state of the arts

We're kinda in an interesting place with jumping lessons right now. On one hand I feel a little like the prodigal son daughter returning to our Saturday afternoon group.... But, honestly, I'm really enjoying it. 

dusk lighting means blurry pics. think of it as 'artistic' lol

It's tricky to write about, tho, bc.... each week is sorta the same thing. Like, "Ok so we jumped around some interesting exercises set at relatively low heights, and Charlie was super!"

There's only so many ways to twist and contort that sentiment into new and interesting combinations of words lol. 

trying to make the jump look impressive lol

It's where we are, right now, tho. And, more importantly, my lesson mate's mom has been coming to hang out, help reset fences (for which she is an actual literal saint), AND -- she's become shockingly adept at capturing video of literally everybody in the group!! 

So. Obviously. When one has excesses of media fodder, one must certainly blog, lol.

it's easy to strike a pose when you're crawling along on the add stride haha

Really, tho, there's some backstory. These lessons are a huge part of how I've developed as a rider, and obvi how Charlie developed into the jumping horse he is today --- since trainer P guided us from the very beginning. 

I got to a point last year tho where I felt like we needed something a little more dialed in and calibrated to my particular (and very needy) needs if we were going to be able to successfully move up to training. So I shifted into a more individualized private lesson program. 

massively sloppy footing conditions explain the conservative pace

That program had slightly different views on how Charlie should go --- specifically as it relates to length of stride in canter. So it didn't feel like the sort of thing where I could keep riding with both trainers -- I sorta had to choose in order to avoid confusing Charlie. 

But ya know. For a lot of different reasons (many of which are very specific to me as an individual and rider), we still really weren't successful in moving up. And I still really didn't feel like I was getting the level of mentorship I seriously crave. 

this line stretched out a little this week, to i think around 21'

Plus I began to wonder if the big focus on stride length was really as important for our own particular training success as it was made out to be. Considering Charlie managed to cover a 72' distance in four fucking strides in our disaster of a show jumping attempt last summer*.... Haha... Yea I just am not convinced that's where our issues lie. 

(*For reference -- every line in the video below in which we get FIVE strides is 60'.)

much more room for bronto chuck

But ya know, the thing with coaching and training and mentorship is that, in my mind, if I'm in for a penny, I'm in for a pound. The whole reason I invest in the advice and guidance of professionals is because I don't know the answers myself -- and I don't feel particularly inclined to have to reinvent every single wheel haha, if that makes sense. 

So I basically follow directions. Usually it works out. But it doesn't always. And obviously there's so much more to training relationships than just expertise. 

lookin good, sir!

So.... Given the times, circumstances, and mental health considerations in a goddamn global pandemic... It made sense to get back into a tried and true formula. Riding with my buddies on Saturday afternoons, with a trainer who always has fun stuff set up and is heavily focused on developing positive experiences and well rounded horses. 

lololololol and then he just goes and steps over the next one
*neither this rail nor any other rails were knocked in this lesson

I don't really feel like I'm learning very much in these lessons right now. But.... Maybe I'm coming to understand that's not always the point. Rather, routine repetition and practice are valuable ends in and of themselves. Being able to jump around a variety of different styles of exercises is critical for staying sharp and relaxed in the work, ya know? 

It also serves as something of a proving ground, right? Like, if on one hand I'm sitting here saying "that exercise is not challenging for us," then... on the other hand, I better do it abso-fucking-lutely perfectly, right? Put up or shut up, ya know? And.... haha, it turns out, we don't always do it perfectly. So there's that lol.

second time was better tho!

But with that sort of mentality bumping around in my head, I've been trying hard to refine all the same stuff we've been chipping away at forever. Particularly with hand position over the fences, and committing to a forward feeling body position no matter what the horse is doing. 

I've also been working on straightness -- trying to jump the center of fences rather than always drifting left. And, obviously, keeping my legs longer and heel down -- rather than letting the leg get curled up in my patented death grip haha. 

pictured: a very add-stride canter

And Charlie, for his part, is responding beautifully. This is a horse who enjoys jumping -- no matter what. He's fun to jump and it's gratifying to feel how educated he's become. Sure, we both still make mistakes, but generally speaking we can kinda just lope around and step over everything. 

I probably still need to work a little harder at getting my canter better. Like if we're working on exercises set at shortened distances I still need to make sure he's up and in front of my leg, not just making the distance work by slugging around. 

makin it work tho!

This was a particular challenge this past week mostly bc of the disgusting footing... Which actually makes the helmet camera shots pretty interesting bc you can definitely see when he's being snarky and sucking back behind my leg in the helmet camera view wayyyyyy more easily than from the standard iphone view (hint: look for the raised head and pinned ears). 

link to youtube video here!!

(sorry mobile users, the blogger upgrade broke embedding functionality on mobile views, ugh)

Mostly, tho, to be perfectly honest... We're just having fun. I feel like this is sorta like the "boy scouts approach" to training. We may not be going crazy with anything right now --- but we're prepared for whenever that moment might strike lol. 

These lessons are keeping us sharp and honestly we're lucky to have such mild conditions to do even this much. So I'll take it, haha!