Craig Barrett - Show jumping lesson

Craig was back in WA this weekend so I took the opportunity to have another lesson with him.

I was very lucky to score a private lesson, especially since last time Craig was here the lessons I had were big, and it made it very hard to get the most out of them (or maybe I'm just not good at sharing?).

Oh yeah, we jumped this last time!

It was a wet morning, but there was a break in the weather as I pulled in and unloaded. I got Coolie mostly tacked up before it started to rain again, so I popped him back on the float until it passed over. While we were waiting the group before me came back from their XC lesson, so as soon as it stopped raining I unloaded Coolie, popped his bridle on and headed to the arena to warm up.

Hiding

Craig came over and watched me warm up, we had a chat about what I had been doing recently and then we got cracking.

We started with a pole and 2 cavalletti's on circle, we trotted over the pole and then the cavelletti's, working on keeping Coolie soft and in the same rhythm. Once we got it right in trot both ways I picked up the canter and did the same. Coolie was quite happy to maintain the rhythm and it was easy for me to stay soft.

Cavalletti

Next I cantered over a cavalletti and rode about a 9 stride bending line to a very small oxer. The idea was to maintain the same rhythm and suppleness between the fences and to get deep to the fence, using the cavalletti to set up the approach to the oxer.

Very small oxer

First time over we were a bit long, second time was spot on and the third time was a bit too deep. Then Craig told me to come around again and he put the oxer up behind my back. And not just a little bit! I thought to myself 'bloody hell! Just keep cantering', and we jumped it fine but Coolie didn't get his legs out the way in time so we took a rail.

Surprise!

Craig stressed the importance of setting up correctly for the cavalletti. If I got it wrong I would have to work really hard in the middle to get the oxer right. If the cavalletti was good, the oxer would also be good. Craig really wanted me to keep a very steady canter and get deep to both jumps. He was exactly right of course. If the cavalletti was great the oxer came up perfectly, but if I got it even a tiny bit wrong, we would take a rail at the oxer, get a bad spot, or I would have worked very hard to get the right spot.

Once I had a few good approaches, we added a left turn to an upright, then a 6 stride bending line to another oxer. Craig stressed the importance of staying straight, and that he wanted the same rhythm throughout the course. The first line was to be ridden exactly as we had been, then on landing we had to have more forward to the upright.

We did fine, Coolie only fought a little through the turn but maintained the rhythm in the related distance, but we drifted right into the upright. We did it again, this time Craig wanted to me keep my leg on to the first oxer and really soften my hands in the last few strides to encourage Coolie to take off well, rather than just sit there and maintain the canter. This worked really well and Coolie jumped beautifully.

We then added on more of the course, slowly building on and increasing the height while maintaining the conversation between Coolie and I about the rhythm, bend and suppleness.

Craig wanted me to really encourage Coolie to take off, saying that even when the rhythm and pace is good, I want him to feel effortless over jumps, and I do this by squeezing, or even just sinking into my heels. That means that even if the distance is slightly off, the horse has the energy to jump still.

We also finessed my position. Craig noted that my position suffered over bigger fences especially when I was thinking about the turn I needed to make on landing. I was over exaggerating and putting the horse off as a result. He told me to just look at the next fence while I was in the air and focus on keeping my leg position solid, it mad a big difference to my position. He also wanted me to push forward with my hands more, and make sure they stayed on either side of the horses neck.

Position changing because I'm too busy thinking about turning 

We had a few minor hiccups. The first was Coolie spooking at the first fill jump of the day and losing the rhythm. We got WAY too fast, and I had to ride quite aggressively. Craig had us do just that line again and we were much softer the second time.

Ahh WTF is that?!

You want me to what now?

Ok FINE

The second was due to me letting the rhythm change and not correcting the right drift, and my foot collected the jump stand and took the whole thing out. Oops! Typically that was the moment my coach showed up. Not all the other great times before that!

Oops!

Bye jump!

We started the whole course again and this time nailed the lines, kept the rhythm and the softness and jumped super. Craig was happy with that, I was happy with that so we wrapped up.

Got it! Yeah, that's about 110cm...

Craig told me I have to keep having the conversation with Coolie about the rhythm and suppleness. He said there was a huge improvement since the last lesson so we have to keep working on the rhythm, making it into a habit. I told Craig that I feel a bit better about upgrading and he said everything was coming along well so it wont be a problem as long as I ride effectively. I told him I had to feel like I wasn't going to die to ride properly!

It was a really great lesson. I felt like I got so much out of it, and jumping big fences was exactly what I needed to do. I knew they were big but I wasn't nervous. I just focused on the bits in between and let coolie do his job. I am really looking forward to the next one now! I feel like 105 is achievable now. I just need some more lessons with Craig!

I spent the rest of the day watching Emily at a dressage comp, her first one with a new horse. They did a super job! I also picked up my rosette and prize from Moora, woohoo!