Jumping Biggish Jumps

What do you do when you haven't ridden in three weeks, have barely jumped over 18" in a year and a half, and are known to be afraid of rolltops?

My leg is actually in the right place, I swear

Jump rolltops, of course.

Coach let us jump the rolltop in our lesson last Friday. The ring was flooded by most of the jumps . . . except this one. It's not that big, just around 2'0", but it's big for me. We also had another fence on blocks that was also 2'0". Our attempts weren't nearly as graceful.

Chipped in, and my leg decided it was done with me

Carlos was shockingly complacent for a green bean. He walked and trot quite fine, and I was able to work on a frame. The canter wasn't bad, but it required some micro managing and compromises in my position to keep him together. He got antsy when I picked up the reins to gather him, but after a few times of picking up, dropping, picking up, doing something, keeping contact, doing nothing, yadda yadda, he settled just fine, and we had calm transitions coming to each fence. I might have to blame it on this sick saddle pad.

L I T

In addition to not riding for a while, I'd decided to go for a run on Tuesday for the first time in a while. I was sore, no doubt, but I had some muscle reset and was able to open my knees more easily. Personally, I want to work on my two point more. I used to be able to hold it for laps and laps at a time. I want that back.

I guess another question is why haven't I ridden for three weeks? Well, first of all, I finally actually joined that frat. I am officially a brother of Alpha Rho Chi fraternity. Sounds crazy to say, especially since I was getting a bit unsure towards the end of pledging about whether or not I was the caliber student that the organization was looking for. Turns out, I am.

M O R E    L I T