I actually got to choose who I rode for this lesson, as neither Vivie or James came for a lesson.  So my trainer told me I could pick anyone who was broke.

See, I'd assumed that it would either be Riggs or Romeo that I would ride.  It would be Riggs if my trainer wanted me to work on jumping, and if not, then it would be Romeo.  So I already had Riggs in mind, and there were several other factors that made her appealing to me.  Not least among them that she wouldn't run away when I tried to catch her, and she is nice, and I would probably get a chance to keep working on my jumping position.  Oh, and I don't know how many more chances I might have to ride her, as she's been here a year now, and so she might be headed back home soon. 

So I caught Riggs, groomed her off, and tacked her up, then went to the outdoor arena to mount.  My trainer was working with one of the three weanlings she has for halter-breaking in the indoor arena, and so she couldn't follow me right away.  

So I mounted up and began a warm up.  Which was mainly walk with circles and some halts thrown in. My favorite exercise, if you can't tell.

Anyhow, my trainer was soon out.  I did one more circle as she asked if I'd trotted yet.  I said I hadn't, and she told me to go ahead and do that.  She also said that I could start doing my own warm up if she wasn't out there, that I didn't have to wait for her, which I already knew and was doing lol.  I guess my warm up didn't look like much of one to her.

Anyhow, after completing that circle,  I went on to a rising trot with circles in each corner as well.  Now, I knew it'd have to a good rising trot, but remember, I've been riding Mariah for however long.  

But my trainer wasn't going to let either me or Riggs get away with a pokey rising trot.  She told me to ask for a faster rising trot, which I did, but Riggs didn't respond very well.  At which point she told me to get after here about it, which I did and that promptly woke Riggs up.  

Then Trainer had me come down to the walk and come over to her.  She told me that we had to make sure that we didn't let Riggs become dulled.  She is sweet and nice, but we can't let that trick us into allowing her to dawdle along.  When she does go back to her owner, she needs to be alert and ready to go.  There are plenty of little kids in the lesson program who will help dull her down, so I've got to make sure she's sharp.

After that, we went back to rising trot and the circles.  After we'd done that both directions, Trainer told me to have a canter around each direction with her. 

First, we went to canter going clockwise around the arena.  I asked her from a circle, but she got the wrong lead.  So I brought her back to trot and asked for her to canter again.  Again she got the wrong lead, but I wasn't sure about it.  

My trainer told me she had the wrong lead and to bring her back down and circle, then ask for canter.  When asking for canter, she told me to get after her and kick her.  This helped wake both of us up.  Also, we got the right lead this time.  I wonder if Riggs being slow to go to the canter was part of what was causing her to get the wrong lead. 

So we cantered around, with me sitting her canter in my usual bumbling way.  Riggs has a nice, steady type of canter.  Just before I brought her down to walk I decided to stand in my stirrups and practice that a little.  It wasn't as hard as it'd been on Romeo last time, it actually felt fairly easy.  

Going counter-clockwise, we didn't have any problems getting the lead that was needed, and went on to canter around.  I also practiced standing in my stirrups going this way as well.

Then we came down to walk, and after that, our warm up was complete.  We headed right into the jumping.

The jump set up was the same as it was last time I jumped Riggs.  So I'll be referring to this diagram down below...

My trainer immediately started us off on a bending line from the blue jump to the red jump.  Again, she told me that I needed to stay back so that I didn't encourage Riggs's nose-diving.  I was determined that I was going to stay back.  I didn't know exactly how, but I was going to somehow.  She also said that the shorter line I took to the jump, that meant the less I had to worry about maintaining that faster trot and getting things right.  So, I did take a shorter line to the first jump than I had been doing.

As I came around and faced the blue jump, my trainer told me that trot we had was not enough.  She had me speed her up, which was a little disconcerting to feel because it felt like Mariah used to do.  However, I also knew it was what we needed to have.  

That first jump was better than pretty much all of the other jumps I'd done on Riggs before on this bending line.  Sure, it felt a little wild, but I did stay back and it made it all better.  And on the second jump, I had to fight the urge to go forward, but I made it for the most part.

We went through that line three times, and each time we did pretty good, I stayed back, we kept up a good trot, etc.  My trainer was happy with that.  And then, she upped the game, which I knew she was probably going to do if I did well with the previous jumps, but I guess I didn't think about what that might me.

So, she wanted me to jump that first bending line like I'd been doing, but then to come around to the green jump, and do a bending line again to the blue jump.  Like a mini 4 course jump set, only with 3 jumps.  

As far as I can remember, I've never jumped a four jump course.  I remember jumping a 3 jump course on Denali, and a two jump thing on Bia, but that's been about it.  The rest of it has been either single jumps or a line of jumps.  So that made it seem like a lot to handle.

(Also, I should just mention that each of these jumps were verticals a little over one foot high.  So not terribly high, but Riggs wouldn't just step over them either.)  But really, all I had to handle was making sure that I got my lines right, stayed back, had a good trot going, and wasn't staring down at the jump. 

Guys, it was amazing! 

We went through the first bending line well, then came around, and got our line right on the second one.  I stayed back, kept up the good trot, and it was all good.  That little bit where I had to go around to get to the second bending line was also helpful because it gave me a chance to regroup if I needed to.

In total, we jumped that course 4 times, with a break after doing it 2 times, and each time I did it I got better.

One tip my trainer gave me (can't remember if she told me this before or during jumping the course) was to let my reins be longer so that I wasn't getting yanked forward when Riggs went down.

Another thing that helped me was my trainer telling me to wrap my legs around Riggs.  See, I'd been mentally struggling with the fact that, if I didn't throw myself forward and grab mane, what was there to keep me on the horse?  I hadn't told my trainer this.  But she said as I was going down the second bending line of the course for me to wrap my legs around.  For some reason, it clicked in my head that I didn't need to grab mane when I could use my legs to help me stay on.  That really helped.  

I was staying back so far that my trainer told me to be careful, that I did want to be in two point lol.  Another reason I like to throw myself forward is in anticipation of the jump, but for the most part I managed to avoid this temptation and wait for the jump to come to me.

I think it was the last jump on our second round that Riggs took a long jump and it didn't feel nice.  My trainer said that if I had closed my leg on the bending line just a bit, it would have helped her make the right distance to the jump.  This wasn't something that I knew I was supposed to do and didn't, it's a new thing that I've never had to do before. 

So, after that break, on the next two rounds that's what we tried to do.  By closing my leg, this encourages Riggs to close the gap and get to the base of the jump before taking off.  And sure enough, it worked.  

After that, I just walked Riggs out and  that was it for the lesson.  Man, was it a full lesson! My trainer was very pleased with me.  She said it looked like I was doing hunters!  Riggs wasn't jumping things flat either and we pretty much got the base of every jump with good striding, whether that was in trot or canter.

Overall, it was definitely a good lesson and I'm glad I succeeded in staying back in my two point.  I think it helped that I started doing it right from the start, and essentially nipped it at the bud, so I didn't have to right against it so hard.

Actual lesson 11/22/2022