Just Jump!

A friend sent me the sweet bracelet with that gentle reminder

Had 2 extremely successful jump schools Thurs/Fri!  It was literally the first time he's jumped since the horse trial, and he was a fantastic little muffin:)

I set the jumps up right when I arrived at the barn, and as I walked in to get started on stalls, I noticed the long list fluttering on the bulletin board ... the farrier list.  CRAP.  I ALWAYS end up working longer on farrier day, AND Tiki was on that list.  I hate riding him the day he gets shod because he's always a little tight afterwards.  Oh well.

Only 30 mins later than I wanted, I got to tack up and ride, yay!  The footing hasn't been too horrible because we've had some rain recently, and somehow I managed to set up a REALLY versatile course, yay! I had a simple enough course; outside single (3'3 x-rail), 2 inside singles (coop and 3'3 xr), a cavaletti on the highest setting on each end, and a one stride combo set 18' apart with a cavaletti on the middle setting at 9'.  The combo was a 2'6 xr to a 2' vertical, set on the opposite long side.

I warmed up completely minimalist; w/t/c 2 times around each way.  He was SO lazy, my leg was already killing me from riding a client's horse (LAZY), and I went for a run the previous evening so I felt half dead and I hadn't even jumped a jump yet!  Trotted into one of the cavs and I felt like HE was dead too.  Just didn't take me to it at all and tried to land in a heap.  Cantered them, and he was better cantering, but he was still extremely unimpressed.

Began to just JUMP.  I strung together about 16 jumps in a row, I just kept on and kept on.  I alternated between long, straight approaches, and some super tight jumper type turns on the angle.  I even did a serpentine type of track and was just wonderful.  He lands the right lead probably 90% of the time, and I asked him for a flying change EVERY time to the left, and he nailed them all:)  His first time through the bounce combo doing vert/cav/xr he yanked the pole on the vert down with a hind leg because he was trying so hard to back off it.  Got up and reset it, and he jumped it fine from then on.  Finished up on a good note, and he was DRIPPING.  It was slightly hot outside, but not the brutal heat we've had lately.

Friday I did exactly the same thing except I set all the tall xr up to 2'6 verts.  He was JUST as good, except I think my leg was even MORE dead! Jeez!  I was dying after trotting around half a lap, lol.  Pathetic, just pathetic.  Didn't do any of the tight type turns this time, just worked on long straight approaches and tried to find good distances.  Again, he landed right most of the time, and I asked for changes to the left and he was happy to oblige.  He jumped everything super, but I was pretty inconsistent with my eye:(  I have GOT to work on that some how!  I KNOW I'm going to miss, but it's like I'm incapable of fixing it, blech!  I'm much worse when I haven't practiced ... I just need a couple of more horses so I can practice more often!!;)  At LEAST when I waited, I WAITED and kept my leg on.  Also, I didn't jump ahead anywhere, where we were long I closed my leg and he went; where we were deep, I waited and kept my leg on.  That's SOMETHING, right???

At the end of it all, I was satisfied with what we did.  Next week will involve a dressage school, hills, and a course of poles.