We rode again in the indoor arena again, and again I rode Mariah.  But this lesson, we did all the lateral work we missed out on last lesson.  

Vivie, Friend, and another girl who I don't think I've ridden with before but who I'll call Kiley, were part of this lesson.  Vivie rode Rugar (for the first time, I think), Friend rode Cordell, and Kiley rode Riggs.  I was on Mariah again.

It wasn't very long after I got on that my trainer gave me the first exercise and pretty much the only exercise of this lesson.  She wanted me to go around the circle of poles and try to get the outside front foot to step over each pole first.

Now, I've done this before but it's been awhile.  It's where you angle the horse on the circle so that their shoulder on the outside of the circle meets the pole first, and so it makes them want to step over the pole with their outside foot first.  You're still going around the circle, but the horse's hindquarters are placed to the outside, so the horse goes around at an angle.

I thought that when Mariah got it right I was to let her out of the bend as a reward, but my trainer was very clear that I was not to.  Now, Mariah is advanced enough that we want to ask her to step over the pole with her outside foot first several times in a row, and then we'd let her go straight. 

I did better going clockwise then I did counterclockwise.  Going counter-clockwise, it was harder for both of us, and I don't think we ever stepped over four poles in a row correctly, but we did two or three in a row.  My trainer was also clear that I needed to make sure Mariah walked straight out as a reward.  One time I steered her to avoid a pole, and my trainer didn't want me doing that because that created more bend, not less, and wasn't a good reward.

So, after we'd done that for awhile, my trainer told me to have some rounds of rising trot to give Mariah a mental break, then we'd come back to the poles and this time do the same exercise in sitting trot.

I picked up a nice rising trot and just rode that around for several laps in each direction while trying to stay out of people's way.  It was nice for her and I to just have a good trot round after the mental work on that exercise.

Then when we were done with that, we took a halted break by my trainer.  Kiley was using the circle of poles and doing sitting trot with Riggs.  They did really well, and then it was our turn.

I've never done this exercise in sitting trot, and it is harder. I would like to have been rising, but I think my trainer would've said that I needed that extra help from staying in the saddle with my seat, and I think she's right.  So there was a lot to think about.

The first round, going clockwise, went pretty good.  I got her to step over with her outside foot fairly soon into it, and so my trainer had us go straight and come to walk.  Took another break, and then went back to the exercise the same direction.

This time things didn't go quite as easily.  I struggled more with getting the right bend, but we made it and took another break.  I have to be honest, when you do the same exercise over and over, things start to blend together in your memories.  

Some of the things my trainer told me were to turn my whole body more towards the center of the circle, and to make sure she listened to my inside leg.  She needed to keep moving away from my inside leg, if she wasn't, then I needed to get onto her about it.  The temptation is to grind your heel into her side, but that is counter productive. Rather, the horse needs to know that if you've brought your leg in against their side like that, they need to stay away and keep moving away from it.

I also had to be careful with sitting trot, because it was so tempting to get tense, but that only makes things worse and makes her go faster.

So we took another break, and then it was time to attempt this going the other direction.  This direction was harder for both of us, and I knew it was probably going to be because it is my harder side.  I had to shorten up my inside rein by quite a bit, and be firm with my inside leg.  Mariah didn't like this and would get hissy about it by speeding up, but I had to stick with it.

The thing I also had to remember, and should've done more of, was to point my body towards the center of the circle.  It's harder for me to do in this direction, and thus my body can actually hinder the horse from bending correctly.  I need to pull my inside shoulder back and turn my pelvis more.

We took another break once we finally got the right bend and steps, and I'm not sure if it was this break or some other one before or after that she told me this, but here it is.  She told me that we didn't actually care that much if Mariah stepped over the pole with the wrong foot, we wanted her to have the correct bend.  If she had the correct bend, then she would step over the poles like we wanted, but it was about the bend, not the poles.

I wish I'd kept this in mind more, I think it would've helped me.  Anyhow, we did one last attempt at sitting trot going counter clockwise.  Once again, I had to really shorten up that inside rein.  One thing my trainer was always emphasizing though, was that more than her neck had to bend, she had to put her hindquarters out as well.

My trainer had also told me earlier that the goal was to present the whole outside of the horse to the pole first.  I had in my head that it was only the shoulder that needed to be presented, but it was on that last round that it finally clicked.  I got the correct bend and what it felt like was different from what I thought would be right, but it did feel like I was presenting Mariah's whole side to the pole first.  Now I have to remember that the next time I do this exercise.

That was our last round of that exercise.  I took a halted break while standing next to my trainer and Kiley, who was also taking a break.  I told my trainer that I was beginning to understand that it had to be the whole body, not just the shoulder, that was presented to the pole first.

It's interesting that your trainer can be yelling things at you when you're trying to learn something new, but then she'll say (and you know she means it)  'you're doing a good job!'  It helps to hear that because sometimes it doesn't feel like it.  

My trainer told me that part of the reason that this was hard to learn was because I was learning shoulder-in.  SHOULDER-IN.  Like, I knew it was some form of leg yield and suspected that it might be tied to shoulder-in, but I didn't realize it was REAL shoulder-in!  

The difference is that this shoulder-in is done not by bringing a horse's shoulder's off the rail, as is done in traditional shoulder-in, but by putting the horse's hindquarters to the outside.  The horse is put in the same position, but by different means that is easier, especially for Mariah and I at this stage, and still serves the same purpose as regular shoulder-in.

It's so amazing to me that I am finally learning lateral work.  I mean, I already know something about it in terms of leg yield, but I've never attempted shoulder-in before.  It also means that I've actually done shoulder-in with Shorty, because I've done a different version of this exercise while doing work-in-hand with him.  Albeit not when riding him, but still, that's so amazing to me.  When I was first learning to ride, I wondered how dressage riders got their horses to move like that, and now I'm beginning to understand.

Part of the reason we're doing this with Mariah is that she will hold herself up in the corners if we tell her to, but if we don't, she won't.  This is a way of getting her to the point where she will hold herself up with or without our help.  She needs to learn to do that.

After that break, my trainer told me to go have a canter around to blow off some steam.  She warned me that if Mariah's canter was slow and soft, I might actually have to use some leg or she might drop to the trot on me!  It'd been happening to other riders.  Like when I was jumping her and she was being so nice, and I should've used some leg on her but didn't because I was just like 'what is this?'

So we had a canter around, and she wanted to cut in on the corners.  I chose to sit the canter and I think I did a good enough job at it.  I knew my trainer didn't want me cutting corners, so I made her go through them as she should, and she didn't like that.  But eventually, there was one corner we went through where I didn't have to press her into it so hard and she didn't try to cut in.  I brought her to the walk to reward her for that.  Then we walked out a long rein for a bit, and then that was it for the ride.

Overall, it was challenging mentally, but it was also so cool to find out that I was learning / doing shoulder-in!  It's really something I want to get good at, because it's a useful tool when you can do it.  It's also pretty neat to be doing it with Mariah, who wouldn't have tolerated it in the past, but I've always felt she'd be a good horse to do it with because of her sensitivity.  She only threw some minor hissy fits which consisted of pinned ears and quickened pace, but that's not bad at all.  I'm so happy to see how she's progressed.  I daresay that I've grown somewhat fond of that little black mare.

Actual lesson 8/1/2023