Lisa's Blog post # 22

OK, let me just tell you – cloud 9 is a wonderful place!  Our solo jumping practice today could not have gone any better!  

We jumped about a dozen jumps again – 3 fences each about 6 times.  They were only about two feet tall.  We did the two in the arena separately back and forth and then one after the other, trotting in between.  The third one was the baby jump that has stayed set up outside the arena with the ground poles.  I raised it to 2’3” and did it just once each direction.

We trotted each approach slowly and calmly.  I did my half-halts with a full floppy rein release.  When we got to the “red-zone” (I really want to know what that’s actually called) I kept my leg, kept my hand position, made sure my back was flat and I consciously felt that string pulling my head up as Cotton gathered himself for the jump.   I waited for him to take off and allowed him to close my hip angle rather than force it.  There was only one time when I lifted my hands off his neck to pull back put stopped myself before I could do any damage – yay!

Most of Cotton’s get-aways were controlled and relaxed so that we were actually able to do a half-circle without his leaping into a lead switch!  During our last lesson Lesley made sure I knew how important it is to reward Cotton when he does something right like that so I told him what a good boy he was and patted him as we rounded the circle.  It is easy to get good results from a horse like Cotton who is so eager to please.  Positive reinforcement goes a long way with him and he is quick to remember what to do to get it.  What a sweet-heart!

Lesley was out schooling her big beautiful grey horse, Ollie, today while I rode and she actually complemented me after my first jump.  She’s not the kind of coach to throw out illegitimate encouragement so I knew I had done it right!  I just want to know when she’ll have her award banquet so I can get my “most improved” trophy.

The most amazing thing to me, though, is to experience how good it feels to jump correctly.   I’ve never felt this before – I’m talking physically, not emotionally – and I’m talking about the difference a few inches make!  For those who have ever played tennis, you know that sweet spot on the racket?  It’s such a great feeling when you hit a ball on that spot and it goes right where you want it – it even makes that kind of pop noise.  Well, I was able to hit the “sweet spot” every jump today!  No refusals, no “grab mane” pop-ups, and no “yee-ha”s.  I had to steer him to one or our first fences and actually cluck a little to get his attention so he would watch where he was going because he was not locked on to it.  He stayed calm and so did I.  There was one fence when he sped up just a little but instead of pulling I remained soft.  He took off early with a larger leap than necessary but I was right there with him – still in the sweet spot!   I would say that was my most successful moment of the ride – he presented one of his variables to me and I managed it.  I was actually letting go and letting him do all the jumping.  That keeping-your-back-flat-with-a string-attached-to-your-head thing really works!

After Cotton and Lesley get finished with me I’m going to be a really good rider!   How could I have ridden for so many years without knowing this stuff?   Unless you have a horse like Cotton I guess fine tuning these types of details don’t really matter that much – it certainly hasn’t mattered for me until now!

XC tomorrow!