For this lesson, only Vivie came to ride in it with me, and we rode in the indoor arena.  Vivie got to ride Rugar and I was on Mariah.

My stirrups on this saddle had been unrolled (most likely for a person with longer legs than mine), so I had the choice between too long stirrups and a little shorter than I'd like.  I chose to go the little shorter route and it was a good thing, because we did some jumping.

After mounting, I walked around some laps in the arena and experimented a little with getting Mariah to give at the poll.  She was very good about this and I had her in a lengthened out frame before my trainer spoke to me.

She told me to start in on trotting and if that was good to do some canter.  We wanted to keep the warm up short because she had to leave right after this lesson, and she wanted to make sure we had time to do some jumping.

So I just trotted around for a little bit on direction and then changed directions to trot the other way.  Mariah had a lovely trot going, not too fast and not to slow, and I was enjoying it.

Then my trainer told me to start posting slower but close my lower leg against her.  I did as told and for the first time, I really felt a horse lengthen its stride while maintaining the same speed.  Instead of speeding up, Mariah let her stride get longer.  I could feel the change and it was pretty neat.  My trainer was pleased with it and maybe now I know a way to ask for that.  Before, I wasn't entirely sure.

Soon afterwards I asked for our first canter transition, and my trainer was pleased with it because we kept the same contact.  I didn't yank on her face, she didn't try to get away from my hand or anything like that, we kept the same contact we had in trot throughout the transition.  It felt lovely, and her canter was also lovely.

Since the canter was so nice and didn't really need any work, my trainer told me to do some trot to canter transitions with the aim of them being as nice as the first one.  

For the most part they were, except for the fact that Mariah caught onto to what we were doing and would have a speedier trot in anticipation of the canter transition, and would also sometimes be resistant to coming back to trot.  So I would sometimes do a circle to get a nicer trot.  But the transitions themselves continued to be lovely.

After I came down to walk, my trainer said she liked how I was staying 'with' Mariah in the transition.  I was neither leaping ahead of her nor lagging behind but staying in time with her.  My trainer said that was something that she could not teach me, that it was something I would have learn and figure out for myself.  It was a nice compliment to hear.  I think what really helped me with that was when I asked for canter, Mariah was right there to do it for me.  There was no rushing, no throwing a hissy fit, just a clean and quick transition.

We did the same thing going the other direction and those ones were nice too, though I don't think we did as many.  Mariah began to settle down in the trot, instead of getting speedy in anticipation of the next transition, so my trainer had me bring her down to walk and call it good.

Then it was time to do some jumping.  The jump my trainer set up was held up on one end by the arena panel fence, and on the other by the mounting block, as my trainer didn't really have anything else to use at the moment.  To begin with, she set the one end of the pole on the lowest step of the mounting block, which made it lower that end and less intimidating as a warm up jump.  She said I could choose the direction I wanted to go.

I ended up going to the left, which now I think I shouldn't have chosen because it is our harder side.  But oh well, on we went.

It didn't take Mariah but one jump to figure out what we were doing, and her trot got faster.  I didn't hang onto her though, just rode it out and kept on jumping.  My trainer told me after two or three more jumps that I needed to stop throwing myself forward, because she was getting faster and faster to compensate for it.

Sure enough, when I held myself up and back, things changed.  Mariah went to do the striding and jump as before, expecting that I would lean forward, but I didn't and it kinda messed her up.  Somewhere in the midst of all this my trainer also told me I could circle to get a better trot if I needed to.

On the way to another jump, my trainer told me to sit up and half halt.  This is something I've never really done before, but it worked.  Mariah listened and slowed down, and I stayed up and back, and so my trainer said to bring her down to walk on that good jump.

She said that she knew that it was unusual for her to tell me to do something like that on the way to a jump.  Part of the reason is that with lesson horses, they need to know that even if a kid is jouncing around up there and maybe interfering with them, they still need to go jump the jump.  But, in this case, my trainer told me to do a half halt because it would be a true half halt, and Mariah would know she was still to go on.  A true half halt is where you use your whole body, and not just the reins, and it is only for a second, you do not hang on the horse. 

