So, this round I got to both groundwork and ride Mariah.  Both of these things were done in the big outdoor arena, as the outdoor was dryer than the indoor.

All of the horses were crusty with mud, and I did spend awhile cleaning Mariah off.  Only James was there for the groundwork lesson, and he got to work with Riggs.  Vivie came later and rode Cordell.

My trainer told me to work on having Mariah yield her hindquarters until she was doing it well and without grumping with me about it.  Then she'd have me bring her over the pile of telephone poles.  She also showed me that sometimes I should go around till I was almost behind Mariah in order to get her to bend as she should.

Mariah was actually in a pretty good mood, almost too good of a mood because she was a little slow about responding to my aids.  I worked with her on that without too much trouble.  She didn't hardly grump at me at all.

Then my trainer had me bring her over to the telephone poles.  These poles only come up to about a foot or lesson.  So Mariah had to step high over them, but she could just step over them without jumping.

My trainer wanted me to walk her over it several times in each direction and observe her withers to see if they were leaning out or straight up and down.  The goal was for them to be straight up and down.  I was also to see, if I could, which foot she was stepping over with first.  If she was stepping over with her inside foot mainly, that was a sign that she was straight up and down.  I had a hard time telling what exactly a straight up and down wither looks like.  My trainer had to point it out to me.

See, in going over these poles, if Mariah is not balanced, she will have trouble with it.  She'll slow down or hesitate in front of the poles, and my job was to say no, keep on going.  She would soon learn that she'd better adjust her balance to make this easier on herself.

After doing that in walk, my trainer told me to do it in trot and then pretty much left me to my own devices for awhile.  In trot, Mariah's slant to the outside was more obvious, because she would be leaning on the halter.  I also had to let her have a bigger circle in trot, so she had to go over the railroad ties as part of the circle too.

She did pretty well with this.  I had to make sure she kept on going and kept up up the trot but it wasn't too hard.  I rewarded her several times when I thought she'd done well.

My trainer then came back from helping James and thought to try this exercise in canter.  Now, if Mariah was going to canter on a circle, she was going to need a long rope, long enough that I wouldn't have much of a tail end to swing at her.  So my trainer wanted me to use the flag.  I've never  used a flag before, so I wasn't sure about this.

My trainer told me to raise it high and come down with it behind her hindquarters.  You hold it like a tennis racket.  I know it can be an effective tool, I've just never had the chance (nor the want) to use it.

It started out good.  I did get her cantering, but I was moving my feet too much.  I was letting her have too big of a circle, and part of the reason was because she was really leaning against that lead rope.  Thus, the circle wasn't hard enough for her to want to adjust her balance.  She also broke out of trot and though I flapped the flag, it wasn't enough for her.  Also, when she finally did go over something straight, I wasn't quick enough to reward her.

So, my trainer did take her from me and showed me how it was done.  It was very obvious Mariah was leaning to the outside.  Next time, if I do that, I have to remember to plant my feet and really use my body against her to stay put.  I think that was the main thing that I was missing.

Anyhow, Mariah did give three good jumps, two going one direction and one going the other, if I remember right.  We called it good for groundwork there and went to take up.  Mariah gave me her usual dagger glares and snaps, but other than that was alright.

I had a little trouble with her at the mounting block, and had to try two times before I mounted her on the third attempt, but I think it was because we were having a miscommunication.  She stood still when I stepped up on the block, my problem was getting her beside the block.

After I mounted, I walked her around scoping out the ground to see where the muddy patches might be.  It was pretty much dry except for the northeast corner, which was still slippery.  My trainer suggested that I avoid that side of the arena altogether, to keep from Mariah sliding sideways like she sometimes does and then us slipping into the mud, which would not be fun at all.

After telling me that, my trainer told me to pick up a rising trot and do whatever I felt would help me later in jumping for this warm up in trot.  See, after a rain, the ground can really show where you've been when you first ride on it.  By having Riggs going around him in a circle, James had made some very nice, round circle tracks in the dirt.  My trainer suggested taking Mariah on those small, marked out circles and insist that she still keep a good working trot while doing so.

It was so fun!  Like, one of the things I've always struggled with circles about is that I don't have a visual track to follow.  I have to visualize one in my head and hope that it's actually round and that my horse is actually tracking where they should.  But this way, I was able to actually see / feel what a round circle felt like, and it was so cool.  We were just flowing around those circles.

Also, I discovered that Mariah actually be straight on a circle like she should feels different than I thought it would.  It felt like she required less bend than I thought she should have.  I was trotting around and my trainer had me feel when she was standing up straight and not leaning.  It felt more straight than she was 'supposed' to be, but at the same time she was tracking around the circle like she should.

