This lesson, I got to ride Mariah, which I'd kinda expected. James and Friend were both there, so I got to ride with them in the large outdoor arena. James rode Riggs and Friend rode Rugar.

After I mounted up, I walked around for a little bit. I didn't do much but I did throw in some halts to see how she'd respond. She was good about it.

Then my trainer told me she wanted me to start asking for flexion at the poll from Mariah. Now, Mariah has sometimes offered flexion to me, and I've experimented, if I remember right, with asking her for it on my own. But this is the first time I've really tried for it. She's finally ready for it.

When I first asked for it, my reins were too long to effectively ask without moving them back. But my trainer told me to keep on asking and keep on with adding the pressure. It took Mariah a little bit, but she gave to me and so I gave to her.

My trainer then told me that, if I felt her starting to 'bob' her head, that I didn't need to add any more pressure but to just wait until she figured it out. That bobbing was a sign that she was seeking the answer, which is what we want.

After that initial ask, Mariah gave to me pretty easily. I was soon lengthening out the rein and felt her back come up underneath me! It changes a horse so much when that happens. They become connected, they're easier to steer, they're calm, they're using themselves as they should.

Now, to be clear, when I'm asking for poll flexion from a horse, I'm asking them to give to the bit. This in turn naturally causes a horse to lower it's head, and then as you ask further, they will often reach down in a stretch and raise their back. I'm not holding them in a 'on the bit' position, I'm using it to coax them into raising their back and using their body correctly. Sometimes it may look like they're on the bit, other times it might not.

Anyhow, that was a pretty good success with Mariah. Then my trainer told me I could warm her up in trot and canter in whatever way I chose, then we'd do some jumping.

I did rising trot with circles both directions. On the circles, she held herself up well and didn't fall to either side, which is what we want and I was pleased to feel that from her.

For canter, I let her just canter around about a lap in each direction. Looking back now, I probably should've also done a circle or two to check the steering. I rode the canter in a half seat, both because I didn't want to sit it (if I'm honest) and because I wanted to practice my half seat. Besides, when you're jumping and cantering, you don't sit it very often, so I figured I might as well do half seat, which I haven't done much of.

After that, I came over to my trainer, who was by Friend and Rugar. She said the me that Mariah was 'our kid's pony'. Like, she was acting like the kid's pony she would need to be. It's so rewarding to see  a horse that use to spin around in crazy canter circles now on her way to touting kids around.

My trainer said we were going to be doing the same jumping exercise we did last time. Of course, we hoped that Mariah would be like she was last time. As a trainer of my trainer described it, we wanted her to be like 'dink, dink, flop' to and over the jump. Just totally nonchalent.

But, if she wasn't, that would be okay to, my trainer said it wouldn't be like I had 'failed' if she wanted to canter and didn't feel like dinking along.

Friend was also going to be doing the same exercise, but since she'd never done it before, she was going to watch me do it before attempting it herself. My trainer did describe / walk it out for her, but it's always handy to see someone else do it first.

I was supposed to only do two rounds and then it would be Friend's turn, but I ended up doing three.

The first round was good. She landed in canter, we made our circle, and went to the second jump. But I could feel she was not 'dinking' around today. This became more clear the second and third rounds. She jumped more like she used to, with bigger leaps and landing in canter, which kinda took me by surprise.

I did a third round because, for the first two I went to the left instead of the right after the second jump. I don't know what my brain was thinking direction wise, but yes, I went to the left twice despite my trainer telling me to go to the right. So my trainer had me come around again to go to the right this time. After I did it, I saw why she wanted me to do it. It gave you a better line / place to go afterwards, especially if you were cantering, because of other stuff that was more in your way if you went to the left.

ThenI took a break, standing by the mounting block, while Friend made her first attempts. She did good. Then it was my turn again.

If I remember right, I went four rounds this time. Maybe five. It's all a blur for a reason, because Mariah was going fast and she kept getting faster. I had to make extra circles after the first jump to get to the second.

My trainer basically corrected me on three things. First, I needed my circle to more away from the fence so I got a better line to the second jump and didn't have to go 'looking' for it so much afterwards. Second, I needed to look more to the right over the second jump in preparation for the turn. Third, and this was the most important thing for me, I needed to stop throwing myself up her neck.

As Mariah had gotten faster, I started to revert to that old habit of grabbing mane and throwing myself up her neck. That's what she was getting faster, and her jumps flatter / longer, because it was getting harder for her to carry me over the jumps when I was crawling up her neck.

I paused while my trainer told me about this just before the last round that we did. That helped reset me, cause before I'd just been going and going, and my brain was spinning from the speed of things, I think. But that helped me break out of that, and I came around for the last round with a mindset of, 'I don't have to just let her speedup like that, we can take this slower, and whatever I do, I must not throw myself on her neck'.

I felt the difference right away. By staying up, I had more control over her and she didn't speed off as much because she didn't feel that she needed to. I had more control. Things just overall went smoother and slower. I made my circle where it needed to be.

My trainer was happy with that, and we called it a day on that. One thing that I really learned, or was reminded of, was how much of a difference staying back makes. That to just sit up there and hold yourself while waiting for the jump makes such a difference, though it is harder to do.

Friend also had her struggles with the exercise, but she got them figured out as well. My trainer told her that it might feel to us that we don't know how to jump, but that's because we're not in beginner land anymore. If we were, we wouldn't be doing this!

That was encouraging for me to hear. Yes, this exercise isn't easy, but I am able to do it, learn it, and that's a good thing.

I'm also happy that Mariah is able to do it now. Even if she's speedy and jumps big still, she's getting to where she does that less and less. Now I'm able to ask for flexion from her.

Several times during the ride, she would meet my reins (like if I was asking her to walk) and give to them. Though I wasn't necessarily asking for it, my trainer wanted me to reward her for it, which I did. It's so nice.

I walked her out on a long rein to cool off, and then, when she was stretching nice, I ended the ride. It was an intense lesson, but one of those where you learn / are reminded of things, and so it was good.

Actual lesson 7/18/2023