the stories our pictures tell

As you might have guessed from the last post extolling Charlie's, ahem, distress about my poor riding, we had another jump lesson - and this time with pictures again!

For various reasons it's been a little tricksier to get media lately (mostly bc our dedicated partner in crime, Brita, has been busy busy). Have no fear tho, we've got pictures today!

and game faces. we also have game faces.

And for once? I'm actually pretty happy with the story these pictures tell. Obviously it's no secret that working with green horses can be challenging. Add in an amateur rider and... complexity increases. Dial it up such that the rider is totally out of practice and lacking confidence? And yea. It's not often going to look great.

his pricked ears make me so happy haha

Then of course, there's the double edged sword of pictures. And I KNOW I'm not the only one who deals with this. I obsess over media bc it really helps me visualize a feeling.

Usually I can remember what a specific effort felt like and why, so when I go back to watch the tape often I can see other things that contribute to the feeling but that I didn't notice in the moment.

horse had to think on his feet when the distances came up tight out of this 3-stride

Like how things unfolded leading up to a mistake - or maybe I felt the moment of a mistake too late - in the video I can see where things first went a little sideways. Maybe in an unbalanced turn, or one (or a few) too many pulls in approach to the fence. A moment where I pulled when I should have added leg. A persistent left drift that I fail to correct. Ya know, the usual.

Just sitting back to watch videos on repeat helps me internalize what's happening in a broader sense, so that hopefully I retain that information the next time I ride. It's my way of stretching out the lesson - of squeezing out every last drop of insight.

and esp had to think quickly into the 2 stride

The downside tho, and you knew there had to be one bc there's always a downside lol, is that I see the same issues even in moments that felt really good. Like I might finish a course feeling like, "Damn, we're really doin it now!" But then I watch the video and.... it doesn't look AT ALL how it felt.

My first competitive stadium course with Charlie fell into that category. I was thrilled with that jump round, but then somewhat quite unexpectedly disappointed after watching the video.

i'm pretty happy with some of how he's learning to use his body, but we still have a bit too much 'launch' in the front end and not quite the right 'push' from the hind

So I've tried to come to terms with that lately. Bc I honestly don't like the idea that watching the video could affect my feelings about a ride negatively. Like, yes, I believe in reviewing my rides objectively with the express purpose of constructive criticism.

But that's quite different from taking something I was proud of and suddenly.... deflating it. Rather, I've acknowledged that, right now, at this stage in Charlie's training, we're gonna look like we're gonna look. I just need to focus on that good feeling - and reproducing that good feeling. With the idea that the picture will improve in time.

this fan jump continues to give me grief tho. oh well, at least charlie likes it!

The thing is tho, I'm hoping that's starting to happen. Charlie continues to feel more and more confirmed in jumping. Like he understands what we're doing, understands how to find a jump. Usually knows where his legs are at any given moment.

We're dealing a bit with him rushing the fences and running past his distances - which, again, speaks to his greenness. He kinda gets excited about "seeing" a jump (so do I, let's be real) so we're still learning how to calibrate our combined feel in approach to the fence. I need to pull less, Charlie needs to wait more. Normal stuff.

so handsome tho <3

This particular lesson was very helpful for that purpose, too. We worked over four main lines - three related distances that each called for a slightly different canter, and one unrelated but still kinda related bending line.

We had a 30' two stride line - quite compressed. Then a slightly more open three stride line, and a very open four stride. Then an unrelated bending from the barrels to a long straight approach down to the fan jump.

i'm finally getting a little better about going with the horse. not perfect, but it's nice to see the progress!

Obvi for Charlie, compression is a bigger challenge than an open stride, so we spent a lot of time going through the two stride. And, since we also struggle with rushing, that long straight approach to the fan jump got its fair share of attention too.

barrels were adjusted in location and seemed to ride better here

We also had to do approximately 18 thousand simple changes of lead from right to left bc this course was a lot of left turns and Charlie always lands right (tho in the video you can sorta see me trying to throw my upper body around like that might help matters. hint: it does not). I guess the simple changes were useful tho in helping reaffirm our mission of : steady canter throughout!

i love how eager he is haha

Anyway it's all just working on more and more of the jumping basics.

Can we regulate our canter? Adjust our canter for compressed and open distances? Can we jump the center of each fence (ahem, Emma)?  Can we rebalance and half halt as needed early enough in our turns and approaches so that I'm quieting to a phase of 'managed maintenance' in the final strides, forward to the jump?

and bam, he jumped the SNOT out of this oxer. 

Quite happily, the answer to some of those questions is starting to become "Yes." And it feels good. Even more happily? I might be biased, but I feel like there's starting to be a change in the picture of me and Charlie as a team.

It used to be that the jumps where he looked the 'cutest' (think: snappy knees), I would look the worst. Usually bc we were launching from a great distance or had otherwise met the jump a little oddly, such that I was in disarray and Charlie was jumping a bit hectically.

video here

But now we feel a lot more in sync, for better or worse, and it feels like Charlie is beginning to be more consistent in his own form too. I see a lot more grids and compressed distances in our future bc that longitudinal suppleness (his ability to sit back and lift his shoulders) is a weakness in the big guy (ha, as evidenced in the dressage test comments I'll share later this week lol).

And while there's still a lot in the video and pictures that I would like to improve upon in myself, and in my ride, there's not as much of a deflating feeling. Just. Ya know. More stuff to work on, as always.

That's cool tho, that's why we're here, right? For those slow and steady moments of progress, for that little scrap or shred of evidence showing that what we're doing is moving the needle, making a difference.

Do you like using video and pictures for the same type of self evaluation? Is it helpful to you? Or do you sometimes feel like it can be overwhelming or demoralizing?