So for this lesson, I got to ride Amara.  I've actually been ground working here before the lesson these past three weeks or so, but I haven't rode her until this lesson.  This time, I got to ground work her and then ride her, so I spent a lot of time with her.

One of the thing we've been working on with Amara in the groundwork is getting her to step out and over with her inside foot / shoulder.  She likes to keep in stuck underneath herself, and that's not good.  One of the exercises we've been doing is having her step over an obstacle, and if she really reaches out with that inside leg, then having her go straight, and after we've gone straight for awhile, then asking her to follow us on an arcing line and seeing if she'll do it while stepping to the inside with that foot.

It's amazing how fast horses can learn things when you teach them in a clear manner.  I ground worked Amara last week, my trainer had only ridden her twice since then, and today I ground worked her again.  She was so much better than last week and you can tell she is understanding what we're asking.

She truly is a little sweet potato.  It was thrilling to me how sensitive and light on the lead rope she was.  I truly began to feel like we were having a conversation.  My trainer has said that groundwork is like dancing, and I began to feel that today.

Anyhow, after that, we went back and tacked up.  Everyone was there for the lesson today.  Vivie rode Mariah, Friend rode Rugar, and James rode Cordell.  We were in the big outdoor arena.

My trainer told me before mounting that we were going to work on whatever Amara needed.  So when I got on, one of the first things to test out was one rein stops.  It's been awhile since I've done those, so my trainer reminded me to use my leg first before my rein, and to use my leg to push her up into the rein.  

I mounted up and had fairly long reins.  I didn't bother to try to get some contact with her, having seen that my trainer when my trainer rode her that she wasn't doing that with her yet.  Amara had a nice walk going, so my trainer told me let her cruise around for a bit and maybe experiment with getting her to follow my weight aids.

So we cruised around and it was lovely how attuned Amara was to my weight aids.  Just lovely.  I made a bunch of random turns and just enjoyed that.  Then my trainer told me to do the one reins stops.  She said I could start a circle and then do a stop, thus making less of a splash when I did it, or I could just do one.  I'd find out more if I just did one, but the choice was up to me.

I decided to make less of a splash and started my first two stops with a circle.  But Amara didn't make a big deal out of it.  She was soft to the rein, but didn't go spinning around for how many ever circles before stopping.  So I took out the circle, and she was still good.  I did the same thing the other direction, and she was good there too.

My trainer asked how it was going, and I said it was good.  My trainer had me do one so she could see, and she said that it was decent.  So we went on to trot.

My trainer had been telling me that when I was riding and going to use the reins, I needed to go more 'up' with them than I was used to, and I needed to hold my hands more up in general.  For trotting, she told me my reins would need to be really short, but I would be holding them up and forward.  

I've seen my trainer do this, but to actually ride like this feels awkward.  I have really short reins, but no contact with her mouth.  She holds her head high, so that's part of the reason I have them so short.

Anyhow, we picked up the trot and just went cruising around.  When we were changing directions, my trainer told me to turn my shoulders and keep my hands close together.  Eventually she told me to touch my knuckles together, and that helped me keep them where they needed to be.  The idea was that I could use them if I needed to, but they had to return to the same place.  When Amara began to relax and lower her head a little, my hands had to stay the same, but I could feed her more rein.

It was an interesting feeling, riding like this, and with keeping my hands close together, it felt like my whole body was a joy stick that was moving to turn Amara where she needed to go.  An interesting feeling...

Anyhow, after that, we came to walk and then took a break beside Vivie while Friend did some jumping on Rugar.  After that my trainer told me to pick up a trot again and put her on a wide circle until she settled more into the trot.  She told me to start going to the right, and then go to the left, which was Amara's harder side, so that when we ended it'd be on her harder side and she'd get an extra big reward for doing good on that side.

So, I picked up a trot and did some circling.  Overall, she handled it well and settled nicely.  I did one round of circle going to the right and two rounds going to the left, and after then my trainer told me to come to walk.

One thing about Amara is that she can get balky / not very forward moving, so I had to get onto her about that, and I probably should've more than I did.  My trainer told me to walk her out on a long rein for a bit, and maybe even go over a line of cavaletti that was set up. 

I went over the cavaletti three times before stopping and watching Friend do some more jumping.  Amara knocked them every time, but I tried to not make a big deal about it.  And then after that I walked her to a place where I could dismount, and that was that.

Overall it was a pretty good, basic ride.  Amara is still pretty green in a lot of ways, but she is sweet and she does want to learn.  It was fun to feel how she would listen to my body, and the 'joy stick' feeling was definitely interesting.  So, overall, a good lesson on Ms.  Sweet Potato.  

Actual lesson 2/6/2024