Finding the right buttons!
After our successful dressage debut in February we began to concentrate on getting off the floor-JUMPING. Hiring Elms Farm's arena with its new showjumps our first few schooling sessions went much better than expected! I must admit that Guy is one genuine horse and loves his jumping which makes life so much easier. Grove and Rufford Pony Club had a showcross event which I could aim for, many xc schooling venues were not open yet so this meant we could get out to a low level event to get some xc practice and showjump on grass.
OSBERTON- GROVE AND RUFFORD PONY CLUB 15/3/15
A typical chilly March day with rain and wind. Unfortuately showcross doesnt have allocated times ,its a bit of guess work to know when to turn up.tack up and warm up. I managed to walk the course just before the class started, but we were early to warm up and still had another 10 horses to go- note to self to put my number down earlier! This meant walking and doing another short warm up, thank god Guy is fit. Showjumping was a straight forward course with a double with the odd fence up to height (90cm), we popped around in a rusty fashion for one down-straight out on to XC where I rode alot better as usual for a clear. With alot of double clears we werent going to be placed , we had learnt a few lesson and needed to make a plan....
OSBERTON- GROVE AND RUFFORD PONY CLUB 15/3/15
A typical chilly March day with rain and wind. Unfortuately showcross doesnt have allocated times ,its a bit of guess work to know when to turn up.tack up and warm up. I managed to walk the course just before the class started, but we were early to warm up and still had another 10 horses to go- note to self to put my number down earlier! This meant walking and doing another short warm up, thank god Guy is fit. Showjumping was a straight forward course with a double with the odd fence up to height (90cm), we popped around in a rusty fashion for one down-straight out on to XC where I rode alot better as usual for a clear. With alot of double clears we werent going to be placed , we had learnt a few lesson and needed to make a plan....
Finding the right trainer-John Steels lesson.
Its always our showjumping round which lets us down, 99% being my fault. The schooling sessons would go ok but I needed a confidence boost and be told what I was doing wrong/right.About this time last year I had a clear round tuition at Vale View with a chap called John Steels, this is the only time I thought wow I could jump anything and at any height-but it went down hill from then on. We were on the same wave length that Guy needs to go forward and not be held back into a showjump. In hindsight I should have done this a year ago-I booked to have a jumping lesson with him!
It was a like a first day at school i hadnt had a lesson in a longtime and was nervous and apprehensive but John was a very confident giving person and I soon felt at ease and enjoyed the lesson. After doing my normal warm up he advised that Guy need to be 'going somewhere', it looked a pretty picture but wasnt good enough to get me around a course in an easy manner as he didnt have enough length in his stride. For the next 15mins we did some exercises I should be doing in a warm up moving the trot and canter work forward and back (being proactive if he didnt go off my leg)-, lateral work to make sure he moved away from my leg-wow what a different horse already! John wanted to see what we did over an upright and oxer, which was good as Guy did his usual take off form a mile route. A few more jumps inside before we went out to the outdoor arena he got me going forwards and trying to get a deeper stride to the fence with a placing pole.John had got a new showjumps making this course very bright and extremely spooky being 95/100cm. John wanted me to ride the course exactly the same as indoors keeping my leg on and not just sitting there! If I wanted to go for a long stride make it happen and the same way with a deeper stride. Well we went around in a fantastic forwarding going canter finishing with a huge smile on my face-what a confidence boost that was! not one fence down and felt I had power underneath me to do more. I now take this lesson away with me to practise at home.
It was a like a first day at school i hadnt had a lesson in a longtime and was nervous and apprehensive but John was a very confident giving person and I soon felt at ease and enjoyed the lesson. After doing my normal warm up he advised that Guy need to be 'going somewhere', it looked a pretty picture but wasnt good enough to get me around a course in an easy manner as he didnt have enough length in his stride. For the next 15mins we did some exercises I should be doing in a warm up moving the trot and canter work forward and back (being proactive if he didnt go off my leg)-, lateral work to make sure he moved away from my leg-wow what a different horse already! John wanted to see what we did over an upright and oxer, which was good as Guy did his usual take off form a mile route. A few more jumps inside before we went out to the outdoor arena he got me going forwards and trying to get a deeper stride to the fence with a placing pole.John had got a new showjumps making this course very bright and extremely spooky being 95/100cm. John wanted me to ride the course exactly the same as indoors keeping my leg on and not just sitting there! If I wanted to go for a long stride make it happen and the same way with a deeper stride. Well we went around in a fantastic forwarding going canter finishing with a huge smile on my face-what a confidence boost that was! not one fence down and felt I had power underneath me to do more. I now take this lesson away with me to practise at home.
Belvoir Pony Club ODE open 6/4/15 will be our next event and we will be putting everything Ive learnt in to it, Meanwhile we will be doing schooling and hacking at home hoping for some rain to soften the ground up!