As expected, I was to ride Amara for this lesson.  I expect that I will be riding her a lot.  As my trainer said during the lesson, I'm 'earning my keep' by putting rides on this green horse, which I don't mind and am glad I can do.

My new nickname for her is 'sweet potato' because she is a sweet potato.  

Vivie, Friend, James, and Kay were all there for the lesson. Vivie was on Mariah, Friend on Romeo, James on Riggs, and Kay on Cordell, just like last time.  We all rode in the indoor arena, so we had to really watch out for each other.  But we made it through with no serious crashes.

I mounted up on Amara and could feel that she was looking places and a little spooky feeling.  So I walked her around the outside fence letting her look at things.  My trainer told me I could start trotting her and doing circles in each corner when I was ready, but she stressed the fact that I do it when I was ready. 

So I turned Amara around and went the other direction to let her look at things out of her other eye before asking her to trot.  She seemed good with it, so I put her into a rising trot and started doing circles.  

We did circles in rising trot going both directions.  It wasn't bad, just working through the challenges a green horse presents.  She's still trying to figure out balance and rhythm.

At one point, my trainer said someone else in the lesson (can't remember who) that I was 'earning my keep' by working with this green horse.  That made me smile.  I'm glad that I can be useful to my trainer in this way.  

We did a lot of that, and then after a break, it was time to try some cantering again.  My trainer wanted me to do about the same as last time when asking for the transition.  Get a good, fast trot going, then sit and ask for the canter when I thought I could get it.  We didn't do the slow trot fast trot exercise before doing this.

So I trotted her around, and when I thought it'd be good...  Well, that's not true.  I think I knew that it wasn't the best place to be asking for caner, but I asked anyway.  The reason why it wasn't the best was that both she and I were crooked.  It felt to me like I was trying to get her to get straight / go along the fence and she was trying to bulge out to the outside.  This is a common crookedness I've had to deal with, but the way I deal with it out of habit is not good and only accentuates it.  

So it as like I was trying to go one way, and she was going the other, and when you add speed onto crookedness, that only makes it worse.  She went to the inside, but I was starting to slip to the outside.  She panicked, went faster, and I slipped farther.  I honestly had a moment of feeling like I was going to fall off, and I was in no position to do a one rein stop.  Plus, Amara decided to go towards where all the other horses were standing.  

Fortunately, I was able to pull on the reins enough to stop her.  It wasn't a one rein stop, but what my trainer later called a 'calvary stop'.   I didn't get to hear what she meant by that, but after some internet research, I think it's a less severe version of the one rein stop.  With a one rein stop, you completely take a horse's head back around with one rein and force them to cross their hind legs while letting go of the other rein.  With a calvary stop, you keep a hold on both reins, and use on hand to brace on the horse's neck while pulling up on the other rein.  Thus, you don't twist the horse around, but you do arrest their forward motion.  They can still go in a straight line, but it forces them to pay attention to you.  I think this is also known as a pulley rein in the english riding world. 

I did that unintentionally, trying to both stop her and get her to turn away from the other horses.  But now that I know it, I'll definitely be keeping it in mind for future rides.

Amara stopped right next to Mariah, and I mean right next to her.  Mariah was good about it and didn't try to kick her or anything. 

My trainer told me to just stay there for a moment, and she came up and rubbed Amara's forehead to reassure her.  She said we both had the same stunned, what happened expression on our faces.

It was my fault, I think, that we got into that situation.  I should not have asked for canter when she was crooked.  I guess because I've done it before on other horses (doesn't mean I should've done it on them either) and been fine, I assumed I could do it on her.  I forget that she's green, like, really green with only between 3 and 4 months of riding on her, and 3 of those months were more than a year ago, perhaps even 2 years or more.

After I regained my seat and stirrup, and we'd both calmed down a little, we went to try again.  Both of us were still a little buzzy.  I tried going the same direction, but she was crooked, and my trainer had me change directions before she went around like that too much.  Perhaps it was also to help give both of us a fresh start. 

It was when we changed directions, if I remember right, that Amara started trying to turn towards and go to Mariah.  My trainer said it was because she'd been stopped right next to Mariah, and so she thought Mariah was the one that had saved her from the scary situation.  So she wanted to go back to Mariah to avoid getting into / get out of a scary situation again.

I just had to sit up there and keep using my leg and rein to guide her in the right direction until she gave into what I was asking.  Then we went on.  She didn't fight me too hard about it. 

My trainer told me to get a good trot going for a bit before asking for the canter, aka to not ask for the canter right away.  So I did, though I can't remember if I trotted a lap or not?  Anyhow, I asked again for the canter, making sure we were not crooked, and this time we got it.  We only cantered for a just a bit though, and stopped when we started to get close to Mariah before she had a chance to dive for her.  I also felt us starting to go crooked again, I think, so it was good to stop while things were going good.

We came down to walk and then my trainer had me dismount right away as a reward & reassurance to Amara that she did the right thing by listening to me.  As far as I know, Amara's never had anyone come off of or come that close to coming off her, so it was a very new and unsettling sensation for her.  So when she got it right, we wanted to reward her very well for it.

Both times that Amara has just about run away from me were my fault.  The first time because I wasn't watching for that corner, and the second because I asked for canter when we were crooked.  She's not mean, she just literally doesn't know.  Doesn't even really know that what she's doing is not good.  She's innocent that way.

I've come up with a nickname for her.  My trainer contend that she is the most potato like looking horse she's seen.  I kinda have to agree.  Something about her confirmation and coloring makes you think of a potato.  So, I've started calling her 'Sweet Potato' because she is a sweet potato XD

Actual lesson 4/18/2023