"Patience in your brain"

I was a humbled rider again. Tonight, because Sheila was jumping Pet the lesson before me, I rode "Vesty", a bay a bit smaller than Pet. Vesty was a notch up from Pet in skill and experience, but it proved a major challenge for me. Vesty was very responsive to my balance issues and I spent most of the workout just getting a feel for Vesty...and vice-versa. He would stop on a dime and relied much more on reigning than Pet ever did for aids so I found myself way off balance many times when trying to figure him out. Once we got in the groove, things went pretty well. The canter with Vesty had challenges too. There was a delicate balance between slowing down and complete stop with Vesty, but with some work I was able to get things to work. It was hard keeping him at a walk between drills, but one of the neat things about Vesty - once again a very experienced horse compared to Pet - was that he will go into a canter right from the walk. I felt like I was back at lesson one with Vesty, but since I ride unfamiliar horses in the pentathlon, this is a good piece of humble pie. Its times like this, as in polo, that I feel I'm letting down the horses. But, in a way, this makes me work harder. Laura sensed my frustration and reminded me "it takes patience in your brain" several times.