softness v. effectiveness

Finally made it back for a lesson with Dan this week, after missing last week due to the Waredaca adventure with Alli and Austen for the DOC clinic. And it was another private lesson bc barn mate Kaitlyn's horse sprung a shoe. Boo...

I was thisclose to busting out the helmet cam but ultimately decided against. I wanted to have frank discussions about where my riding is right now, and didn't trust my nerve to do so with a recording device strapped to my face. So no media. At all. Double boo.

how sweet is this mare?

BUT. The conversation was good. We talked about an upcoming jumper show (this Sunday!) and what classes I should enter. The 2'6" is a no-brainer, and a warm-up 2'3" class is probably not merited since I don't have that option at events. The other offering is a a combined 2'9"-3' class. 

I've jumped 2'9" on and off for years (fairly consistently during my Rochester days, and regularly since late spring), but 3' is a newer height. Plain verticals aren't scary or imposing any more, tho idk about oxers (due to lack of mileage). And I've never done a full course at that height.

Dan's impression was that it shouldn't be an issue for us if I ride the way I do in lessons and don't just 'click off' in the show ring.

she looks tired, no? mare may or may not have checked out of the lesson about half way through...

So naturally when we moved onto warming up by circling over a single X, and Isabel was stuck behind my leg and we chipped in again and again, he told me that's what he meant by 'clicking off.' Ugh. 

The actual initial jumping exercises showed some improvement tho. We started with two bending lines - the purple/lime green (top left in the below pic) bending to the jump that's cut off on the right edge of the pic, then right turn to the blue-to-lattice one stride, bending left to the yellow/hunter green. Both bending lines were done in an easy 5.

i love one stride lines! from this line you can go to either of those verticals, 5 strides either way

After that we came down the outside line (yellow/hunter green to blue/yellow) in 5, right turn to the one stride bending to the purple/lime green. Now THAT turn was a little more complicated. 

Our first time through the 5 came up nicely, but Isabel didn't quite pick herself up (and I may or may not have been leaning on her neck) and we knocked the rail. On the second try I turned in the air over the lattice - not what Dan wanted. Third try I turned too late (there's apparently not much leeway in there!) and we added to bring down the rail again. Finally I made it happen, tho it was still a little stilted. 

same story here. both of these lines are 5 strides (might be 4 for a more forward canter)

Lastly he wanted us getting into xc mode - we were to develop our canter at the end of the ring seen above, come alllllll the way around on the left lead, then get a nice straight long approach to jump the purple/lime green diagonal single nicely out of stride, then continue on with a right turn down to a nice straight long approach for the same thing over this blue/yellow single in the foreground above. 

HA. We ate it a couple times over the first jump. And then over the second jump too. Ugh. Ultimately I mostly figured it out, tho Isabel had long since checked out (it was humid as all hell out, and the wet sticky footing wasn't making it any easier) so we called it a day. 

Here are a couple big takeaways and themes from the lesson:

• When the horse is against my hand (esp in warm up), try to supple from left to right, at both trot and canter.
• Dan warned me to not confuse softness for effectiveness. It is more important to be effective than soft, tho the best riders are both.
• If your horse is already on it's maximum stride length (this came up especially during our final exercise), you have nothing left to move forward up to the jump.
• In the 'preparation zone' (bc yes I told him about my DOC takeaways too), the rider might be collecting the horse and raising it's shoulders - don't just run downhill at the fence. I couldn't just sit chilly in the last few strides - I had to keep my leg ON and ensure her shoulders stayed up. I think this is was what DOC meant by 'managed maintenance' - I have to react if she changes or flattens.
• Furthermore, I need to be a little more dramatic than I think. Meaning more dramatic change in horse's collection and balance - NOT going faster. 
• In the same vein, and as written before, I should half halt into a turn, organize and collect with LEG LEG LEG - then go forward to the fence. This 'forward' doesn't mean running or changing the canter - it means having established the right canter such that I'm not whoa-ing to the fence - I should be jumping from a forward stride.
• It's harder to balance a faster canter, esp if that canter gets strung out and flat. 
• He echoed DOC's point about recognizing distance from canter, v looking for a distance and changing the canter to get there. I struggled a bit with this - mostly bc I kept just running Izzy at the fences. Oops.

So yea it was maybe not our best riding, but we made it over everything and I actually better understand some of what he's been telling me to do (esp w regard to the forward canter). Another quick takeaway (that I waited until he was gone to double check) was that I can't really take Dan's word about fence heights lol.

super scientific (scien-stick-fic?) measurement device

He's notorious for being a bit blasé about fence heights, esp at the lower levels - and nonchalantly referred to the heights in this lesson as novice/training when I asked about entering a 3' class. Well, I went back with a mostly-straight stick with duct tape at the 3' mark to actually measure.

One fence he's previously referred to as 3'-3'3" was really 2'11" on the dot, and one other was just over 3'. This might not seem important, but a few inches in height is a big deal to me at this point. And the very last thing I want to do is go into a 3' class thinking I've been schooling 3'3" when in reality I've been schooling <3'. Details folks, they matter!

looks like hind leg protection needs to be a thing for us too...

Meanwhile, upon hopping off I noticed that Isabel clipped herself pretty good at some point. Probably one of our iffier jumps. Sorry mare :(

My thoughts moving forward (in general, but also specifically for the show) are to just KEEP RIDING dammit. Don't get fooled into being 'soft and quiet' when actually I'm just allowing her to get down hill and flat. Keep my leg on, make decisions, and for the love of all things holy, organize and balance Isabel so that she can move forward to the jump!!