Jump Lessons and Noltrex

 Dan and I had a full day today! We got up early-ish for our jump lesson. He loves Jacel as much as he loves Rana. I had set up an exercise that Jacel had sent me which basically forced us to work on tight turns. And it forced me to rely on my seat aids vs just pulling him around. Because if I pulled him, then he falls onto the forehand. And no more of that! So it is basically two jumps 6 strides apart and then perpendicular, two jumps 5 strides apart. Except my arena was a bit too small and I was a bit too lazy to make the 5 strides fit without getting too close to the rail, so we only used 3 of the jumps. And there was another jump set pretty close to the one jump that we used. And Jean had set up the dressage arena for Lester to practice with, so that created a bit more of a virtual barrier thus creating a tight turn also. Which was handy. 

We started off with a tight turn to the gate off the right lead, then landed left and came to the tight turn on the left lead over the oxer. The goal was to ride him up into the bridle by using my inside leg to get him to reach up and under with that inside leg, but then use my outside rein to help keep his withers up and give him some direction and keep that outside shoulder from falling out. Almost a turn on the forehand but I have to remember to use my seat and my shoulders and not try to shove his shoulders over with my leg. Because that's what my brain kept doing... No.. it's not a turn on the haunches, it's a turn on the forehand. Which means you use INSIDE leg Holly, inside leg! It was a bit rough. Jacel reminded me that this lesson wasn't a lesson for nailing it. This was a lesson to expose those holes so blatantly that my brain HAD to understand and grasp it. Hee hee. She wasn't that blunt, but... basically.. yes. And it did. The turns were tight enough that I had to ride correctly to make it happen. So then we finally figured that out and added a straight line 6 strides to the liverpool, which went well. Then we went back to the first two roll back jumps, then did a bendy line to the perpendicular jump, then rolled back off that to the liverpool the other direction. ACK! It fell apart again. Because my brain didn't kick in before my (incorrect) instincts did and I used the outside leg instead. Then I started to panic about the short distance to the vertical and held too tight and almost shut him down to the liverpool, because he had jumped it so big the first time I blew right past my line to the vertical. And then that messed the whole liverpool up. So.. Jacel reminded me that MY JOB is to get the right canter, and then not worry about the distance or where he takes off. IF he has the right canter, he can take off from wherever he pleases. It messed us up when I was worrying about the next jump before we even got to the liverpool. So.. we fixed it. And of course, by fixing that jump, we were able to make the turn to the next one. 

But it was a tough lesson. It was hard and it took at least 3 attempts at each fence/turn before we accomplished it, often more than that before we made it semi-decent. And while Dan was up and forward and in front of my leg, and jumping nicely, I did feel a little bit like I was stuffing him over the fences. And at first I thought I was compressing him and riding him backwards, but that's not it. We weren't riding backwards. We just didn't have enough time to ride super forward. BUT... it was okay because.. he was in front of my leg and uphill so he was able to jump from what felt like very little power. It actually was a lot of power, just not fast forward. Ahhhh.... remember this Holly!! Jacel wanted me to keep that set up but just drop it to ground poles and practice finesssing it without the jumps. She didn't want me to jump it until she can be there to keep me from spiraling out of control. ;) 

 

Afterwards I did take him out in the field and jumped one of my keyhole XC fences just to insure that we didn't take money out of the bank. We did NOT! :) He was very forward and went happily. Unfortunately I had to duck and close my eyes as I almost got beheaded by the low branch. Hee hee. Time to trim some trees.

He got a rinse and then I turned him and Funny out in the middle pasture, hoping he wouldn't roll and get dirty before Dr. Barrow came to do his injections. But somehow he still found dirt and rolled. Oh well.

 

We ended up doing injections on the left side of his neck... C4-C5-C6 I believe because he was sore there. And that makes sense that he wouldn't want to bend left and go into the right rein...  Not sure why he is biting at his right shoulder, other than it's more comfortable to bend right than left? But hopefully that does the trick. He was definitely more reactive when she palpeted those facets. Then he got noltrex in his hocks and stifles in the hopes that it helps him not need steroid injections as often. Then he got stuck in his stall for the day. I cheated and turned him out that night because quite frankly.. I was exhausted and needed sleep and I figured he would be fine to mosey and eat grass overnight in the dark, vs me letting him out in the morning and him being rowdy. Plus when she first got the needle in his right hind stifle, he acted like he didn't want to stand square on that limb after. And all day and early evening, every time I peeked in his stall, he was resting that limb. EEEEKS! But no heat or pain, and when he walked, he stood on it square. So I thought maybe slowly moving would be better than twisting on it spinning in his stall. Maybe I'm just rationlizing. But... whatever. Dan has his own rules regarding stall rest, so.. it will be what it will be.