As I have spent the last few days knocked out by a vicious cold (which hit pretty much everyone in the house, including the dog, though I think I got it worst), I wasn’t expecting too much from today’s class. In fact, given how wobbly my legs felt all day, I figured that just staying on would be a success. Staying at home was not an option, however. No riding two weeks in a row would have driven me crazy, and I have been in far worse condition and still dragged myself to the stables. I’ve found that riding when on strong painkillers makes me really relaxed and supple. ;P
In any case, I wasn’t that badly off today, and I did a little better than just stay on. It was a jumping lesson this time around, and fortunately I got Murphy this time too. I definitely didn’t feel up to any of the livelier horses, though he actually turned out to be a bit frisky today. Nothing compared to Nelson though, who was super-charged and kept trying to pick fights with Dark Digidoo (who also was super-charged) throughout the lesson. But Murphy was certainly unusually alert, and pretty eager to bite a chunk out of me too. ;P
During the warm-up, we were asked to work on turns. To me, Murphy felt quite responsive and forward from the start, and I thought we managed quite well with both the walk and the trot. My instructor seemed to feel he looked a bit sluggish, but I think she actually caught us at a time when I had slowed him down a bit because he was a bit too forward. Then again, my sense of pacing could have been more off than usual, since I was feeling pretty sluggish myself. Either way, I went ahead and ask for more of a trot, which I definitely got. A bit too rushed, though.
We were then asked to make sure that we weren’t overbending the horses when working on the turns. In fact, since we were working on turns for jumping a small course, we should aim to keep the horses as straight as possible and to turn them without bending or flexion, using just an opening rein as if doing a turn on the haunches. Murphy does have a tendency to overbend (its either that, or he’s too straight), but I managed this fairly well when trotting. Once we started cantering, however, it fell out of my head. I ended up needing to do a tight turn, and of course I did it all wrong. I stayed in a two-point seat and allowed him to become all banana shaped while trying to turn.
I tried once again, but then I ended up with a bunch of other horses in the way, so I still didn’t get it quite right as I didn’t ride through the whole turn. However, I did get his outside shortened, which suddenly gave me a nicely collected horse. My instructor asked me to go again, and I managed a pretty good canter transition (well, it took some persuading, because suddenly Murphy was very much on his hindquarters, so of course he thought a transition was too much work) and got a decent canter out of it. I managed one fairly good turn, but my instructor wanted more still. And suddenly, as she told me again to straighten his outside and just use an opening rein to turn, it clicked. I don’t think I’ve ever managed such nice, controlled turns at a canter, either for dressage or jumping. Now I could really see how to ride him on a tight course without having all momentum lost as soon as turns enter into the picture.
Of course, once we started jumping, I managed to get distracted by everything else I had to remember and that new discovery was promptly forgotten. ;P That’s riding for you. Really challenges your multi-tasking ability.
The exercise for today consisted of two curved lines, each with two obstacles and each involving a change of lap. The focus was on getting the right canter after the final of the two obstacles. I suck at this. I am really, really bad at sensing if a horse is on the right leading leg even when doing dressage, and when jumping this invariably translates to me looking down after the obstacle in question to check, which takes me so long that I completely forget about sitting down and riding the horse through the turn as I had just discovered was the best way to maintain a good, balanced canter.
The first attempt was abysmal. Murphy was, as noted, quite frisky today. He surprised me by not staying at a trot for the approach to the first obstacle, and then he rather rushed the second one. He also ended up taking the left rein more than the right, which left me a bit confused about just what to do to get him prepared for a left leading leg canter, since that was supposed to involve a slight hollowing out of the left side and giving on the left rein. So, of course we got the wrong leading leg, especially as my effort to ‘think left’ led me to lean both forward and to the left.
The next attempt on that line was better. I managed to ‘think left’ more subtly—and more correctly—and we ended up with a left leading leg. My instructor said she noticed me rethinking halfways between the two obstacles. I still looked down too much afterwards, though, and forgot all about riding him through the corner. And that was pretty much the story for the two attempts on the second line, too. I managed to get the right canter, but I spent too much time looking for it afterwards. The last attempt, though, was marginally better in that regard, and I did catch myself looking and not riding early enough that I could correct myself and actually work on his canter through the corner. He responded quite nicely, too.
So, some nice bits, some bad old habits. I am thinking a private lesson in jumping would be very nice indeed, but then I need to make it an hour, and that starts get expensive. Unless I find someone to share with.