2023 & 2024 Riding Journey

#17 More Haunches In With Mariah

This last week we got more rain, and so the outdoor arena was, once again, the only place available to do any work.  Mariah was covered in mud.  I didn't want to put in so much time to get her cleaned off before doing groundwork, but I knew that if I didn't do it now, I'd have to do it before I tacked her up, so I spent the time doing it before groundwork instead.

Even then, I didn't get all the mud cleaned off of her.  I cleaned off an area where I could put the saddle, essentially, with some work on the neck and hindquarters.  So when I finally made it out to the outdoor where my trainer was working with James, there wasn't much time left for a full groundwork session.

My trainer told me to do some things with her, move her hindquarters and make sure she was supple / responding well to that, and then I could pick up the flag that she was leaving for me.  She asked me if I'd ever used a flag before, and I said only once.  (That once being when I was trying to get Mariah to canter the first time.)

So I warmed her up, and then grabbed the flag with some trepidation.  I know it can be a powerful tool.  My trainer said it's use was so that you could use the lead rope less.  You hold it like a tennis racket. (I've never really held a tennis racket so...  I just copied her grip.)  When you use it, generally speaking you come in from above with it, not from down below, although there are some times you might use it down below.  You use it in the hand that would normally be holding the tail end of the lead rope.

Other than these directions, which I'd already know from before, I was left to experiment on my own.  I wasn't quite sure what do with my hands, as such, now that I had this other object in my hands that I had to be aware of. 

As soon as I picked up that flag, Mariah perked up.  She knew I had something more than just the tail end of the rope in my hand.  She was quicker to respond to me, in fact, I didn't really have a chance to truly use the flag on her.  Which was probably good, because I was still trying to figure out how to maneuver with it.

My trainer hadn't told me or shown me how to change directions while holding the flag.  I've gotten pretty decent at switching my hands when it comes time in the middle of changing direction, but with that flag I wasn't sure.  I did experiment a little, but never got anything figured out for sure.

The other thing was that I was used to being able to use my other hand to shorten or lengthen my rope.  But now my other hand was occupied with the flag.  So that was also something I had to work with and figure out.

But for the most part, it all went good.  I'd only guess I was out there about twenty or thirty minutes before my trainer had us go to get tacked up.

Vivie never came for a lesson.  I knew Friend wouldn't be there beforehand.   Kay did come for a lesson, and she rode Cordell.  James rode Rugar, I think for the first time.

I mounted up and went on a walk around the arena.  Most of the northeast corner was flooded in mud.  I think the east side was as well, if I remember right.

I heard my trainer say to James that we weren't going to be doing anything too fast, because while the ground looked dry enough on top, there was still mud under the surface and she didn't want to risk high speeds on that.  It was plenty safe for walking and trotting, but not necessarily for cantering or jumping.

As soon as I heard that, I had the thought that my trainer was going to have me and Mariah work on that haunches in exercise.

Sure enough, my trainer told me that when I was ready, I could start doing that haunches in prep exercise, where you turn the horse to face the fence and ask them to cross their hind legs. Once Mariah was more warmed up and doing good, then I was to ask for more steps. I'm not sure if she meant that I was to just ask for more steps in that haunches in prep exercise, or if I was to try for actual haunches in, but either way...

I did that for a good chunk of the lesson. My trainer didn't give me much instruction. But that's alright. I fiddled around with it and we did pretty good I think, from what little my trainer said and from what I felt.

The key with Mariah, especially on her harder side, is to make sure she doesn't just turn her head but actually crosses her hind legs. And that she doesn't jack knife herself while she does it. This often slows her down quite a bit, and her steps will be slow and few when she does it right, generally speaking.

Then my trainer had me do some trot work. She told me to start making a figure 8, and to vary it between rising trot and sitting trot, or making some circles bigger and some smaller, for example. She didn't specifically say what she wanted to see from this, that I remember. (Trainer had been up in the wee hours of the morning. Now she's been tired before and I've never known she was, but this time I could definitely tell she was. So this lesson wasn't one of her best, but I can definitely forgive her for that.)

I picked out a place at the south side of the arena where I had room and landmarks for making my figure 8.  I started off in rising trot and just went around doing figure 8's.  I tried to make sure she was bent like she should be.

There'd be times where I'd feel like she needed to be bent more, but I'd look down and along her side.  Mariah's short enough I could see her whole side, pretty much, and I'd see that she was actually bent as much as I though she needed to be, even though it felt to me like she wasn't.  I believe that's what it actually feels like for her to be bent but not leaning.  

I did one round of sitting trot, which went alright.  Then my trainer came into the mix and told me that she needed a longer, bigger stride for rising trot.  (Which I should've known, honestly, that rising trot we had going wasn't that great of one.)

She had me gradually speed her up until her stride was longer but her cadence, her rhythm stayed more the same.  Then she had me go to sitting trot, and then, as I came through the center of the figure 8, she had me go back to rising trot and a longer stride.  The goal was that Mariah lengthen her stride but not actually break her rhythm into a faster speed.  That actually went really smoothly.  Mariah stayed straight and her transition upward wasn't rushed or harried.

After we got more good rising trot out of her, my trainer had me bring her down to walk.  She said that it might seem counter-intuitive to have the same rhythm but ask for a longer stride to go faster, but that was a good thing to practice with a horse.  I know from my own research that maintaining the same rhythm is something that classical trainers put an emphasis on.

We took a walk break, and then my trainer had me go back to the same exercise but in a different place.  This time she gave me more of a goal, that I was to try for as long of a stride as I could while keeping the same rhythm.  

I don't feel this round went as well as the last one.  She leaned more on the circles, though nothing like she used to, and I just...  Wasn't quite sure how to get what I wanted from her.  I felt stuck, like I knew what I should be doing but wouldn't do it and didn't understand why?  Also, I didn't have very good landmarks to help me in making my figure 8.  Still, things didn't go too bad.  We had some decent rising trot.  At the end, I switched to sitting trot and she started to stretch out to take rein from me.  I used this to gradually bring her down into walk, which I felt was a pretty good transition.

I think we walked around for a little while and then that was it for this lesson.  So yeah, perhaps not the most exciting or fun or informative, but that's okay.  Sometimes it's good to not have an exciting lesson.

Actual lesson 6/6/2023