large amount of the time bouncing up and down with my hands in the air (apparently a big no no said Jessica!) but Paulino appeared to take it in his stride and was grinning madly in his dashing white pants and polo shirt.

Here we are with our awesome teacher, Jessica.

We also asked Jessica about ways in which people could get involved if they did not have the funds to take a lesson. She said that many stables offer an internship for those who are either very serious about entering the industry (be it competing or behind the scenes), or people who 

were passionate about these beautiful animals. In return, interns are often given time with the horses to ride - things they might not ordinarily be able to have access to.

All in all, we had a fantastic time and can't wait to do it again. Who knows, we might end up looking into the internship at the stables!