It's been nearly two weeks since I had this lesson, so the details may be a little fuzzy in some areas, but  I definitely want to record what I remember of it.  

So, for awhile there's been this dark seal brown horse at my trainer's.  I know she'd been in the Show a couple or so years ago.  I don't know if it was during or after the show, but she got her hind legs badly tangled up in wire and cut herself up pretty bad.  Since then, she's stayed in the lesson horse pen, and but for the few times i've seen my trainer interact with her, nothing has been done with her.  I knew she seemed to be a sweet horse. 

Well, when I got there for this lesson, my trainer told me to go fold up feed sacks and then to catch Twister, Riggs, and Amara.  Now when I heard the name Amara, I was like "Amara?  Who's she?" 

My trainer said something like "She's that potato looking horse peeking out from behind Twister there" and I turn to look, and what do you know, it's that seal brown mare I didn't know the name of.  

My trainer then told me that she'd been riding Amara of late, and that Amara had been taking it all in stride, so she decided to stick me on her and see what I thought about it.  Up to now, Amara's only had about 3 months total of riding on her, so she's still green.  But my trainer is starting her on the way to being part of the lesson program.  (I think this may have been prompted by the fact that Twister is likely to be sold and leaving soon.) 

My trainer made it sound like I was the first person to try out riding her for the program, though I'm not sure about that. I do know that I wasn't too worried about it.  I knew Amara was sweet, seemed to have a good temperament, and probably wasn't going to try to buck me off if my trainer was putting me on her.  I was also just happy to know her name, as it'd bothered me that I hadn't. 

So there's the background on Amara.  James, Vivie, Kay, and Friend were all there, so it was a full lesson.  James was on Riggs, Vivie on Mariah, Kay on Cordell, and Friend on Twister.  We all rode in the outdoor arena.

(Just thought I'd mention here that Lily has left, at least temporarily.  She's gone to give jumper lessons at another barn of a good friend of my trainer's.  I think it'll be a good fit for her.  Kinda wish I'd know that'd be my last ride on her for awhile though.) 

I could tell Amara was sweet, but she was also unsure about things, more so than my trainer's other more trained horses like Mariah or Twister.  I didn't know exactly how I was supposed to ride her other than the fact that she was green. 

When I first got on, she seemed a little jerky to me.  She was really easy to stop, too easy, with just my seat.  At first, I thought that meant that she was just really sensitive and so I was the one tht had be careful with my seat.  My trainer told me later that was a remnant from when my trainer broke her in some years back.  My trainer has learned from that and knows how to break in a horse without causing them to do that now, but Amara still has the remnant of that to work through.

I also wasn't sure just how much contact I could take up with her.  So I didn't take up much at all in the beginning.  Now I know that she can handle contact, but not on too short of a rein or a lot of it. 

My trainer told me at the beginning of the ride to stay on the lower half of the arena, down where the mounting block is and where you would leave to go to the hitching rail, so that I was close to her and could ask any questions I had or if I needed help with something.  I never ended up going to the top half the arena, we stayed at the lower half the entire lesson.

First, I walked her around to get the feel of her.  That jerky eagerness to halt made it harder to relax into her walk.  I kept my seat up as best I could, but even then there was still a struggle.

After that, my trainer told me to pick up a rising trot and do circles in each corner.  She told me that Amara was just going to have trouble regulating her tempo because she was green, and I would have to help her with that. 

I don't know if it was then or later that my trainer told me to watch out for the corner by the exit to the arena.  She said to watch out for the corner that Olaf (a horse that's going to be used for the Show later) was in, and maybe cut in a little so that she didn't run out or something in it.  Well, I assumed that meant to watch out for that corner because Olaf was in it and Amara might be drawn to him.  But I think what she actually meant was to watch out for the corner that Olaf was in all the time, not just when Olaf was in it.  

Anyhow, we did a bunch of trotting circles.  Yes, her trot did speed up or slow down sometimes, but for the most part, if I remember right, she didn't present me with much trouble if I remember right.

We did take a longer halted break after that because Amara isn't too fit yet like the other lesson horses.  I think maybe we took a break before that, but I'm not sure? Maybe not. 

After that, my trainer told me to go back to doing rising trot circles, but to slow her down on the circles and pick up a faster trot on the straight aways.  If she was doing good with that, we'd try cantering her.

She did good with that, slowing down when I asked very well.  For the first canter transition, I didn't realize my trainer was wanting me to do a transition, and I was expecting it to be on the circle, but it wasn't.  She just wanted me to have a good fast trot and then sit to ask for the canter. 

Anyhow, it went good.  We didn't canter for very long before coming down to the walk.  We took a walk break to let Amara catch her breath, and I also clarified with my trainer about when she wanted me to ask for the canter transition. 

So I went through the same cycle of faster and slower rising trot, and it didn't take me long to know that Amara was good with it.  So then I went to ask for the canter.  

We got the canter, but then it felt like she lost it, though she wasn't in trot?  I'm not sure, but of course, my immediate solution was to urge her back forward into the canter.  So I did.  Then she went faster but went to the side, up off the usual riding track.  

I didn't want that, and besides, the corner to turn to the right was coming up.  It was at this corner that the fence ends and the walkway to the hitching post begins.  Normally you turn where the fence ends.  In this case, the fence was to my left and I wanted to go right.

So I started asking her to go to the right, but she just kept going to the left, trying to go to the left.  Mind you, this was all while cantering.  I didn't know quite what was happening, but I did know we were not going where I wanted to go, and things were happening way too fast. 

My immediate answer to a situation where things are going way too fast and need to slow down right away is a one rein stop.  When I first started riding with my trainer, one rein stops were an exercise we did often as part of the warm up.

Since I didn't want her going to the left and I was already pulling on that right rein, I dropped the left one and grabbed mane while really escalating the pull on that right rein.  But I was also careful and didn't pull as hard as I maybe could've, because I had the sense that if I did, she was unbalanced enough that she would fall over onto her left side.  

I also sat up and remembered to use my right leg to push her hindquarters over.  About this time my trainer's voice started registering again.  She had me let go of the rein when Amara was facing forward to where I'd wanted her to go in the first place and then had me walk her forward from that.  Amara didn't give me any more trouble as regards that. 

In the moment, I hadn't realized what was happening, but my trainer explained it to me.  When we'd come up cantering to that corner, Amara had gotten the brilliant idea to turn and canter on towards home and the hitching post.  I don't think she was being mean about it, but she just wanted to go do that, as my trainer had thought she might.  Thus, she tried to go left instead of right, but I wouldn't let her.  If I had, she would've run away with me all the way to the hitching rail. (There is no gate that closes off the outdoor arena walkway.) 

I do think that if I'd known that I was to watch for that corner in general and not just when Olaf was in it, things would've gone better and we probably wouldn't have ended up that situation.  But that was just a miscommunication that wasn't either mine or my trainer's fault. 

My trainer was pleased with how I handled the situation, and it was a good boost to my confidence as well.  

We tried the canter transition again, and it went better because it wasn't by that corner either.  Again, we didn't canter for very long.  We took a halted break during which my trainer discussed what'd happened, then told me to call it good for the day, so I dismounted there.

Overall, it was a good lesson. I like Amara, and I think I'll be riding her a lot.  She's just green, has a lot to learn and all of that.  Her attempt at running away wasn't malicious or even all that determined, just more of an unsure reaction to going faster I think.   My trainer calls her a potato, not in a mean way, but I mean, the name kinda suits her looks lol.  But she'll become a good pack pony for the little kids with consistent work. 

Actual lesson 4/10/2023