Chris Burton SJ lesson. Parwood. 29-07-15

Not done much in the way of jumping since the end of June at our last event. A little trip to Parwood last weekend where he jumped well and one little jump session at home so was looking forwards to being pushed a bit in a lesson.  Wasn't disappointed as Monts was on fire and felt like he was loving it, really taking on the fences and hitting good strides 99% of the time.

Even the warmup fences got big enough - just got told to make sure I keep him connected and together enough so he can bounce in a powerful short stride if needed rather than always going on a long one.

Then onto a course:

Next mission to think ahead more so as to try and get the correct leads and if not then get the flying change.  Still a real struggle in a SJ course as he prefers to just ignore me!  Difficult to practice at home as arena not big enough so must make an effort every time we do go somewhere else to school to insist on it.

2nd attempt at same course with some fences raised and an extra one added in after fence 4.

Asked after and Chris said the second course was roughly about BE Novice height, if not a bit more in places.  Good round, just need to get the changes.  Where we had to circle to get the lead we then lost power in the canter so ended up shuffling in a stride before the double.  He is so careful he didn't knock a pole all session.  Fab horse!  Chris gave us the ok to look for a nice Novice to do end of this season - eeek!  In the mean time, might get brave and go and do some more BSJA.