Jumper turns with gentle hands

I scored a private lesson yesterday and got to work on doing tight circles (at the trot) over a jump, as well as broken lines. I had to go over a jump, circle back and jump it again, find the broken line to the next jump, halt when I was straight on, then repeat the process over the next jump.

Yeah, I used SnapChat to draw it out and then screengrabbed it. What of it???

The getting a straight line to the jump in time to halt was hard! One time we were riiiight in front of the jump. I suppose if the horse I was riding liked to rush jumps, it would be a good exercise, but in the case of a horse that has been refusing jumps, I was motivated to do better.

One thing I gave myself a pat on the back for - I'm getting better and using multiple aids at once - half halting while lifting a should while bending and then releasing better over the jump. It was tricky to release when you also have to turn the horse in a circle, but something I know how to work on now (hopefully)!

Sunfishing and Stayin' On

Today I rode a 5-year-old that was very green. More green than any horse I have ever ridden (I know, that’s not saying much). Our lesson group was so crowded because of the extreme temperatures the day before that he was the only pony left. They put him on a lead rope and a working student had to jog along side my as we worked on trotting in a straight line. A lot of head-tossing happened. We went over a cross rail a few times. I got taken of the lead rope to go over the cross rail by myself and went into a trot that turned into a bolt and bucking that probably only lasted 20 seconds but was very exciting. Finally was able to walk the pony to the jump, go over it and bring him back to a very sloppy halt. I learned a lot about liiiight aids. Tiny pulses for half halts. Tiny squeezes from quiet legs.

I have a new-found respect for people who train young horses. This guy was small - I wasn’t that scared because just weren’t that far from the ground. But apparently I missed the training session where he tripped and fell with my instructor on him. He’s been better about picking up his feet ever since. Phew.

A brief LOTR reenactment

I broke my wrist playing football in October and was down for the count for just a month as far as riding was concerned. Then I was off for my honeymoon in New Zealand, where I managed to get an awesome trail ride in. My husband and I have been together for 6 years and this is the first time we were on horses together so that's quite the achievement. It was an amazing ride - there were wild goats battling, baby cows romping, creeks and hills to ramble across.

There I am with my awesome wrist guard. A lot of the horses were standardbred (and bay, as you can see!). There were a lot of horses to spot during our drives across the country. I would be prefectly happy picking up that lifestyle permanently.

In other news, I got back to my riding lessons these past two Saturdays. My flatwork is like riding a bike - I have no problems getting back into it, and even saw improvement this past Saturday keeping the horse at a trot between two big (okay, 2'9", but big for me) jumps. I really need to get someone to video tape me because I have no idea what I'm doing in the air, it just feels very disorganized. Even though I'm better about re-organizing between jumps, I want to get that beautiful position with the release I see in every photo ever.

It was about 5 degrees in the indoor this weekend. After a half hour of trotting I had regained feeling in my fingers but completely lost feeling in my toes. There was frost on the horses muzzles, they had a lot of energy to get out, but were actually very well-behaved. I rode a different horse the weekend before who bolted on me (for only about the length of the indoor until he came up on his friends' butts). It all happened too fast to be scary. Those OTTBs can move. What an amazing feeling. I mean, bad that it happened, right? But put yourself in my position - I've never gotten to flat out gallop a horse. So just a taste of it was sort of thrilling.

I know. It's no wonder I break bones all the time. I'm missing the gene that says "Don't do this! It's dangerous! Abort!" You think I'm kidding? In New Zealand we went skydiving and I didn't have an ounce of fear. I was like, well if I die, it'll be quick!"

Cavaletti Arithmetic

I've had 2 lessons in the past 3 days - a new record for me. The second was a private 45-minute lesson and my muscles may not have been entirely up to the task.

In any case, the first lesson was a group lesson and we jumped three low jumps positioned on a circle. The last jump was eventually brought up to 2'9". I had a lot of trouble getting the path to the jump right, but got it eventually, if not gracefully.

The second lesson we actually worked on a lower jump (and on a different horse) and focused on my position. Thank god. It's fun to say, "I've jumped 2'9"!", but what's the point if you can't do it well, let along string more than one together? If I can work up to smoothly completing a 2'6" course over the next few months, I'll be very happy.

To be honest, I still have some steering issues, depending on what horse I'm riding and if said horse is hungry/tired/had it for the day. It's funny to feel like you're making progress and then struggle to get the horse back on the track and not cutting corners at the canter. It's funny how on one horse, you can do it all easily, and then another horse reminds you that you still need to fine-tune your aids.