Also, because the circles were so round and perfect, Mariah started to come on the bit and stretch out.  Oh, she just felt so wonderful!  My trainer told me that if she wasn't coming on the bit, that probably meant I needed to push her more forward.

Anyhow, that was the majority of our rising trot warm up, and honestly, I could've just continued to have fun with that for the rest of the ride, but onward to other things we went.

My trainer told me to go ahead and have a canter around in both directions, then when I was done to come find her for jumping.

The canter around was lovely as well.  For the most part, I was able to sit it well and she kept it slow.  Near the end she did speed up but I just brought her down to trot before it went too far.

We took a halted break, during which Vivie 'jumped' Cordell for the first time (as far as I know it was her first time) over the telephone poles.  Now Cordell's got long legs and so he didn't actually 'jump' it but rather literally stepped over it.  Vivie did so well!  She had a nice running walk and sat it smoothly and just did so good for her first time!

On her second to last run, my trainer told me I could join the 'lazy river' merry go round after she was done and take my turn at jumping the telephone poles for a warm up.  After that, she was going to have me jump a three stride line.  Vivie ended up coming around a second time, so I wanted until she was done before I took my turn.

Mariah was ready to go.  As we came around to the jump, I could feel her speeding up and she broke into canter.  But I refused to try to slow her down, got into my two point, and we went flying over it.  My trainer wanted us to do it a second time.  

This second time, Mariah was a little too enthusiastic.  She ran at the jump and I kinda landed on her neck as well.  So we came around to try it again.  

This time, when she started to charge at the jump, my trainer had me circle until we had a quieter gait.  We started to come to the jump again and she started to charge at it again, so we circled a second time, got a slower gait and got her more balanced again, and then went over the jump, which was better.

See, Mariah is no longer afraid or worried about jumping.  Not once did she try to dodge out on me.  Now she likes to jump, now she's like "Yayyyyyy jumping!"  So we don't want to discourage that, but we don't want her over-rushing / charging at the jump either,  and we certainly don't want her unbalanced.

I tried to remember to stay back in my two point while jumping her.  I think I was fairly successful over the telephone poles, not as much when jumping the line, but never do I remember my trainer telling me to stay back.

The line we jumped next was three strides long, so pretty short, the shortest I've done outside of bounce jumping.  The jumps were only about a foot or so tall, so I wasn't worried about them too much.  The first one in the line were tires propped up underneath with wood that formed a slant, so that was my first time jumping tires.  The second one was two standards with a log held up between them.

My trainer went over and stood where she wanted me to turn to get to the jump line.  It was best if I took a short line to the jumps.

The first round went good.  Basically, I pointed her at the jumps, got in two point and hung on.  I was still leery of her trying to dodge out, but she never tried it.  Of course, she landed in canter and jumped the second one in canter.

I had decided to go left after jumping, but I guess it didn't look like I had and that I'd made a random decision because my trainer told me to pick the direction I was going before going through the line again.

I came back around in trot, but Mariah was obviously in that gung ho way of going, so my trainer had me make a small circle around her until we got a nicer, more balanced trot.  Then we took that trot to the jumps.

Again, I got in two point, pressed my hands into her neck, and rode through that line.  This time my trainer told me to be looking to the left while I was going through it, and that did help the turn to be less wild.  I think I was also popping up from two point too quickly after the jumps, and next time I think I'm going to stay in half seat and not even try to sit it.

The third (and last time around, if I remember right) was much the same.  Again, I circled around my trainer until we got a nice, slower trot and then took her through the line.  She was good as gold, and that was our last round.  I brought her to walk and walked her around for awhile to cool her out.

One of my problems is that I'm in good two point over the first jump, but I let myself get yanked forward and kinda fall on her neck a little.  I need to stay up and back more.  

It was good fun to jump her now that she's not trying to get out of it every two strides.  My trainer said that in two years, she'll be a bad to the bone jumping pony.

She said that in like, A level shows, in any level below a meter 10, there's likely to be a pony who is keen to jump and has a kid rider that rides like they're in a steeplechase, and who will smoke everyone because that pony can make tight turns and lines that bigger horses can't.  She said that if there was a horse like that in a class, you might as well have not even come to show, because that pony can just beat the tar out of everyone.

I definitely see the potential in Mariah to be like, especially now that she likes to jump and always has liked to go.  I think I might be doing more jumping now that we're going to be using the outdoor arena more with the nicer weather.  

Actual lesson 5/16/2023