The lead up
This weekend is the big one, we are finally going eventing again after 10 long months. A month ago I was nervous but for the last two weeks I have been so excited.
Thursday and Friday I had lessons for one last tune up. Thursday was flatwork and we got hammered. Bec wanted us to step up to the next level and that meant I needed to really tell Henry to lift his game and insist he go forward into the contact.
Now this is something we have been getting good at, or so I thought! Turns out I have been getting a bit slack at home. Henry came out on Thursday and also didn't want to move his shoulders at all. It was a bit of a shit sow really! Bec dinged us for just about everything and made us work so hard to fix it. She explained that we are really to step up to the next level and that means insisting that Henry stay up onto the contact rather than fluffing about. We also have to add more oomph to t he trot. Adding more oomph on Thursday was what was making everything fall apart but by the end of the lesson we were both hot and sweaty, but we had got the shoulders moving and Henry was now my lighter off my leg and trotting and cantering around with a lot more purpose. Not sure he thought it was a good idea but then he can earn his keep, haha!
Friday we jumped and Bec put out a nice course for us filled with fill. We warmed up briefly over a cross before getting straight into things. Again, Bec was being very hard on us and it was another messy lesson. Bec wanted me to make decisions into every jump. It seems I have a tendency to sit up there and do nothing, where I should really be riding more. Funny how you think you are doing one thing but a good coach totally calls you out and you realise you're not doing anything at all.
It was a tough lesson, I had to ride forward to every jump, set up early and make a decision to get us to the jumps. It took me a few goes to get the forward and maintain it around the course. Henry was also consistently landing on the right lead, it seems our homework of strengthening the right side up has worked because 2 weeks ago he wanted to land left. It made left turns hard because no matter how hard I tried he would not land on the left lead. Bec said it was related to him being less manoeuvrable in the shoulders, as we had discovered the previous day in flat work.
We finished up after I did a course where I made decisions to every fence and sat quietly coming in. None of the fill bothered Henry but I had to make sure I landed and kept my leg on, turned and kept my leg on and just generally needed to have my leg on all the time. Henry responded by staying forward and we got some good jumps.
Bec and I discussed my game plan for the weekend and I went away with a solid warm up plan for every phase.
These lessons were both hard. Nothing about them was worth a "OMG me and my horse are both so good at this and we are perfect" gush fest. Oh no, we exposed our weaknesses big time. They were lessons where you might walk away and think what the fuck, I thought we were better than that. But instead I walked away with a clear idea of what I needed to work on at home and what I needed to do at our comp to give our very best work. I know in our next lessons we will be a lot better and I know these lessons will set us up for success.
Now this is something we have been getting good at, or so I thought! Turns out I have been getting a bit slack at home. Henry came out on Thursday and also didn't want to move his shoulders at all. It was a bit of a shit sow really! Bec dinged us for just about everything and made us work so hard to fix it. She explained that we are really to step up to the next level and that means insisting that Henry stay up onto the contact rather than fluffing about. We also have to add more oomph to t he trot. Adding more oomph on Thursday was what was making everything fall apart but by the end of the lesson we were both hot and sweaty, but we had got the shoulders moving and Henry was now my lighter off my leg and trotting and cantering around with a lot more purpose. Not sure he thought it was a good idea but then he can earn his keep, haha!
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| Breakfast at sunrise |
Friday we jumped and Bec put out a nice course for us filled with fill. We warmed up briefly over a cross before getting straight into things. Again, Bec was being very hard on us and it was another messy lesson. Bec wanted me to make decisions into every jump. It seems I have a tendency to sit up there and do nothing, where I should really be riding more. Funny how you think you are doing one thing but a good coach totally calls you out and you realise you're not doing anything at all.
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| These clouds were so cool before my lesson |
It was a tough lesson, I had to ride forward to every jump, set up early and make a decision to get us to the jumps. It took me a few goes to get the forward and maintain it around the course. Henry was also consistently landing on the right lead, it seems our homework of strengthening the right side up has worked because 2 weeks ago he wanted to land left. It made left turns hard because no matter how hard I tried he would not land on the left lead. Bec said it was related to him being less manoeuvrable in the shoulders, as we had discovered the previous day in flat work.
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| All aboard the struggle bus |
We finished up after I did a course where I made decisions to every fence and sat quietly coming in. None of the fill bothered Henry but I had to make sure I landed and kept my leg on, turned and kept my leg on and just generally needed to have my leg on all the time. Henry responded by staying forward and we got some good jumps.
Bec and I discussed my game plan for the weekend and I went away with a solid warm up plan for every phase.
These lessons were both hard. Nothing about them was worth a "OMG me and my horse are both so good at this and we are perfect" gush fest. Oh no, we exposed our weaknesses big time. They were lessons where you might walk away and think what the fuck, I thought we were better than that. But instead I walked away with a clear idea of what I needed to work on at home and what I needed to do at our comp to give our very best work. I know in our next lessons we will be a lot better and I know these lessons will set us up for success.
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