Friday, June 14, 2013

Over the Moon.. Another jumping lesson

Had another jumping lesson this past Wednesday. I was totally Over the Moon after the lesson.

Wednesday's lesson would be the second time I have ridden the new lesson horse Jazzy. She is a grey QH mare who has done a fair amount of local shows. She is perfect for someone to build their confidence and find their jumping legs again.. like me.

 Wednesday 's lesson went well enough that I  got to jump an actual course.. 5 fences to be exact at a canter!! They were small fences, just 18 inches or so but this was the first time I have done this in what seems like a 100 years. Man, those fences come up quick at a canter.

We had one 5 stride... and we kind of struggled on getting our stride right. This is the tricky part about jumping a course.. hitting your strides right..I thought Jazzy was going to leave for the jump at five strides but we didn't have quite enough momentum going and she decided to play it safe and put in another half step , which is never exactly comfortable or pretty.. Needless to say , Jazzy and I weren't exactly on the same page for that one so we went around and did that one over.  We managed to do a little better but because she is so short strided, it is hard for her to get down the line so I really had to push her , which just makes he go faster.. unfortunately, she still didn't make it in five strides , but atleast on the second go around I was a bit prepared for that extra step , if she decided she needed it.

So, something to work on for next time.  Jazzy is the sweetest little mare ,  I wasn't going to complain.

In spite of all that, I would be lying if I said it wasn't fun. I am enjoying this jumping thing.. more than I thought I would. My long lost position is starting to come back to me and I am feeling much more secure. The hardest part now has been . as my trainer refers to it, "riding into my leg" or getting more weight into my heels. This is your foundation over the fence so you can keep everything solid and secure as the horse jumps underneath you.
 I have this old ankle injury (years of  repeated sprains) that is complicating that riding into my leg a bit.

When I first get in the saddle with the short jumping length stirrups,  the tendons in that ankle kind of complain at the stretching that goes on with having your weight into your heels.

I did not realize how the dressage lessons  I had taken for two years really changed how I position my ankles (much more comfortable in dressage I will admit)  and since those lessons, I have learned to ride with a less "buried" heel. Now I am asking my ankles to do the exact opposite again!

After I warm up, the ankle pain lessens (or maybe I forget about it because I am having so much fun??)  I might have to work on some stretching in between lessons.  I might consider wearing a brace.





 

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