grids - finally!

As previously mentioned, I was expecting to go to a jumpers show saturday instead of our weekly lesson. But things worked out differently, so off to our lesson we went. 

It's probably for the best, since Isabel hadn't done anything in nearly a week (frozen arena footing... boo) and had just started a two week course of gastrogard. 

She was pretty good for the ride, all things considered. But also not particularly motivated. Not sassy, tho - she said yes to everything I asked and was very workman-like. But it kinda felt like she was just going through the motions - phoning it in, if you will. That's fine tho. 

It provided the perfect opportunity for us to cross off another long-standing goal: GRIDS!!

One fence at a time, P built up a three-fence grid on the outside rail - with the rail on our left side (perfect for our left drift issue!). The fences were 18' apart - a short one stride for us. 

3 fences set 18' apart

The whole objective here was for me to set Isabel up going into the grid so that she could adjust as necessary while I focused on other things - like keeping my legs under me. The short distance had me wanting to mess with our in jump (predictably resulting in chips) or pace through the grid. But when I'd quit trying to micromanage Isabel and just mind my own Ps and Qs, things went quite swimmingly. 

Second exercise was three fences set 30' apart - so 2 strides. Still short-ish, but allowing for a little more forward. 

looking at jumps 1 and 2, before the far green/purple fence was moved into line

Our first time through the two stride combo was a little stilted - had a slightly too-sharp corner and a wonky in jump. Izzy still took care of business, but it wasn't very smooth. 

video of first trip

We went through again and got a pretty heinous in jump (totes 100% my fault) so I actually just circled right out of the line to try it again. P said I should have kept going and done 3 strides... but idk... I wanted to reorganize.  

Third time was the charm, I guess. We rounded our corner off a little more (you can hear P in the video calling out 'now turn!' lol) and that helped our in jump arrive a little nicer. 

video of second, better trip

I think it was a good lesson for Isabel bc it wasn't particularly challenging - just straight lines over short distances. And I mostly just had a loop in my reins as we went around. The real benefit was for me - I tried to stay very very conscious of my lower legs, and envisioned keeping the soles of my shoes facing the jumps. 

P suggested thinking of moving my feet towards my elbows... but that's currently a little beyond my coordination skills, considering my arms aren't in the right place either yet, and there's NO WAY I can focus on two separate body parts simultaneously lol.

still plenty of, uh, 'fun' eq moments tho lol