left bend: still not a thing we do

I'm beginning to doubt my ability to assess my riding lol. Ask me which lead is better, and I'll tell you the left lead. I'll tell you that the transition is more balanced and that we jump better off that lead.

But then look at my handy analysis and discover that the data say otherwise - that the right lead is stronger (even if I still think the transition is worse). And consider this week's lesson with Dan wherein we couldn't actually jump well from the left lead (and most certainly not with left bend).... and.... yea. Maybe I actually don't have a clue.

left bend waaaaaat?
(pics are from an earlier ride where we schooled over the same obstacles with less fuckery but still no left bend)

It was a frustrating lesson primarily because it started off really well and steadily devolved. And unlike last week, I wasn't able to put the wheels back on the bus in time to finish strong. Ugh.

The Miseventer showed up to ride Tillie (Kaitlyn was stuck at work) just as we finished and asked how the lesson went. It took me a few moments to formulate an answer, and Dan sure as hell wasn't gonna blurt out 'wow, yea she really sucks' with me standing right there so... finally I settled on "educational" as the appropriate adjective for the ride. Ughhhh.

But back to starting off well: we revisited that tiny collected canter from last week's lesson and ran a figure 8 around two low jumps. Last week's video wasn't particularly exciting, but there are clearly moments where we got the right rhythm and pace so that we 'moved forward' to the jump without speeding up. And then there are other moments where we kinda splatted over it. Dan prefers the 'splat' to the 'gap' but would rather see neither.

simple figure 8 repeated until directed otherwise

So I was quite pleased to demonstrate this week that I had taken the lesson seriously and done my homework, and we pretty much nailed this exercise. Every. Single. Jump. It felt goooooood. Haha too bad that wouldn't last.

One of his big focuses on our flat work this week was inside bend. He wanted my inside leg *down* and at the girth (no curling!) and my outside leg *back* to keep the haunches from swinging out. Specifically he told me to think 'shoulder fore' while jumping, particularly when approaching a diagonal jump from which we'd be changing directions.

Somehow, though, achieving that bend while tracking left is just... not a thing I can do. At all. And my only recourse was to just start pulling....

First we went through a course that I can't for the life of me remember, but it involved mostly right turns and we handled it well enough. It was when we switched to the final course that things just completely fell apart.

third and final course. we, uh, struggled. 

I just.... kept messing up. Not getting the bend, or getting fast to the jumps, or not reorganizing early enough upon landing, or adding too many strides down the final coop-blue-green line (should have been a short 4 to 4 and I kept doing 5-5). It was also pointed out that jumping up my horse's neck with my upper body was not conducive to maintaining the balance/pace upon landing.

Finally Dan told me to stop thinking about the 'collected' canter and ask for 'medium.' He did *not* mean go faster - he just wanted to see a bigger step, covering more ground. And he also wanted to see me using a lot less hand - all legs and seat and inside bend to achieve the canter.

So obviously we took off at a gallop down the long straight approach to the orange and proceeded to knock over a whooooole bunch of stuff. Next time through, I jumped ahead at the natural oxer then made a terrible turn to the coop, garnering a refusal. I said something along the lines of "I deserved that" and, well, he more or less tacitly agreed. Sorry Isabel!

i don't always pull on her over fences... just, like, 87-93% of the time

By that point things were getting worse with each repetition, I was getting dangerously close to losing patience (something that rarely happens in lessons), and Isabel started seeing monsters in the darkness beyond the arena's flood lights (which are finally fixed!!!!!!). So... we got through the line and called it a day.

My homework is to make that left bend happen, make it a thing we can solidly do. And that doesn't mean one step of bend and then straight again. We should be able to hold that bend, and without a ton of rein aids. Walk trot canter, whatever. Bennnnnnnnnnnd.

izzy is used to getting things done despite my shenanigans

So yea, a frustrating lesson. Not to be confused with bad, per se (tho you certainly couldn't call it good!). I'm reminding myself that Dan designs his lessons to expose training weaknesses in the horse or rider, which then allows us to work on them and improve.

As the Miseventer pointed out afterwards (while I downloaded/vented a bit), Dan might be intentionally revisiting the habits most likely to interfere with moving up. Some habits were easily ignored/overlooked at lower levels, but become increasingly unacceptable as the jumps get higher and questions more challenging.

I already know this at heart (and wrote about it here) - but maybe didn't realize how frustrating the process of filling in those training holes could be. As always, just gotta keep workin at it!