Jumping Lesson!

 I'm so proud of us!! 

 

Jacel said she would teach today but I had kind of already offered to volunteer at the Ashland show. Luckily she said she could teach me at 8 am and Caroline didn't need me to noon, so... yay! I was debating whether I should take Funny or Lyric but decided to take Lyric. Partly because it's been raining so much I didn't know how the arena was going to hold up and figured Lyric would be jumping much smaller, but also because... I wanted to jump Lyric! 

So... bright and early this morning we loaded up and headed to Barbaras. I had a moment of panic because... Lyric likes her routine... we had jumped yesterday... I'm not sure if her saddle really fits... and then when we got there.. she was nervous and it had poured buckets last night (not at my house, but at Barbara's) and the arena was obviously wet in spots. And Lyric isn't exactly the most catty of horses even on a good day with good footing. I mean heck.. I'm still not convinced she's not neurologic! BUT... I was there... so we just did it. 

 

And I'm so glad we did because she was FABULOUS!!! I'm soooo proud of her. She was nervous.. it was not her routine.. she hasn't jumped in forever.. and the footing wasn't great (although honestly, it wasn't too bad mostly.. just a little slick in a few spots). But she was game and she tried and not only did she try.. she was really good! 

I got on and we walked around a bit. She was a bit sluggish but I was also talking to Jacel and Barbara. I picked up the trot and let her trot around on a loose rein a bit. She was slow but not too short strided or mincy. Jacel said she looked good. Then we trotted through about 8 ground poles with a raised cavaletti on the end and Lyric just trotted on through pretty much foot perfect 4 times a row! Which.. is pretty impressive as she tends to get scrambly when there's more than a few. YAY! Jacel was impressed too. 

So then we started doing some fences. She kept them mostly small but by the end we did a few little baby oxers. We worked on bending lines... no straight lines. All turning or bending questions with some pretty hard lines! Tricky I should say... lines that tempted you to fall out or in and get a bad spot. So we started with two small verticals that were on a bendy line/circle arc. She told me that I couldn't ride straight, turn, straight.. I had to ride on the arc. And Lyric and I nailed it! Whoo hooo! So then we added a vertical on a straight line to the first vertical of the arc and then the second vertical of the arc. Jacel told me to ride it like 1, 2a and 2b, vs 1 to 2 on a related distance to 3. And we managed to do that nicely too! So then we added a few more jumps... with some roll backs, then a broken line from one oxer to another. And it got a little iffy, but Lyric went! She added a few times but... she added because the add was there. And when she did, she stayed rocked back on her hocks and added instead of dumping onto her forehand and flinging herself over. And I stayed upright with my shoulders (mostly). Yahoo!! We kept adding a few more fences each time and it stayed mostly good. Some of the tough lines got a little squirrely and a few times she did her "hesitate and process" thing before she jumped, but.. .she jumped every time. And the times she hesitated, it was a very subtle hesitation and she stayed rocked back on her haunches. And a few times she took the "long" spot. (It felt more appropriate/out of stride to me, but it may have been slightly long and/or definitely the "long" spot for her). 

I did get in my head a little bit and got a "lecture" from Jacel. She said that while she appreciated the fact that I always took responsibility for issues and blamed myself for riding poorly... sometimes... they are just green horses who make mistakes. And then she pointed out that most of what I was unhappy with - ie.. the tighter take off spot, the slight hesitation.. was no big deal. What I thought was a hesitation was just recalibrating and didn't look like a pause in real life. The tight spot is just how she jumps and how she is. And honestly.. that's already getting better. Even with not having jumped in 6 months or so.. she's already taking more "long" spots than usual. So... I got over myself pretty quick and went back to being proud of my horse! And me too, because while I felt like I may have tipped my shoulders at her a few times... I also mostly stayed back and supported her. And Jacel reminded me that if I wasn't supporting her with my leg and staying mostly in the back seat... Lyric stops. So the fact that she's not stopping was a pretty good sign that I was riding more correctly. Yay. 

 

We finished with fixing the cavaletti bending line to the oxer and getting a more fluid ride to it. It was hot and humid and Lyric worked hard and was pretty sweaty and breathing hard. Lots of pats and cookies and a nice long cold bath. :) I'm so excited! Plus, she felt pretty darn balanced today and not scrambly or like she was running away with me. She did feel like her haunches fell in a few times to the right.. like maybe she's a little weak. But, fair enough. That was probably more canter than we've done in awhile too. And the footing was slick in spots, so that could have been it. But we'll keep doing our fitness and homework and see how she does. She did NOT lose her hind end at all today though, which was interesting and exciting! 

And to end the fabulous day, we had a gorgeous sunset!