Finding the right buttons!
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.
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.