Last night I had jump lesson #5 with Faith- and each lesson, I am learning a bit more about riding a different horse from Oats. Is it easy? NOPE! Is it fun? Yes! Since Faith is on the greener side, and she has navicular, we have to keep the jumps very simple and low. Also I am very rusty, having not really ridden for 5 months, so yeahhhhh there’s a lot to unpack here, hah.
Last night we worked on adjusting the canter stride in between two poles, set for 5-6 strides. Funny enough it was easier to get 6, and we only got 5 once on the left, and Faith got VERY excited about it! Then we got 7! Not bad eh? On the right lead it was tougher- we really struggled with the turn, and then kind of faded out and her stride just felt a bit shorter.
I was sweating my butt off, hah.
Next we worked over a trot-in one stride to a small vertical. It was pretty good, but her jump takes some real getting used to for me, personally. It feel so big and lurchy! What helped was when the trainer said to think about ‘sinking’ into two point, vs going ‘up’ in two point. So at each trot pole in, ‘siiinkk’ down and then you can stay with the horse much better. It totally worked too!
So while it feels very weird to not be riding and jumping Oaty, I am fortunate that I have a horse to borrow one day a week and do some jump lessons! And we’ve already finished a month- and are on to the next month. Crazy eh??
Of course it’s a marathon night for me, Tuesdays, since I do my jump lesson and then untack and then get Oats and tack him up and do his rehab workout. It’s a long day and tiring, but it is so worth it to me.
The adventures of Mr. Oats 