Lisa's Blog post # 47
We are right on the verge of a major break through – I can just taste it! Since my lesson with Lesley about 3 weeks ago where I finally got the “round and connected” thing down, I have been working on jumping again. We actually haven’t jumped since October!!
That’s probably not the best way to train for an event but I tend to be very narrow minded when it comes to my goals – let’s just say I’m focused, or methodical – and I get kind of obsessed with finding the solution to the problem at hand.
Anyway, here is the list of “issues” I will need to deal with before I can enter a stadium competition.
Cotton:
- Bulges out on the turns – both directions
- Falls in on the turns – both directions
- Swaps leads
- Cross-canters
- Swaps leads and darts in the direction of the new lead without warning
- Anticipates where we are going and goes there (he’s always wrong)
- Lands on his forehand after his jumps
- Drifts to the right after his jumps
- Gets excited and fast
Me:
- Don’t recall ever jumping a horse with any of the above issues - much less all of them!
- Tend to jump ahead of the horse
- Rusty from not jumping a full stadium course in about 2 years
- Give abrupt aids rather than use finesse and flow – big no-no on Cotton
- Tend to zone out instead of riding every stride – another big no-no
So, with a list like that, “why do I think I’m on the verge of a major break through”, you ask?
Well, today we practiced our turns over the flower boxes and we did pretty well! He was a mess out in the field yesterday and I couldn’t get him to round the corner closest to the barn to save my life. On the way home I remembered some of Lesley’s wise words so we re-loaded today and got it done. It’s all about squaring our corners. Turns out I should have popped him on the outside shoulder yesterday because he was being a barn sour stinker!
Also, I can handle it when he falls in most of the time – a quick position adjustment on my part prevents that or fixes it within a stride or two. Steering with my seat and leg through the tunnel helps alleviate his anticipating where we’re going. Landing on his forehand requires more leg. I know how to fix drifting.
Lesley said not to let his swapping and hopping bother me too much – but the one thing I do need to learn next is what to do when he swaps and darts. If he wants to counter canter around a turn that’s one thing but if he darts off course…well, that just won’t do. I also need Lesley to teach me how to ride him in the air over the jump rather than take a break and resume my job a couple of strides after he lands.
Don’t get me wrong – we still have tons of work to do! And our first course will probably not be very pretty. But I think I have a good idea of what needs to be done now and the puzzle pieces are starting to reveal the picture that’s on the box top – it’s me and Cotton at our first event!