So, for this lesson, my trainer said I could pick whatever horse I wanted to ride.  Any horse except Romeo, that is, because Vivie was riding him.  But James didn't come for the lesson, so any other horse was free.

If Vivie hadn't been riding Romeo, I probably would've picked him.  He's honestly so adorable, and the horse that reminds me the most of what it felt like to ride Shorty. 

At first, I was going to ride Mariah, and was so close to catching her.  I stood there beside her and debated for a bit, because I realized that I hadn't ridden Cordell in awhile...  On the other hand, I really wanted to start getting back my 'feel' for riding Mariah and work on some things from last time.  It was an intense debate, lol.  I literally started slipping the noseband of the halter on her before I changed my mind and went to catch Cordell instead.

It's been months since I've sat on him, if I remember right.  Because of his gentle, willing personality, he's used for people who are still figuring out the kinks of riding.  So I just haven't ridden him for awhile.  But today was perfect chance to get to enjoy his lovely personality, which I may not have again for awhile.

Cordell's temperament is truly a gem.  It's not just a calm, easily worked with personality that a fair amount of horses have.  It's truly a "I like being with you, human," type of thing.  Almost dog-like, about as affectionate as I've seen a horse be.  It more than makes up for his quirky confirmation and how awkward it can feel at times when riding him.  Everyone likes him at the least, and adores / loves him at the most.

I had a hassle of a time tacking him up the wind.  I like using the saddle pad underneath the inflatable pad we use for both him and Mariah.  But the wind does not make putting that on easy, and then after I finally did get it on, the girth I'd chosen was just a couple inches too short.  (It's been so long since I rode him I wasn't sure what girth to choose.)  Needless to say, I was flustered when I finally came into the arena, but I tried to not let it linger.

I mounted up, being reminded just how tall he was.  I think he's at least 15.2 or taller, while Mariah is only 14 something tall, and Riggs might be between 15 - 15.2.  

I mounted and started going along the rail.  To be honest, I didn't do much other than enjoy the feeling that I was finally in the saddle.  But of course, that didn't last long.

My trainer told me to do some halts on him, and then told me to halt him while she was watching.  We did a fairly nice halt, which she said was good.  But she wanted me to keep doing them until Cordell came back with my body a little more and wasn't leaning on the rein as much.  That would make the running walk we were going to be doing easier.  After we got to that point, my trainer told me I could go to the running walk without having to wait to be told to by her.  

This didn't take too long; Cordell was already halting nicely.  So I took him to up to running walk with a tinge of trepidation, I think.  I've never particularly cared for running walk and definitely prefer trot.  It doesn't help that it's been forever since I've done running walk, so I wasn't sure how I was going to sit it.  Also, I was worried (probably more than I should've been) that I would have trouble keeping a good tempo.  

Vivie was doing canter on Romeo, and I was going counter-clockwise around the arena while she was going clockwise.  We came up on each other, and my trainer  was telling Vivie to come in to pass me.  But my brain told me that meant Vivie was supposed to stay out and I was supposed to come in?  I don't know what happened, but we nearly ran into each other because of it because we both came in.  Ugh, that was totally my fault.

Anyhow, after that I went on with my running walk.  Now the thing I've always seemed to experience with Cordell is that you want to lean forward and put your legs back.  It's always been that way; and I finally found out why.

I was sitting the running walk pretty well, but my trainer had me stop and come over so she could tell me something.  (The wind had / was picking up and could make things hard to hear, so she wanted to make sure I heard her.) 

She pointed out that I was sitting the running walk, but that my legs were back and my heels kinda grinding into Cordell's sides.  She wanted me to pull my leg forward and up from the hip, so that my knee came up and thus my lower leg came out from Cordell's side.

So I went off and tried that.  It was trickier than you might think, especially since I was trying to keep a good tempo with Cordell.  So then my trainer called me back around again so she could show me what she meant. 

She came up alongside and position my leg to where it needed to be, showing me how this pulled my leg up and forward, and that my balance needed to be more back in my seat.  She also then explained why she was teaching me to sit this way on Cordell. 

Tennessee Walking horses (which is what Cordell is) are used in Saddle Seat showing.  Now, if you've ever seen saddle seat showing, the riders look ridiculous in the way they sit on these horses.  They're always way back in the saddle, with their legs stuck out in an odd position.  To any regular rider, it looks odd and terribly uncomfortable. 

The reason they ride like that is because of the way the Tennessee Walking horse is built.  My trainer didn't say exactly what in their confirmation makes you feel like tilting so far forward and sticking your legs so far back, but apparently it's more than just Cordell putting weight in my hand that makes me want to lean forward.

Thus, you have to hold yourself a certain way in order to compensate and stay in the right place.  Many Saddle Seat riders aren't taught this, they just brace against the stirrups and the reins.  The horse, who is most likely not trained to carry itself properly, braces against the rider to help hold itself up.  Honestly, there are many ethical problems with Saddle Seat.  I don't think it should be completely eradicated, but some things should and must change for the good of the horses involved.

Anyhow, after my trainer explained that, it helped me to know that it wasn't just me struggling with this, and there was a reason for it.  When I went back to gaiting, it was better this time.  I still had problems keeping the tempo, but there were some moments where I was sitting as I should and getting the feel for it.  I think I may have done two rounds of gaiting after that talk, but I'm not sure.

Anyhow, at the end of a round when I was sitting good, she had me come down to walk.  She then told me that, since I'm riding different horses as often as I am, I do have a basic position that I'm supposed to try to keep as best I can.  Heels down, eyes forward, back straight, etc.  But depending on the horse, you may have to sit a slightly different way.

For example, just because you can sit like a properly erect dressage rider doesn't mean that he horse can handle that.  You may have to bring yourself more forward in order to allow the horse room to lift his back under you and learn to carry you.  It was something along those lines that my trainer learned while at a clinic four months or so back.  

So, while you may be able to always keep a 'correct' seat, you also have to be able to adjust that seat depending on the type of horse you're riding. 

After this break, Vivie got to dismount as she'd been riding longer than I.  But my trainer told me to have pick up a canter on Cordell and do the same exercise that Vivie had been doing on Romeo.  Namely, that you canter around, and when you reach the top half of the arena you make a circle around the circle of poles before going on. 

I clarified with my trainer that she wanted me to go around the poles and not over them.  For, to go over a circle of poles that small in canter on a horse as big as Cordell would not be fun.  My trainer laughed a bit and told me that, no, I didn't have to go over the poles, just around the ends of them.

Cantering Cordell was the best part of the ride.  He has the smoothest canter ever.  Like, it literally won't even feel like you're cantering. Seriously. You'll be like, "Is this canter, or just some other weird gait of his?  Am I actually in canter?" 

My trainer had me kick him on the circles and make sure he was going fast enough.  She wanted him to have a little more suspension in the canter.  It was pretty fast, but for the most part we made it around the circles alright.  Going to the left, or counter-clockwise, I made sure to twist my upper body enough for the circle, but my trainer also had me step down into my outside stirrup to help keep him from falling in. 

So, that went well.  I walked him out for a bit and then halted him. My trainer asked me if I wanted to do anything else in the wind, which by now was blowing some dirt around, or call it a day and try again next week.  I was happy with how things had gone, so I chose to call it day.  I don't know if by 'try again next week' she simply meant that we would hope that better weather would be available for riding next week, or if she meant that I was going to ride Cordell next week.

Either way, it was good to ride this sweet gelding again. 

Actual lesson 2/28/2023