Today we hacked to Parwood in the pouring rain for a SJ lesson with Mark Corbett. Shared the lesson with an ex 2* horse who needed to work on control so started in the indoor with some canter poles which were on rather a long distance for Monts and he rather struggled with that - his canter really isn't that big without jumps in the way! Moved outside and fortunately rain had died down to a drizzle. Started with a x pole which he popped lovely then a 2 stride distance to a vertical which became a parallel and got to about 1.05m. Got it right every time and felt like he was flying. Got told off for letting him jump right though. Explained when he jumps off to the right he uses his 2 hindlegs in different places but if straight he pushes off them equally which gives him much more power. It also impacts in related distances, corners, doglegs etc so important to get him out of that habit.
We then moved onto a course. Started with grid then round to sheep upright on a left turn then sharp right turnback to big oxer. Totally messed up the line to the sheep and let him jump off to the right then nearly crashed into the fence attempting to turn right so pulled up. Told off for my rubbishy line to the sheep and had to try again. Took wider line to sheep, aimed for the centre but then thinking right, landed on the correct leg and made a nice right turn and met the oxer on a lovely forwards but controlled stride. Right sweeping turn to zebra upright then keep going round to dice, right turnback to wavy planks and left turnback to pink swirly where I hooked and let him jump right. Overall, not awful but must must remember to jump straight. Remember to take rhythm checks during the round, half halt, gather together, mustn't let reins get too long.
Next attempt at same course soooo much better. We did land in a bit of a muddle before the sharp right turnback to oxer but he said I did good to just sit and let him sort his legs out before continuing to ride forwards to the oxer. Rode the wavy planks brilliantly and he praised us for getting there on a really powerful stride. Got a slightly longer one to the last fence but we were straight and no hooking so happy with that. Really lovely round for me - if only they were all like that and I could remember all that when we go in the ring!
Finally had a discussion about doglegs. Important to get square on the turn, don't cut the corner, jump the middle of the fence, stay straight then outside aids to turn and stay forwards. It all comes down to my inability to ride forwards off a turn with less than 3 strides to the fence. So, went and rode a 5 stride dogleg and did it perfectly proving we can do it!
There's just soooooooooooo much to remember and think about whilst remembering where to go! Fine with that in a dressage test but just don't have the experience of doing it in the SJ arena. More and more practice needed but feel we could jump the moon if I always rode it like I did today.
Yesterday we did some flatwork schooling at home and I was so chuffed with how he went. He is really developing the strength from behind to carry himself in a more advanced outline. He is taking less and less warmup time to be able to achieve it. We avoided any lateral work in walk as he was seriously taking the mick and swinging his bum all over the place. Did some more half walk pirouettes which weren't as good as in lesson but tried to remember to look where I was going and weight to the inside. We did lots of counter canter and some 5m circles in walk into canter which really helps the walk to canter transition as really engages the hindleg. His right canter transitions are improving so much. In trot I worked on a rectangle rather than getting drawn into sticking to a 20m circle or the outside trench. Meant I could work on getting good corners and using the corners to engage him. Real effort to think about keeping him straight on the left rein and not letting him overflex to the inside. Couple of medium trots across the diagonal - hard in the short school to rebalance him in time for the corner when he does give it to me but pleased with his efforts. Some lovely straight centre lines and halts to. Doing BE92 on Sunday could be interesting as BE95 and N27 both have walk onto centre line, trot D to G but 92 has walk to halt at X and think he will anticipate the trot.
Looking forwards to hiring out the huge indoor school at Merrist Wood tomorrow to practice our lateral work which is so much easier with sooooo much space! Then we have BD at Fairoak Grange on Friday - N27 and N38 which suit him so really looking forwards to seeing how he goes. Mission forwards!
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