Look left, turn right
You know what is a bloody brilliant idea? MORE jump lessons. After my lesson last Friday I didn't ride for 2 days, message my coach to book a lesson, then thought I should probably ride before my lesson.
The two rides I had in between were not that amazing but we made some serious progress and Henry and I had a break through with the right rein. Angels sang, the stars aligned and for a brief moment things were so easy!
I figured a second jumping lesson would be good to follow on from our learnings on Friday. My coach agreed with my line of thinking and also said she could tell I had that pesky right rein under control. Henry for his part has been taking on our lessons and was being nice and responsive to my aides.
We started over a cross, and it was immediately obvious just how effective I need to be with the right rein. The first time over, I didn't keep Henry's nose leading us to the right and so he landed on the incorrect left lead. The second time I learnt from my mistake but wasn't effective enough with my aides. The third time we were golden though and I managed to jump and be effective with my aides. We changed sides and I was much more effective, though off the left rein I need to remember to use my outside leg to stop Henry falling in, and to keep the right hind powered up. It tends to get a little slack!
We moved on to a 6 stride curved line off the right rein and again, this proved very difficult for my brain. First I came in too quiet to the first jump, then didn't give Henry enough direction but he still jumped the second jump because he is a good boy. It took me quite a few goes to smooth it out and ride forward to get 6 strides but I did in the end. I needed to really focus on the right rein, not lose momentum in the turns, ride with my legs, count strides out loud, use my shoulders to sit him up between jumps, and keep my leg on! Phew!
We added a hogs back which I had to be remind to get deep in to, then came around to a skinny before jumping a triple, all set 2 strides apart. Again, I lost the momentum in the turn to the triple butHenry made it work. We repeated it a few times and I ended up getting it right and Henry made a mistake. Last time through we both had our shit together and nailed it.
We also tested our accuracy by jumping the hogs back and an upright on an angle. We nailed that too, although Henry was definitely checking in that we were doing it right.
We had lots of improvements in this lesson, the most important being me owning the right rein. However there was also lots of areas to improve. I need to count out loud, smooth things out, make sure I have equal weight in both reins, and use my legs. Oh and stay forward to the jumps! Ii really must use my legs to keep Henry forward.
So like we have all of Covid-19 to perfect these things. I love homework!
The two rides I had in between were not that amazing but we made some serious progress and Henry and I had a break through with the right rein. Angels sang, the stars aligned and for a brief moment things were so easy!
I figured a second jumping lesson would be good to follow on from our learnings on Friday. My coach agreed with my line of thinking and also said she could tell I had that pesky right rein under control. Henry for his part has been taking on our lessons and was being nice and responsive to my aides.
We started over a cross, and it was immediately obvious just how effective I need to be with the right rein. The first time over, I didn't keep Henry's nose leading us to the right and so he landed on the incorrect left lead. The second time I learnt from my mistake but wasn't effective enough with my aides. The third time we were golden though and I managed to jump and be effective with my aides. We changed sides and I was much more effective, though off the left rein I need to remember to use my outside leg to stop Henry falling in, and to keep the right hind powered up. It tends to get a little slack!
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| Please enjoy Henry demonstrating looking left while turning right. He is awesome at it! |
We moved on to a 6 stride curved line off the right rein and again, this proved very difficult for my brain. First I came in too quiet to the first jump, then didn't give Henry enough direction but he still jumped the second jump because he is a good boy. It took me quite a few goes to smooth it out and ride forward to get 6 strides but I did in the end. I needed to really focus on the right rein, not lose momentum in the turns, ride with my legs, count strides out loud, use my shoulders to sit him up between jumps, and keep my leg on! Phew!
We added a hogs back which I had to be remind to get deep in to, then came around to a skinny before jumping a triple, all set 2 strides apart. Again, I lost the momentum in the turn to the triple butHenry made it work. We repeated it a few times and I ended up getting it right and Henry made a mistake. Last time through we both had our shit together and nailed it.
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| His face is very telling when I fuck up! |
We also tested our accuracy by jumping the hogs back and an upright on an angle. We nailed that too, although Henry was definitely checking in that we were doing it right.
We had lots of improvements in this lesson, the most important being me owning the right rein. However there was also lots of areas to improve. I need to count out loud, smooth things out, make sure I have equal weight in both reins, and use my legs. Oh and stay forward to the jumps! Ii really must use my legs to keep Henry forward.
So like we have all of Covid-19 to perfect these things. I love homework!
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