JUMP LESSON!!!!!

Today we hauled to take a jump lesson with Kelly E. She said there would only be one jump, but that’s okay because…. We need work! It was sooooo good to see her again. We’ve both missed her. I got there a little early and did some of our walk work and then a little bit of trotting.  I was trying to make sure he was in front of my leg, but he’s sneaky. He’s like “Yep, I’m in front of your leg, but just barely… just enough that you can’t really fault me, but within seconds I’ll be behind it and then you’ll be annoyed… muhauahauaaaa”. So I said “fine, then we’ll do rapid fire transitions you lazy goon”. So that’s what we were doing when she got there. So then she told me to canter and after a lap each way she told me to pick up my “BN stadium course canter” and show me what I had. I picked up the canter and when it felt decent I told her. She said that it wasn’t her ideal. She said to get in two point, let him open up his throatlatch and stick his nose out and let him go a little bigger. So we did and ahhhhh…. Suddenly he was in front of my leg and forward! Yay!!! So then she told me to move my elbows… she had me grab mane and notice how much hinging and unhinging my elbows did. Got it…. 😊 She said that the original canter was very round, but not what we wanted for BN. Especially for a horse that tends to get behind the leg. Aha… makes sense. We’ve been spending too much time in the sandbox! So then we trotted a cross rail a few times and then she had me canter. The first canter to it, I saw the slightly long spot, pressed, and… jumped up his neck. He didn’t go when I went.. he added. Ha ha. Oooops! Sigh. So then, she had me grab mane. She told me that it would give my body an idea when he was taking off. It was a direct line to his brain. Hee hee.. But sure as heck, it worked! Every time I grabbed mane, I saw the distance and we stayed together. Crazyness! We jumped about 12-16 jumps total with some breaks and she raised it a few times. It never got huge… maybe a hair over BN if I had to guess, but I don’t even think it was novice sized. But guess what?!?! He was jumping mostly straight!!! A few times I had to close my right rein, open my left rein, and close my right leg (always on the left lead) but he was jumping super straight. Kelly noted that in an effort to close the right door, I was actually falling right, which was pulling him right. Ooops. So once I made the effort to stay upright, he also stayed straighter. And the other cool thing…. He was jumping the nicest I’ve felt him jump in a while. Like.. he jumped out of stride! There was no rushing and flinging himself over. He felt like he actually saw the right distance, rocked back, and pushed off evenly, and landed straight and calmly. There was no heaving, no flinging, no fliers to prevent the sit and push. It was sooooooo cool! And sure.. there were a few times that he landed right… a few times he landed and swapped or landed wrong lead. But there were a few times he didn’t! I felt like my position wasn’t terrible either, although I am standing on my toes a bit. So yay!!!! We quit after that because the second to last jump we did, he was behind my leg and I had to encourage him to take it. Nothing major, but I had to close my leg and squeeze and he went, happily. And then the last jump we did, was super! BUT… when he landed he swapped behind and felt a little fishtaily or fatigued. So yay! I’m trying really hard to not focus on what could have been… or what was… and instead focus on the now. NOW I have a pony who was very happy to jump and was jumping well and straight. Now I have a pony who felt more confident and forward and in front of my leg. And so… we’ll just stick to what we’re doing. Strengthening and straightening… and working on forward and in front of my leg. The plan is to not jump more than once a week…. Always give him breaks between every few fences… and to not push him for a few months. Then in Feb/March ish…. If he still feels game and happy… then yay, we up the ante a bit. If he feels weaker or gets fatigued quicker, then I know it’s because jumping is not good for him and not because I’ve upped it too quick. And if he feels stronger and bolder and more game, then… game on! 😊 Let’s hope! Because I’ve missed this so.