Tuesday we had our first showjumping lesson post-holidays, which meant about 3 weeks since our previous session. Thankfully there was a break in the frigid temps, and at a balmy 50*, this ended up being a godsend, since Jack came out thinking the devils were lurking in every shadow, pole, and different-colored-dirt-patch.
We’ve come to learn that this horse doesn’t tend to do well coming back from a break. While eventually he settles in, that first ride is a bit of a roller coaster, and it doesn’t take much to convince Jack he’s under duress. Case in point:
Eventually we built up to going between two (gasp) flower boxes to the itty-bitty fence, and once we conquered that we moved on to actual jumping.
YAY JUMPING
My position was definitely a bit weak, and I had trouble getting my heels down and shoulders back. My other go-to moves include A) making a move with my shoulders when I get nervous B) not staying folded long enough on the backside of the fence and C) turning too soon on landing instead of staying straight (which probably also relates to point B).
mental note: shoulders HERE. legs HERE.
We wrapped up with a fairly simple course, staying quiet down the lines and working on the afore mentioned points. The video below is the last of the evening.
My game plan for Saturday’s CT is to trot fences until he settles, stay straight through my landings and keep my shoulders back. We intend to also do a second jumping round as a hopeful confidence boost.
At least that’s the plan!
Red on the Right 
Good riding and also genius sound editing on that first clip!
Haha thank you iMovie sound clips… XD
What an improvement in his balance and rateability since you got him!
He has changed SO much. Though the spooking is still about the same 😛
I LOL’d at the first clip! But the course looks really good — LOOOOVE the soft “move-up” distance in the first line 😀
Thanks! It felt so much better than barreling down to the second jump and getting the horrible-no-good-deep-spot 🙂
love love love his tail sass and his expression when that flower box appeared? PRICELESS he is so much fun to watch. He looks great though and have fun this weekend! 🙂
He’s such a darn worry-wort. I think if he were a human he’d be the scared kid that gets dragged on adventures by his braver friends. But he does make me laugh!
Jack reminds me a lot of Chimi when I first got him… he couldn’t handle new things very well and had to work up to it… I think it’s a warmblood brain thing 😂 they need a lot of time to think!!! Hehehe
That gives me hope!
First, you had several laughing with the sound clip, absolutely perfect.
Second, long breaks are never fun and you both did well all considering. It is inspiration pushing through, so congrats!
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