Make it clap

From the beginning of our Saturday morning lesson, we tied our reins in a knot and worked on steering with our legs at the trot on the rail. What I find hardest about this is not the steering itself but the way the horses love to run up on the butt of the horse in front of him. Hi guys, personal space is a thing. I'm sure someone with excellent equitation could avoid this, but I had to cheat a little and pull Calvin away when he did this.

We then worked on going over jumps without reins, while clapping. Once we were trotting straight to the jump we'd drop the reins and, while popping over, clap our hands. It helped us keep our back straight, staying up instead of collapsing, as well as not rely on the reins for balance. On the cross rails I had no issue and it wasn't until we were at 2'6" that I found myself grabbing mane at some point over the jump out of cowardice. But overall, this exercise gave me HUGE confidence over "bigger" jumps. If I could stay on without holding on, I really wasn't going to go flying off! Ok, duh, but awesome!

The one thing I do need to work on is to keep the horse straight after the jump. They all fall into a pattern of circling back after to re-join their friends (and because it becomes a pattern) and it means I'm not in control. It's also they way I fell off last time, going over a jump, not sitting back up soon enough, and flying off when the horse abruptly turned left.

Oh, I like mares.

Group lesson on Sunday was rather busy and included a beginner with a working student running her over crossrails. I have to say, I admire my instructor's ability to give people of different abilities lessons together. That's how kids thrive best (not that I'm a kid) - by learning from people of different abilities.

Anyways, I can't tell you how little I've ridden a mare. The only one I can honestly remember was my friend's sweet, sweet percheron. So when my instructor asked if I'd be up for riding the mare pony with a "crazy trot" I was pretty pumped. The only word of advice I was given is keep her a few horse lengths away from anyone else. No problemo. I myself have been known to kick out when people cramp my style.


We worked at the trot a bit: Posting without stirrups (I'm still waiting for the magic ahah! moment on this one, but I DO like how it helps me really sink into my seat, even when my feet are back in the stirrups after. Okay, the mare's trot was only a little wacky when you first got her going. I think what she was doing was moving her little legs very quickly to catch up with her friends (that she hates, just to be clear). So a few half-halts let her know we can go smooth and easy and it was really quite nice!

We did some jumping, actually, four jumps which alternated cross rails and 2'6", one of which was an oxer that I kept looking down at. I couldn't help it! When you're flying over the Eiffel Tower you look down, don't you? Give me some credit.

Anyways, this mare did everything I asked, was really fun to jump (point and shoot, as they say) and taught me a lot in just one lesson. My instructor doesn't put me on ponies much, she likes to give me the bigger horses, which is fine, but between you and me, I'm pretty sure this little lady can make me look better than some of the big boys, at least at the level I'm jumping.

The "Jumper Turn"

There were a lot of things I couldn't do at my old barn because the horses had a demanding schedule. They were in too many lessons for me to get to jump all the time or take tight turns, or really, which was totally reasonable. But at my new jumper barn, the horses aren't ridden half as much, and my instructor is determined to turn us into show jumpers.

Today's lesson went as follows:

Warmed up posting without stirrups at the walk and then at the trot.

Practiced square halts.

Practiced cantering from the halt.

Then did the following starting at the trot:

The short lines are cavaletti blocks that my instructor made "parking spots" with. Then from the halt we cantered immediately into a turn and popped over a cross rail and, later, small jump. I did it okay on Calvin going both ways. It probably didn't look beautiful, but we got through it. My instructor pointed out how trotting to a halt and then asking for the canter created this great rocking motion that got the horse going.

It got tricky when the jump was at 2' 6". Calvin could tell I wasn't as confident and wouldn't do it. We ended up taking the jump straight on from a trot just to end on a good note.

A really fun exercise overall, and I got a taste of what those jumper turns feel like.