All the puzzle pieces

This month I have been traveling all over the country for work, usually leaving Sunday evenings. So I'm pretty stoked that I've been able to consistently go to my weekend riding lesson. Obviously, my dream has always been to ride consistently during the week, but that is for another time in my life.

My husband came to a lesson this month and took a bunch of videos of what we are working.

• Transitions: We are working on asking quietly, like asking for the trot with just the inside leg, doing a downward transition by sitting deeper, etc.
• Canter: I can canter longer than i could before. I used to get disorganized and it would all fall apart before I made it all the way around the ring. I noticed in this video that I'm pumping my arms, and this is because i want to give the horse his neck and it just looks a little...artificial?
• Simple lead changes. These are pretty simple, but i also need to learn to avoid unnecessary ones by planning for the correct lead before the jump. 
• Sitting up and being forward to jumps. You'll see in the video that I've gotten better at this, and it's probably due to less fear going over a jump. Probably, as the jumps get higher, I will need to learn how to stay out of the saddle longer! In terms of being more forward, this is a balancing act for me. I ride one horse where if you rev her up too much, she starts bucking, and another where if you don't, he'll trip over the jumps. Definitely learning to fine tune.
• No-stirrup posting trot. Getting my leg at the girth and generally wrapping it around the horse correctly lasts about 4 seconds, and then it slips!

In the video below, you can see what we work on throughout a typical lesson, how my instructor builds up the jumps, and where my issues are. 

In last week's lesson, we worked on going over a jump and doing a 10 meter circle at the trot, then the canter, to go over the jump again. I did not get it quite right at the canter. It comes up so fast! My instructor was kind enough to point out my horse's long back as part of the difficulty. But the canter is feeling better to me, so I'm confident I can get this soonish. I need to work on:

• Not leaning into the circle, just turning my torso (and using my eyes)
• Using the outside rein for the turn
• More half halts rather than pulling

Um...yeah, a lot of things need to click for me :)

Last Place for Chase Me Charlie (shrug)

I went back to my usual lesson on Sunday for the first time in what felt like a month. I wouldn't say I was that rusty, but in there are things I still need to work on.

I rode a very promising future eventer type that is proving to be a wonderful teacher in dressage and jumping - even as he's learning, himself.

He's been doing this thing lately where he drops his head too low when we're working on the trot. That was sort of a first for me, after learning on him how to get his down, only to find he's going to far with it now! Minor issue, but recorded for posterity.

We worked on jumping. I think the biggest thing I need to work on is getting the horse straight to the jumps. Not because just doing this alone will solve all my problems, but it's universally important on all horses. Especially when my instructor gives us a course to try that involves jumper turns, I need to not exaggerate those turns at the cost of a crooked approach.

Once I'm straight, we are fine going over the smaller jumps assuming there's impulsion so we don't rub. I was in a lesson with one other person (and by person, I mean a girl that is maybe 18 years younger than me) and our instructor set up a Chase Me Charlie. Each bar added was 9 inches. The other student had no problem on the pony getting up to the 4th bar (3 feet) - she was just working on something improvements like sitting up too soon after the jump.

I, however, did just fine at 3 bars (2'3") but we kept refusing at the 4th. I saw 'we' because I was either
1. Leaning forward sub-consciously before the jump and throwing off the balance or;
2. Not having even leg pressure going in.
I would also occasionally throw in something weird, like overcompensating with too much right rein when I needed a tiny adjustment.

I guess it was a bit of a mess. Needless to say, I lost. I am so looking forward to jumping 3 feet for the first time, and I may have temporarily led myself to believe that was going to be the moment. But you can't take a summer off from jumping and then magically be better at it.

Slow, infrequent, but steady improvement is the theme of this blog, after all.

Summer Camp for One, Please

I am hardly one to drool over the bigger horses. As an adult beginner, I think I love the control I feel (misguided or not) of being on the ponies. But there's nothing like a successful lesson on a big horse to make you question your priorities.

I've had 2 weeks off (summer weekend social life is not conducive to getting to the barn), but I got a 45-minute private lesson thanks to all the kiddies being tuckered out from Camp week. (I'm not jealous of camp week. I'm 30, why would I be jealous? Spending a day painting horses, playing tag on horses? I'm too old for that stuff. Ugh. Dammit.)

I rode the thoroughbred quarter horse mix that I hadn't in a while. He belongs to someone in the program that only rides him about once a week. They have a nice deal going where he gets worked, she gets a discount off board, and the program gets a solid almost-schoolmaster. Not sure where over 16hh he is but he's up there. It'd been a while since I'd been that high up, but I only noticed when I was getting on (and off, like when forgetting there's an extra step and you kind of go, "Whoomph."). He's been hard at work for camp and, as my instructor was explaining, the horses are at their best when they're working most days of the week. Especially the thoroughbred types.

I would say Tony's thing is he gets a little strong once you start jumping and cantering him. He actually likes a pulley rein, which just seems wrong to me, but okay, I'll do what I have to to get back down to a walk. He will also choose not to jump if he thinks you're nervous, but I am proud to say that happened once and then I got in the mindset of "we're going over this jump and I'm already thinking of what happens next" and we progressed pretty quickly. In that 45 minutes we accomplished:

- Sitting up a little straighter at the trot to get that dressage look (and, more practically, learn not to lean forward on a very forward horse)
- Getting straighter to the jump (ok, still working on this)
- Half-halting/ right rein&right leg to keep him from drifting away
- Staying off his back upon landing (so he doesn't hit the rail with his back legs
- Being straighter after the jump so he doesn't take a hard turn
- Cantering without leaning forward (amazing how you have to teach me the same lesson at the trot and at the canter, but I'm kind of a dunce like that)

The jump was only 2ft, (we use cavaletti blocks that are 24”L x 15”W x 9”D) but she did build it up to look like an oxer to try to make it look scary.  I feel pretty ready to try 2'9" again soon!

No lesson this coming weekend, but I've set up a lesson closer to home for next week with an instructor who has Icelandic horses and teaches centered riding. I'm pretty excited to find something I can get to during the week. More to come on that. I will try to remember taking pictures. This blog is so dull without them!