And now I've jumped into a crossroad
But it does suggest opportunity, which I love. Despite temperatures only reaching the high thirties, we still had a lesson today. God bless wool socks and winter boots. I rode Corbin again, but I used Miss J's saddle which has those composite flex stirrups.
We had slightly more energy today than last week, but we were still lagging (seriously, the ponies were passing us), so Miss J let me use the spur. I wasn't allowed to sit my canter for the most part; it was all about getting him forward and moving with energy. Last week, I was a lot more stiff as well, which made it difficult for me to use my legs and hold him up in the corners, so today he clearly remembered. It's a good thing that we did the circles in every corner otherwise we would have destroyed our corners when we jumped.
Miss J also had us work on double posting. I'd honestly rather not. I'm so used to rising and sitting for the same amount that I couldn't relax into a up two, sit one rhythm, so we went around for a lap or two just trying to figure out what I was supposed to do.
It's still Distance December, so we had ground poles to our warm-up cross rail (which I bombed at the trot and canter). Then we did the oxer to single line that had only a ground pole by the single, but I'm pretty good seeing a distance to an oxer. Asking for the correct distance is a whole other story. The first time was pretty bad because "The Corbinator" (Corbin's alter-ego that suddenly knows what forward motion is as soon as a fence shows up) came out coming off of the oxer, and I did not have nearly enough contact. After the first time, we added two more lines after it. I got a bit tight to the first fence in the second line because our turn wasn't smooth enough. Through the last line, he jumped in great, but we got speedy, and I think we took out a stride, but the last fence wasn't a huge reach, and I picked the take-off spot, so we stayed together.
After that, we all did the brick to flower bending line. The flower was set to 3'6" for Miss Jan and Izzy, then Miss J lowered it to 3'0" for Cas and me, then 2'9" for Micky and Sam. Corbin cleared it like a champ. All the horses cleared it wonderfully. It's a barn full of potential A circuit horses who have the talent but would rather eat and poop for eternity.
It was over that 3'0" fence that I jumped into a crossroad. Miss J said that Corbin clears 3'0" easily. He's a solid horse. He knows his job, and he will gladly do it so long as I do my job. I honestly think I'd be better off on him this season rather than having to work Baby up to 3'0" for the spring and most of the summer. I wouldn't have as much time to qualify for MAEF, which is something that I really want to do. I also think it'd be better to work Baby up slowly and not have to worry about qualifying for anything on her while I still have another horse that can essentially pack me around and let me gain my confidence back. On the other hand, I feel like I'm taking the easy way out because Corbin isn't as difficult to ride as Baby. Not to mention, he's an hour away, and I don't think I could afford two lessons a week. So it continues to be an either/or situation.
We had slightly more energy today than last week, but we were still lagging (seriously, the ponies were passing us), so Miss J let me use the spur. I wasn't allowed to sit my canter for the most part; it was all about getting him forward and moving with energy. Last week, I was a lot more stiff as well, which made it difficult for me to use my legs and hold him up in the corners, so today he clearly remembered. It's a good thing that we did the circles in every corner otherwise we would have destroyed our corners when we jumped.
Miss J also had us work on double posting. I'd honestly rather not. I'm so used to rising and sitting for the same amount that I couldn't relax into a up two, sit one rhythm, so we went around for a lap or two just trying to figure out what I was supposed to do.
It's still Distance December, so we had ground poles to our warm-up cross rail (which I bombed at the trot and canter). Then we did the oxer to single line that had only a ground pole by the single, but I'm pretty good seeing a distance to an oxer. Asking for the correct distance is a whole other story. The first time was pretty bad because "The Corbinator" (Corbin's alter-ego that suddenly knows what forward motion is as soon as a fence shows up) came out coming off of the oxer, and I did not have nearly enough contact. After the first time, we added two more lines after it. I got a bit tight to the first fence in the second line because our turn wasn't smooth enough. Through the last line, he jumped in great, but we got speedy, and I think we took out a stride, but the last fence wasn't a huge reach, and I picked the take-off spot, so we stayed together.
After that, we all did the brick to flower bending line. The flower was set to 3'6" for Miss Jan and Izzy, then Miss J lowered it to 3'0" for Cas and me, then 2'9" for Micky and Sam. Corbin cleared it like a champ. All the horses cleared it wonderfully. It's a barn full of potential A circuit horses who have the talent but would rather eat and poop for eternity.
It was over that 3'0" fence that I jumped into a crossroad. Miss J said that Corbin clears 3'0" easily. He's a solid horse. He knows his job, and he will gladly do it so long as I do my job. I honestly think I'd be better off on him this season rather than having to work Baby up to 3'0" for the spring and most of the summer. I wouldn't have as much time to qualify for MAEF, which is something that I really want to do. I also think it'd be better to work Baby up slowly and not have to worry about qualifying for anything on her while I still have another horse that can essentially pack me around and let me gain my confidence back. On the other hand, I feel like I'm taking the easy way out because Corbin isn't as difficult to ride as Baby. Not to mention, he's an hour away, and I don't think I could afford two lessons a week. So it continues to be an either/or situation.
Maybe try it out you can always back out if its not your thing. Also if you qualify early you can spend the rest of the summer working with baby exclusively, and then a month or two before the final work with Corbin again. I qualified on a really nice horse for a Medal Final in 08 and then competed on my green horse of course I didn't win but I was still proud.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the suggestion :) I've been thinking about doing every other week at each barn. I'm going to talk to Miss J and Miss Jan about it next week.
Deletedouble posting is pretty much the worst, imo. and i did my first ever show series (small potatoes local stuff, but still a first for me) on a packer and it was great for my confidence. then when i came back with the greenies it was all about the experience, rather than the ribbons, etc. good luck either way!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Miss J has helped me a lot with confidence to jumps. I'm probably not going to try double posting again.
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