Snaaaaake ...or whatever you'd call it

We fixed my falling off problem, more or less.

In some ways it was obvious - do more of those 2'6" jumps heading into a corner where I have little time to sit up and decide for the horse where he should go. As mentioned before, it came down to staying up right as much as possible, and it also helped to focus on going slooower after the jump. My instructor had a lot to say about "checking the breaks" before a jump, especially on this thoroughbred, because he will gets faster and faster unchecked. It was a lot easier when I focused on rhythm all the way from beginning to end ("end" being a few strides out from the jump until we're ready to break into a trot).

Being in a group lesson with people of different levels, we worked on a little more than that.

1-minute diagram of the jump setup

We did this weird snake-shape where we had to find the center of each next jump with 2 strides in between, ending heading into the corner. She built up the jumps over time. First pass, they were all 9", but then it was built up so that only the first was at 9"and the last one was 2'6". The ones in the middle were set uneven, so one side was 2'6" and the other was 15" (I guess I just take the average?).

A fun activity that focused on broken lines, getting the the middle of jumps and keeping a good rhythm!

Oops, I spilled

Brought my husband to a lesson and on the way there he joked, "You haven't fallen off in a while, might be time to do it again!"

Your wish is my command:

That video has been nicely cropped and put to music on my Instagram, much to the delight/horror of my non-horse-inclined friends and family. Our approach to the jump wasn't very good, he lost his footing a bit on the landing, while simultaneously turning away from the wall. I went one way, he went the other. In short, I had zero control over that jump. Lesson learned (hopefully).

And here's when I 'fixed' it.

Things to work on (summarized - there's a lot):

• Having a clear path to jumps (and generally being organized)
• Sitting up to jumps
• Pulling myself back up after the jump
• And I cringe when I watch the 'fixed' video because I still need to work on my release, etc.

Trot trot and ya don't stop

Haven't blogged much but I've  managed to get to lessons almost weekly despite all the summer weekend trips. At this point, I've ridden almost all the lesson horses and have realized they all teach me different things:

Delilah: She can clear a jump no matter if you don't have the path, power or position right. She's a show pony that builds confidence and got me through a horse show without an ounce of sweat. I don't take many lessons on her because there are other horses that offer challenges for me to learn more from.

Tony: He's an OTTB/Quarter horse mix and the goofy, kind sort. He needs confidence towards jumps or he'll run out. He also gets stronger through out the lesson. I rode him last lesson and we worked on trotting to the jump, up to 2'6" (more my limit than his, I'm sure he could trot and get over higher). My major struggle with the trot to the jump is not getting left behind - how do you know where the distance is going to be??
(I had a special moment with him where he twitched as the lawnmower went by and we stayed calm while everyone else went to shit. Pardon my French.)

Katie aka "Ms. Perfect": My instructor jokes that she doesn't like Katie ("There's nothing special about her") and has attempted to sell her, only to have the students protest. Katie is one of those horses you learn steering from - you realize how your instincts are wrong and you need to fine tune the how your reins and legs work together. There's probably a more eloquent way to describe it, but she will completely ignore your leg and wander of the track if you aren't being absolute with where you want her to go. I've never had a horse person tell me they don't like a horse, but I kinda get it with Katie. She could be someone's forever horse. As a lesson horse, she's a total struggle bus.

Traveler: A bulldozer. He will sprint at every jump and then go galloping around the indoor for a few laps if you let him. He doesn't want to stand still. He was trained to rush jumps as some key point in his life and will seemingly never change. It's like a Pavlovian response: see jump - bull doze. He does frame up really nicely at the trot though, and he's taught me to sit up before jumps to keep him under control. Once I get him where I want, he's actually quite beautiful, despite having the unfortunate conformation of a cow.

Calvin: My first love at the barn, he's just a lovable OTTB who is still learning how to be a jumper. I have previous posts from when he would trip every few feet. Now kids are winning ribbons on him. He will still chicken out at certain jumps, or at least drift, so he teaches me to use correct leg and rein to get him over the center of the jump.

Braiden: Still green, but my instructor has been training him in dressage and I had a lot of fun doing a intro dressage lesson on him. Looking forward to learning much more in the future.

There are still 2 horses I haven't ridden - a mare and a very green baby. Both, apparently, are very different rides. I wonder if you could learn something different from every horse on this planet??