The hitching rail is FINALLY up!!  And by that I mean the rail has been put along on top of the posts, so now we have something SOLID to tie the horses to.  No more half hitching and hoping Cordell doesn't untie himself while you're away getting tack.  No more chasing after loose horses.  

It's so nice to be able to tie a real knot XD

But *coughs*  let's back up a bit.

So, when I arrived, Dave came running out to be the welcoming party.  My trainer tried to call him back, but he never listened.  He got in trouble for that.  Dave's real sweet, but he's a little...  Not smart in the way you want him to be smart.  

But, anyhow, my trainer said that we were going to the vet with Little Pig, because he had a cornea ulcer.  It was ironic because I'd gone to the same vet last week to get Shorty's shots and Coggins.  

But we weren't ready to leave just yet, so my trainer told me to bold feed sacks and start filling water tanks.  

There weren't many feed sacks, and I was done with that pretty quickly.  I turned on the water, then went on a mission to find the end of the hose.  After finding where it was making a mud puddle, I drug it over and started filling the third tank.  The lesson horse pen and the donkey pen are still merged into one pen, and I'm thinking they aren't going to be divided again anytime soon. 

My trainer came to get Little Pig while I was filling up the tank.  It was interesting to watch my trainer move among the horses to catch them, and watch her play the 'catching game' which she does so much better than me.  Little Pig didn't want to be caught, my trainer said he was being like "It's too early, you don't come get me until the afternoon" XD 

My question was also answered as to who became the boss horse the hot wire went down and the two pens merged.  Rugar was the leader of the lesson horse pen, and Little Pig the leader of the donkey pen, and I wasn't sure who would 'come out on top' as it were.  

Well, it was Little Pig.  After my trainer took Little Pig out of the pen, Rugar started pushing everybody around, making them move off.  My trainer mentioned that he was real intentional about that, that if she took Little Pig out of the pen and left him behind, he would start moving everyone around as if to say "I'm in charge now." 

I only filled the first water tank half way up before my trainer shut off the water on me and said it was time to go to the vet.

She asked me if I'd seen a cornea ulcer before, which I hadn't.  She showed it to me, and told me what they were going to do about it.

Little Pig loaded right up and, after clearing a space in the pick-up for me, we were off.

I can't really say much else that happened (had an exciting conversation with my trainer, but that's more private), we dropped Little Pig off in a pen at the vet, they'd treat him and my trainer would come back for him later.  They usually don't allow people to do that, but my trainer's been going there for years.

When we got back, I asked my trainer if she wanted me to keep filling up the waters.  She said yes, but first, to catch Cordell and tack him up for Vivie's lesson.  

So I caught sweet Cordell and tacked him up with his special inflatable pad.  It was so, so, so nice to just tie a real knot and walk away without fear that he would get loose.  I've probably caught him the most out of all the horses XD  Thankfully, he's not inclined to run away.

 I got his bridle, hung it on one of the chairs, and told Vivie to tell my trainer that it was there if she went looking for it.  Then, with that, I was off to finish watering.

It was pretty much uneventful.  As per usual, the filly in Sage's pen came over and wanted to play in the water, but all I would let her do was put her head under the stream of water.  Despite being so young, she can and will stick her leg in the stock tank to paw in the water.  

I also asked my trainer if she wanted me to water the horses in the small pens next the arena.  Two client horses are there now, a young filly to be halter-broken and a light palomino gelding.  She said yes, so I did those.

Then, finally, I put the hose in the big stock tank (remember the one I cleaned out last time?), and left it there to fill up.   My trainer had me put Cordell up, then catch Rugar and Mariah.

My trainer said, "I don't know when or if Carol is going to show up, if she does show up here soon, then you'll have a lesson with her.  If not, then we'll do two lessons next week."  She also said I was going to ride Mariah.  

My brain mentally interpreted this as she meant that I would have lesson with Carol if she showed up, and if she didn't, I'd have a lesson without her.  But she meant that if Carol didn't show up, I could do a practice ride on Mariah.  

Mariah had legit changed so much guys.  Like, she cocked a hoof while I was grooming her!  In fact, she kept that hoof cocked the whole time I was tacking up.  She only pinned her ears when I was tightening the girth.  (My trainer mentioned that was probably partly caused by Rugar's bum being right in her face.  I did try, twice, to push him out of the way, but he came back each time after a little while *rolls eyes*)

Anyhow, I bridled her and started to lead her into the indoor arena, because my trainer was riding Moose in there and I assumed I was to have my lesson in there.  My trainer said, "You can ride in here or in the outdoor, but just know that I don't have steering" XD  Moose has been recently backed, so he doesn't know a lot yet.  So I spared all of us the anguish and went to the outdoor.

I mounted just about as Carol showed up.  I wasn't sure what to do, if I should go back or keep riding, but I kept riding.

Mariah's change came through in her riding.  She was less crooked, she was legit so relaxed.  I was wonderful.  I walked around for awhile and did a serpentine.  I also made sure to not let my hands get unaligned as well.  I tend to let my left hand slip back while my right hand stays in place, it leaves me pulling on the left side of the horse's mouth.  

I also worked on that halting thing that my trainer had me do last time when I rode her.  She was so much better about it, and didn't try to barge through the bit so much.  She even started flexing at the poll.  

Carol and my trainer came out to the outdoor arena, and I thought we were going to start a lesson then.  But that turned out to not be the case.

My trainer asked me how Mariah felt, and I said she felt good.  My trainer asked me if I'd trotted her yet, I hadn't.  She told me to go ahead and keep on doing my practice ride, and to do some trotting, transitions, and canter.  

I gathered up my reins and decided to do the trot transition with the circle in each corner.  Her trot was absolutely lovely, just lovely!  It was slow, and she didn't speed up very often.  When I asked her for walk, she listened, and she didn't try to spring up into trot again.  And she stayed so calm throughout it all.  

I had to be careful and look out for where Carol was, which meant I had to interrupt myself several times.  But all in all, it was good.  Her coming down to the walk was so soft sometimes!

I did a figure-8 trotting and it was so nice.  As I was doing it, my trainer was like, "See, she is a nice horse because of the work that you and others have put into her."  She's still convinced that Mariah will turn out to be like Bia.  

Then it was time to canter.  Our transitions were still pretty nasty, but going both ways she was so nice.  She didn't try to speed up on me but just stayed at a nice, steady canter around the arena.  It was such a change from the time that she used to spin around in crazy circles whenever we cantered her.  

After cantering, I walked her out on a loose rein and tried to work on getting her to stretch down a little.  She did several times, but didn't hold it for very long.  I went on the figure-8 again in walk. 

We could make nice half circles going clockwise, but going counter - clockwise we'd cut in and make a smaller one.  So I tried to fix that a little.  She'd always stretch good going clockwise, but would come out of it going counter-clockwise.  

Once we'd made a little bit of improvement, I took her off that and went around the arena.  I played a little with getting her to flex at the poll by halting or backing, and seeing if she'd keep it when going forward.  She remained calm throughout the whole deal for the most part, although I didn't get any great success.  

But she did give me a very nice halt, very soft, and so I ended the ride there.  

So yeah, I really didn't have a lesson, but honestly, I think it was worth it to have such a nice ride on Mariah.  

Actual lesson 4/5/2022