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!

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