Lesson Review | 30/06/20

:cherry_blossom: Lily & Mocha :coffee: (in uni :pray: ) 06/30/20

╔══════ ❀•°❀°•❀ ══════╗

ιт'ѕ αℓℓ ση уσυ

╚══════ ❀•°❀°•❀ ══════╝

Got photos :satisfied:

══════ ❀•°❀°•❀ ══════

I arrived at the barn at around 3:20pm but everyone else had already arrived. My trainer told me to get Rajah. Good ol' Rajah. I went to grab him from his pen and then tacked him up. I got that done, then it was time to head into the arena. Two new people were in the group this time so that was neat. I enter the arena and mount.

I grab a whip before I set off and get Rajah walking. I test his responsiveness to my leg and try to get him to leg yield off it. He's his usual self, not very responsive and not wanting to listen to leg so I spend some time in walk until he listens to me before I head into trot. My stirrups were quite short but I couldn't be bothered to dismount and change them :joy: . So I was stuck with some short stirrups lmao.

Rajah's trot felt fine, sometimes he'd lean on his inside shoulder though and I had to really ask him to get off it. Sometimes he won't so I'll have to come back to walk to ask him off. As we go around he can sometimes try and lean in my hands and come onto the forehand. So to stop this I'll either drop back into walk and halt. When he becomes soft, I give him to to show that that's what I want and trot on again. Or I'll keep my hands still and power him forwards so he's pulling on himself. He'll then realize that he's just doing that himself and he won't pull. The first option is the more preferable method for Rajah though.

I continue to trot around try and keep Rajah from leaning on his inside shoulder (or outside shoulder, depending on what way we're going). There are times where I ask and ask, and Rajah will ignore me or do a bare minimum effort. So I have to really be clear that this is what I'm asking and be firm with my aids. I don't want to keep nagging and nagging him, because that's not nice. I need to state the rules and follow through with them. You don't need to be nasty, just be firm and get a response from the horse. Don't nag or do something and not get a response. Ask firmly and follow through. The horse will work way better in the long run. Work smarter, not harder. That's something that I struggle with. I end up nagging and working hard while my horse doesn't respond to me. I'm working on being firmer, but trust me it's hard to get a horse that all the beginners use to ride nicely :sweat_smile: . I'll get there though lol.

So half way through the lesson we play a game and omlll, I haven't done a game in agess. So my trainer pulls me and another girl aside to tell us the game. Spoiler, I fail miserably :joy: :joy: . The game is that we'll be partnered up and will need to make your partner go over a course. But you can't speak or make any noises. All you can do is point and walk with your horse. Now sis, I struggle to memorize courses on my own, now I have to make someone do it without speaking :scream: . So I make my partner do the first part right, but I forgot the last part of the course :joy: :joy: . So my partner just stands there confused while I think very intensely about what to do. I'm like :fearful: :fearful: :confounded: :confounded: :tired_face: . Lmao. The other team then overtakes us and wins :joy: :joy: . Everyone laughs lmaoo. My more partner was like "I DidN't kNoW wHaT tO dO" I'm like "sIs I hAd a BrUh mOmEnT" Okay, that's the funny part out the way :joy: . Back to working :muscle: .

I now go the other direction where Rajah falls through his outside shoulder. Imo, it's easier to fix outside problems than inside ones. Idk, it's probably because my inside leg is lazy af :joy: . I go around that way and pop a canter. I didn't use my whip and it was wayyy difficult to keep him going so the next time I popped him on his shoulder whenever it felt like he was going to break and it did the trick. His transitions from trot to canter are actually really great for a horse used with beginners so no problems there. Something that he will do is try to pull down or lean on his inside shoulder when cantering. So when he leans it makes the circle smaller and smaller so I need to push him back out.

Overall he's an easy horse to canter. His trot is where all the problems lie, no doubt about that. So my trainer gives me a lot of tips and I get Rajah working pretty decently by the end of the lesson. I also need to to sit backkk when I canter because I tend to tip forwards :flushed: . Oh the problemssss :triumph: . Oh well, I'm getting there. I pop a few good canters and then trot nicely before I halt and dismount. I untacked Rajah and then put him back in his pen.

Soo, quite the lesson, huh? :joy: . Failing at a game and dealing with Rajah's shoulder problems. Fun stuff xD. I think I did learn a lot and I need to to be firm and stick with my rules. I always just accept low quality work and that's not a good thing :disappointed_relieved: . Welp, I'll get em next time. My trainer says that I won't advance if I keep on doing the same thing so yeah. Hopefully next lesson will be better but this one wasn't that bad overall. Anyway, check out this Wiki Entry of lesson reviews if ya want.