While my trainer explained this and Mariah and me walked around a bit, (during which Mariah stretched out nicely), she was busy raising up the jump.  She raised it up to the second step of the mounting block, which made it level.  So it wasn't really any taller than it had been, it just looked more intimidating.

I don't know if Mariah actually was jumping bigger over it or not, but she was clearly jumping it.  For the first how many ever times I went over it, it felt like a lot of times a variation of a wild leap during which I'd stay back as we went up, but would fall / snap forward upon landing.  Some were better than others, but overall it just didn't feel pleasant, smooth, controlled, or anything like that, but rather wild and jarring.  

I think the main thing my trainer was telling me during this was to stay back, and I would, until the second half of the jump when my hands would go down with Mariah's neck and the rest of my body with it upon landing.  

On the second to last one, it was one of those where I stayed back until the landing, again.  My trainer said to me something along the lines of her wanting me to stay back with my upper body throughout the jump.  I don't know what clicked, but something did, I guess.

On this last jump, things didn't feel so out of control or jarring or wild.  But rather, I was able to go with her jump, rather than just trying to keep up with it, and... I don't know how to describe the feeling, but it felt AMAZING.  Before, I'd felt like I was being jerked around and I didn't enjoy it, that did not feel fun or thrilling.  But on this jump, I was with her, and it just felt so good.  It felt powerful, in a good way, it felt like I'd always imagined that jumping could feel but hadn't really felt it for myself until now.  It just made me go "Wow."  And it was like I then realized why this was fun and thrilling to do.  

My trainer could see the difference and told me to come to walk on that.  She said that was what she wanted in my muscle memory, and so she was going to have us stop jumping on that rather than keep going and risk messing it up.  I'm glad she ended it there, because it was perfect.

After that I walked Mariah out for a bit, during which she stretched out very nicely.  My trainer said this was because she'd been using her core and being round when jumping.  On that last jump in particular, I think she must have been because it was a smoother jump.  Versus on other jumps, when she was going round and then not round and then round, they weren't as smooth.  But if a horse is round and their core engaged, then their energy will flow through their topline and over the jump. 

Now it's hard work for a horse to move like that, so when you say, "Okay, you can stretch down and take a break now if you want," they're like "Yes please!" 

I then came over and halted Mariah near my trainer as she continued to explain this concept.  My trainer said she'd been to a clinic where there was this famous, high level rider (I'm not going to say who just for privacy reasons and all that) who was given a horse to ride by one of the people attending the clinic.  One of the things the rider of this horse wanted to know (and my trainer said she was a good rider too) was how to get this mare to put her head down.  She really wanted to know that, but the clinician kept putting her off, saying 'in a minute'.  

As the clinician rode the horse, her head started to get lower and lower.  Until finally, when this clinician let the reins out, the mare put her head way down and stretched out nicely.  So of course the rider was like, 'what'd you do to get her to do that?' The clinician said that if a horse is worked with its back round and core engaged, they will want to stretch down afterwards.  The key is for them to be worked in that way, then when the time comes they will want to stretch down, just as Mariah did after we were done jumping.

So, that was another interesting thing to learn, and after my trainer said that, we dismounted to end the lesson.  

Overall, it was an encouraging lesson to me because it gave me a taste of what jumping can feel like if all the right pieces are in place.  Plus, I really enjoyed all the lovely feelings that Mariah gave to me, things I knew she was capable of when she came, but it is only now that we're getting that from her, after two years of training.  Still, I say it was worth it because she is so fun to ride when she's like that, and it was so neat to have that last jump on her.

That last jump is a moment that I think I'll always remember and treasure.  The feeling I can't put into words, but I can remember it, and that's enough.  

Actual lesson 9/5/2023