Well, this week's lesson was a fun and good one!  Everyone was there, Friend, Vivie, and James.  Friend was on Romeo, Vivie got Cordell, and James was riding Riggs.  I got Mariah, which kinda surprised me because I though it might be Lily. 

Normally, I don't join in the groundwork lesson that happens the hour before the riding lesson, and work instead.  But this round my trainer told me to groom off and groundwork Mariah along with the others.

Mariah was pretty mellow for her.  My trainer had told me that if I saw her pin her ears, I was to come after her with the rope and make her move her hindquarters until she changed her expression at least a little bit.  But to be honest, she would pin her ears, but it'd only be for a brief moment and then she'd change.  So I never really got after for that but twice. 

If we'd pressed more, or done more hard things, she might have gotten more resentful.  Before, my trainer said, we were happy if she even just did what we were asking, regardless of her expression.  But now we're raising the bar, and refining what we're asking from her.  She can get huffy and offended about that.

We did some trot-walk-trot transitions, and sometimes she didn't want to come down from the trot.  My trainer said she knew she was supposed to come down to the walk but was just kinda ignoring it.  So I was to bump the rope, kinda jerk on it, towards her hip to be like "Hey, come on, you know what you're supposed to do. " Sure enough, I didn't have to do too much of that and she picked up on it quick.

Overall, it was a pretty pleasant ground working session.  Then we went out of the arena and tacked up, and then came back into the indoor arena to ride again.  She wasn't too snappy when I was tacking up, but I did have to slap her twice.  My trainer said that it'll just take however long it takes for her to realize that we're not going to be mean while tacking her up, but at some points we just have to say, "Even if you don't believe me, you're not allowed to threaten me like that." 

I was worried that my stirrups weren't going to be the right length or uneven, but I left them alone, and I'm glad I did because guess what?  They were just about perfect.  The left stirrup was 12 holes up from the number twelve, and the right stirrup was on the 16th hole, when I counted holes later to see if I could remember for the next time I ride in that saddle.  (The stirrup leathers are two different leathers, their holes are not the same so it can be hard to get them even.) 

Anyhow, when I mounted, I just walked around for a bit enjoying the feel of being on a horse.  To be honest, I couldn't think of anything to really do that would help improve Mariah, because she was just so mellow and calm, and pretty responsive. 

My trainer told me to pick up a rising trot and to do the circles in each corner exercise.  Usually, we would be using the circles to slow her down, but we flipped the script this round.  My trainer wanted me to push her and make her go faster on the circles, then let her go at the speed she wanted on the straight-aways.  It's really telling that when left her own devices on a straight line, Mariah wouldn't speed up though she'd still keep a steady trot. 

Mariah wasn't too happy about being pushed through the circles.  But she didn't through too much of a hissy fit, and things went well.  We did that going both directions and then took a break in the center, if I remember right. 

I'd noticed that in the arena, along the north wall, there were poles stuck in the panels with cinder blocks on the other side, like it had been for the pair of bounce jumps I'd done with Nibbs last summer.  So I knew someone had been doing some jumping, but I didn't think I was going to be doing any jumping.  

However, my trainer said that we were, but before that she was going to have me do some sitting trot to rising trot transitions.  I could choose in what pattern I did this, but it had to be consistent so Mariah could understand and grasp it. 

These transitions went really well.  Not only was Mariah slowing down when I asked her for the sitting trot, but for some reason I was really sitting the trot well.  I was like, "I don't know what I'm doing but it's working!"  I did the sitting trot on the short sides of the arena and the rising trot on the long sides.  I also made sure to push her onward when it was time for rising trot. 

We took another break, and it was during this break that my trainer gave one of her 'lectures'.  James asked a question about dressage and competition (I don't remember what he asked) and my trainer clapped her hands and was like "Okay, lecture time, sorry, but..."  And we all smiled a bit and didn't mind at all.  We like our trainer's 'lectures', you can learn some things that you wouldn't learn otherwise by just learning to ride.  

This 'lecture' I will not be putting here. It dealt with some controversial things, and I don't want my trainer being ridiculed for the position she holds, though I do believe it's a sound one and one I do agree with. She brought up some points that I hadn't thought about.

Anyhow, after this lecture, it was time for me and Friend to do some jumping. My trainer set up the bounce jumps, they weren't very high. Maybe over or under 12 inches or so. The same height that I jumped them with Nibbs the last time.

(A bounce jump is where the horse has no room between two jumps to take a stride. When they land right after the first jump, they have to jump again immediately. As soon as their hind feet hit the ground from the first jump, they raise their front feet to jump the next one. Thus, it's like they're 'bouncing' through the line of jumps.)

We were to pick a direction to go around the arena and jumping it. I went first, and picked the direction of going clock-wise, or to the right, around the arena.

Now, I haven't jumped in months if I remember right. And furthermore, I hadn't jumped a bounce jump but once with Nibbs. So, I didn't really know how it was going to go, but seeing as Mariah has greatly improved in her willingness to jump and was being so mellow, I wasn't too worried either which helped things go smoother.

The goal was to go to the line in trot and come out cantering. As my trainer said, Mariah was definitely going to canter out. Romeo would need more urging and have a really good trot when he came to the line, she told Friend.

I remembered that bounce jumping Nibbs had been fun. And guess what? It was so fun with Mariah too. She didn't wiggle very much if at all on the way to the jumps. I would get up in two point, grab a little mane, and let her do what she needed to do. Oh, it was such a fun feeling she gave me going over those jumps! Just springing right over them for the most part. And when I asked her to come back to trot afterwards, she was right there for it. Now, her trot was fast, but I didn't let that get to me for the most part and the more we jumped, the more she slowed down and relaxed.

Oh, it was really such a fun feeling she gave me, to just sit up there and feel her ping right through those jumps. Even more rewarding was the fact that a year ago, there would've been no way it would've gone so smooth and wonderful on her. She's changed so much! 

Friend had work more with Romeo, and so my trainer's attention was mainly focused on her.  I think she only commented on me to either say "good job" or once she told me to hold myself up more over the jumps and give Mariah the room she needed to jump.  Whenever I did this, things always went better.  

We took another break, and during this break Vivie cantered Cordell.  I understood how she felt, flying around that arena.  Cordell's canter is smooth but fast and from the ground looks very odd.  

Then we went jumping again, this time counter-clockwise.  I don't feel that our jumping this direction was as good.  I think I could've held my two point better and also just been more straight as this was my crooked side that I struggle with.  But for all that, we never missed the jumps, though on the first attempt Mariah did knock them down and I'm not sure why?  It was still fun.

Our second to last round of jumping was supposed to be our last, however, Mariah had relaxed enough that not only was her trot slower, but she tried going through the bounce jump in trot and didn't break to canter.  Thus she knocked them down again.  But my trainer wasn't too upset, just glad that Mariah was relaxed enough to want to stay in trot and not break to the canter.  She just had me come around again.

The last jump was a good one, we went in with trot and came out with canter and didn't knock the jumps.  I let Mariah walk out for a bit, then halted her by the others.  And that was it for this lesson.  It was a good one, a good start to jumping for the year.

Actual lesson 3/28/2023