In my lesson this weekend we worked on the automatic release by over-exaggerating it: Opening up the reins while pushing them forward. Over-exaggeration should be a general part of learning anything new in riding, or breaking habits, because it ALWAYS works for me. It makes doing things the right way feel in the realm of 'normal'.
I was getting pretty good at this auto release business and then I surprised myself by having another thing click: Keeping my leg on over jumps. It's hard! It works muscles I don't usually work. I should know this by now, but the body works in mysterious ways.
We also practiced having a tiny opening in the rein over the jump to clue the horse into where we were going next. But with Tony, if you give him an inch, he'll take a mile (and a hard right) so it was more valuable to focus on being straight and then asking for the turn after all 4 feet are on the ground. Some day I will have a strong enough leg to control all that, since I know jumper turns can require planning ahead.
Keeping my leg on over the jump made me feel organized upon landing, so my horse didn't do a sharp turn like he normally does. He waited until I gave him an opening by easing leg pressure. Actually, I eased leg pressure and opened the rein a centimeter and he took it. So now I just have to 'think' about turning, and he'll do a smoother turn.
My hope is that this leg on and auto release combo sticks as the jumps go up. We got up to 2'9", but it took a lot of concentration and I think if there was another jump to turn to, it would have been a wee bit messy.
That being said, I still get a little excited when I see the jump go up to 2'9" but it doesn't fully phase me any more. Because I'm so focused on working on different things, I don't notice if it feels different from 2' any more.
I was getting pretty good at this auto release business and then I surprised myself by having another thing click: Keeping my leg on over jumps. It's hard! It works muscles I don't usually work. I should know this by now, but the body works in mysterious ways.
We also practiced having a tiny opening in the rein over the jump to clue the horse into where we were going next. But with Tony, if you give him an inch, he'll take a mile (and a hard right) so it was more valuable to focus on being straight and then asking for the turn after all 4 feet are on the ground. Some day I will have a strong enough leg to control all that, since I know jumper turns can require planning ahead.
Keeping my leg on over the jump made me feel organized upon landing, so my horse didn't do a sharp turn like he normally does. He waited until I gave him an opening by easing leg pressure. Actually, I eased leg pressure and opened the rein a centimeter and he took it. So now I just have to 'think' about turning, and he'll do a smoother turn.
My hope is that this leg on and auto release combo sticks as the jumps go up. We got up to 2'9", but it took a lot of concentration and I think if there was another jump to turn to, it would have been a wee bit messy.
That being said, I still get a little excited when I see the jump go up to 2'9" but it doesn't fully phase me any more. Because I'm so focused on working on different things, I don't notice if it feels different from 2' any more.
