I was mildly surprised when my trainer said I was going to ride Cordell.  But I definitely wasn't upset about it.  Cordell is so sweet.  It's always good to get to ride him.

I didn't get to do any groundwork this time, instead my trainer had me do some work.  When I finished, there was still a little piece of the groundwork session left, and my trainer just let me stand and watch / listen. 

James worked with Mariah (though he didn't ride her, don't worry) and Friend with Riggs.  Vivie wasn't there for the groundwork lesson, but she did come for the riding lesson.  My trainer was working with Rugar.

My trainer said that with Rugar, if he starts off into a transition by planting his weight on his... I think it was his inside leg, then he's getting ready to lean and brace against the halter rope.  But if he will hold himself up, and put his weight where it needs to be, then he won't lean against the rope.  My trainer has tolerated him leaning against the halter before, but now she's working on clearing that up.  After that's done, she thinks there won't be much left to do in terms of groundwork for Rugar.

So, it's interesting that you can tell what a horse is fixing to do, or even has to do, by where it places its weight.  Balance is really important to horses.  You can change a horse's behavior simply by changing their balance.

James was working with the flag with Mariah.  He missed a chance to reward her for a nice halt, so then he had to go and try to get that nice halt again to reward her.  So not the worse crime in the world, but my trainer took the chance to give one of her mini collage lectures.

She said that people sometimes don't realize that when they don't change something to let a horse know they've done right, the horse won't know.  If you're trying to get a change of some sort from a horse, and they give you the change you ask for, you must change something to let them know that's what you want.  You can't keep doing the same thing, you can't keep repeating.

It's all too easy to be sloppy and not pay attention enough to notice when the horse makes that first change.  But if you don't reward that change in some way, how is the horse supposed to know that's what you want?  

If we can train ourselves, if we can be strict with ourselves and pay attention so that we nearly always reward the horse when they make that first change, then my trainer said you become the type of person where people are like "Well horses just like you." Of course they like you, because you let them know when they've done what you've wanted, and also when they haven't.  

You pay attention to them and show them that you are recognizing their effort.  You reward and encourage their 'try' and that matters a lot to them.  It makes them want to try even more for you.  They aren't living in unsureness, which a horse hates, because you are telling them if they're doing the right thing or not.

So, that was interesting.  I enjoyed listening to that.

I groomed off Cordell, tacked him up, and fought to keep him from eating the weeds in the outdoor while I tightened the girth.  Then I mounted and off we went.

Cordell was trying to swat at the pesky mosquitos.  It made him somewhat wiggly (he'd already been sprayed with fly spray, they were just that bad).  My trainer told me to really push him forward and let him know that he couldn't get squiggly like that.  Yes, the mosquitos are bad, but sometimes... You just have to ignore them.

The northeast corner and part of the east side was still under mud but it was drier.  My trainer told me as I was walking Cordell around to turn my toe in more than I would normally, so that my shin would be more against the saddle.  This is something that helps when riding Cordell, I think it help you grip him and stay upright.

We didn't walk very much before my trainer told me to pick up a running walk when I was ready.  Running walk went better for me this time than it had the last time I rode him.  I didn't have to work at maintaining his tempo so much, and I remembered to sit up and keep my weight well in my seat.  So that went well...

Then my trainer told both me and Vivie to have a canter around.  I always liked riding Cordell's canter, it is so smooth.  We picked up the canter easily and enjoyed about a lap of it around the whole arena.  I took a longer break than Vivie in between the next round of cantering in the other direction because I didn't think that we had to canter the other direction.  But Vivie went to do it, so I decided to do it too since my trainer hadn't said anything to me.

This round of cantering went well too.  Then Cordell and I took a halted break while Vivie went to do some work on jumping the telephone logs with Riggs.

She had to fight the same tendency that I have, to crawl up the horse's neck, especially right before the jump.  But in the end, she got it sorted out.

We took quite a long break, but then it was time for Friend and I to do our jumping.   My trainer told us that we were going to jump that same bending line, from the telephone poles to the logs with the standards, that I'd done with Rugar.

This time, she pointed out something that she hadn't before to me, because we were focused on other things with Rugar.  She said that turn in the bending line would be easier for us if we already were coming on a bending line to the first jump.  If we were already on a bending line when we went over the first jump.   Then she said she wasn't going to look for the first couple of jumps while we tried to figure out the line.

She also set up the second jump so that the side closest to the inside, where if we made a good turn we would get to, was higher and the other side, where we might end up if we got a bad line, was lower.  That way the horses' would most likely go over it even if we totally botched the line.

This bending line was going to the left, or counter-clockwise.  I went first, as Friend wanted to get a good trot going on Mariah.  I felt decently confident because a) I'd done this line before, and b) I was riding Cordell.  I knew he wouldn't take off with me.

The first time I remember distinctly.  It went well, I got a good line.  I think I didn't give him enough leg though, but I'm not sure...  However, my trainer called out after the second jump that I'd done good, which tells me she was in fact watching my first attempt, haha.  Never assume your trainer isn't watching, kids.

I didn't have so much trouble with the bending line, especially because I was trying to make sure he was bent even before we got to the first jump.  My main problem was actually making sure he had enough impulsion, especially to the second jump.  

After we'd both gone through it several rounds, my trainer raised the other side of the log jump because, as she put it, she 'has to get her thrills somehow'.  But it didn't become too big of an issue for either of us. 

The nice thing about the second jump was that it was extra wide because the 'poles' are actually thin logs, so it's wider than an ordinary jump.  It gave us extra leeway to get our line right to it.  Even if we drifted quite a ways to the outside, we could still most likely make it.

Overall, we had a good time jumping.  Cordell was good as gold, I don't think he ever really 'jumped', just stepped real big over everything, I think.  My main thing was making sure he had enough impulsion and enough bend.  One time my trainer told me to use my inside leg to get him more the outside, to bend more.  I might have been cutting more to  the inside than I should've, though I'm not sure.

After the jumping was done, my trainer pointed something out to the both of us.  She said this wasn't a knock on us, but that she was pointing it out for the future.

Both of our horses, when coming around the turn, their balance was not straight up and down.  This was more evident in Mariah, who would pick up the canter, and she was picking up the canter on the right lead despite the fact that we were going to the left.  That was because her balance was set in such a way that it was easier for her to grab the right lead instead of the left.

In order for a horse to pick up a lead, or make a turn to the inside with their inside foot, they must set their weight back on their outside leg, be that the front or the hind, to do that.  They have to take weight off of the inside foot in order to use it.  

So, this wasn't that important going over these two small jumps like we were doing.  But balance will become more important the higher the jumps get and when we're doing courses.  If you need the horse to pick up a certain lead on the way to or after the jump, you've got to set them up for it, otherwise...

That was interesting to hear, and that was pretty much the end of the lesson.  It was a good time on Cordell.

Actual lesson 6/13/2023