2023 & 2024 Riding Journey

#23 Cantering Poles on Riggs

So for this lesson I got to ride the sweet red roan mare Riggs.  I like her, she's just an overall nice mare.  Vivie and Friend were there, but not James.  Vivie rode Mariah and Friend rode Rugar, and the lesson was in the indoor.  

I shortened up my stirrups before mounting, and even then they were still just a bit too long.  Rather than prolong the agony, I stepped away from the mounting block and then shortened them another hole.  It made all the difference because the holes on those stirrup leathers were somewhere around an inch apart.  

After taht, my trainer didn't give me anything to do.  Friend started doing halt - walk transitions with Rugar, and I copied her example, but for a different reason.  I knew Riggs was going to more lethargic and unresponsive, partly because she's ridden by little kids a lot, and that if I didn't have a good walk going by the time my trainer did look over and address me, I was going to be lectured for it.

So I went around, doing the transitions and trying to not run into anybody.  One thing that I found effective in getting a good walk from Riggs was alternating my leg aids.  When her belly would swing out on one side, I push with that leg, and vice versa on the other side, so that I urged her walk into a faster tempo.

I succeeded in my attempts to get a good walk, because when my trainer did speak to me, she said I had a nice walk going.  So I didn't get lectured this round, and she gave me my first exercise. She said Riggs was really good at haunches - fore / haunches - in, aka the exercise I'd been trying with Mariah that one time.  It's where you bring the horse's hindquarters in off the rail and ask them to step alongside the rail laterally.  I've only attempted this one Mariah, who hasn't done much of it, so my trainer wanted me to do it on Riggs for more practice.

My trainer watched me do the first two or three, and it went good for the most part.  We'd just do two or so steps of it before straightening back out.  The main thing is that Riggs would slow down, and my trainer wanted me to try to get that smoothed out.  

I think the main thing that I need to work on is that I do too much.  I ask for too much angle; my trainer would tell me to turn my upper body more back towards the track.  Riggs would stall partly because I faced her too much in to the fence.  I'll think I need a lot, when really I don't.

So I went along practicing that, and I think things got somewhat smoother.  Riggs was definitely good at it and it was neat to be able to do it on a horse that understood what I was asking.  Mariah doesn't yet understand, though I hope one day she will.

After that, my trainer told me to have a trot around, a nice rising trot to warm Riggs up nicely.  She suggested that I asked for her to speed up or extend on the long sides of the arena.  We went first to the right, or clockwise around the arena, for the first round.  That went good, we took a walk break, and since my trainer didn't say anything else to us, we also trotted around going to the left, or counter-clockwise.

Then my trainer had me come and take a halted break standing by her.  Friend was working with Rugar on the circle of poles.  When she was done, my trainer told me to take Riggs onto the poles, pick up a rising trot, and then ask for canter to canter on around the circle going to the left.  Going to the left is Riggs's good side, I think, but for me it's actually my bad side.

I think I've cantered horses on that small of a circle before, but the poles made things different. My trainer got onto me about not getting into the trot quick enough and I had to kick Riggs to wake her up.  The first time I asked for canter, I asked in rising trot.  Riggs sped up nicely, but of course she didn't canter because all of my trainer's lesson horses are taught not to canter unless the rider is sitting.  Ack, shows how focused I was on other things at the time.  I was being too hesitant and wishy washy about things.

On the second attempt, we got the canter and it felt crazy.  It was bouncy, though I think I sat if fairly well, and it was mainly the steering that was a challenge.  My reins were too long, which my trainer said was why it felt like I was having to pull her around the circle.  I shortened them and things got better.  The other thing was that I was pulling on that inside rein too much.  Once I let that go things also got better.  I also had to be careful to use my body and not let my inside shoulder drop so much / not lean so much to the inside.  Overall, I guess things went well, it just felt crazy.  I also had to make sure to use my leg to keep Riggs going, I think we broke from the canter two or three times.

My trainer told me to come to walk.  She'd been telling Friend before that she needed to be more ready to get the walk when my trainer told her to, and so when it was my turn, I made sure to sit up and get that walk.  My trainer was like, "you've been listening to me yell at Friend" and of course she was right, haha.

We took another halted break next to my trainer, and then it was time to try the poles again.  We went the same direction and I was more firm about getting the canter.  Things were smoother overall and we didn't canter as long.  I also didn't have to work so much to keep Riggs going. I think some of the things I need to keep in mind is to sit up, keep my inside shoulder back especially when going to the left, and turn my body more instead of pulling on that inside rein.

You know, I just happened to remember about when I rode Riggs at first, and my trainer told me when cantering to make a wide circle or she might not keep the canter.  This was back when she was more green, but now, as my trainer said, she's at a place where she can keep that canter on the circle of poles now.

I walked Riggs out on a long rein, and she stretched out more into it, I think her back may have even come up.  My trainer was pleased with that.  That was it for the lesson, I dismounted soon afterwards.

So, it was a basic lesson, but I also experimented with some new things.  I tried to make sure that Riggs didn't get away with too much, since she is ridden by little kids all the time I wanted to sharpen her up a little.  I guess I succeeded in some way, because my trainer said that Riggs was like "we're in the big leagues now!"  Overall, it was nice to ride her and to experience a little how far she's come.

Actual lesson 8/15/2023