Second First Jump Lesson

I'm a little slow at writing this post but it just seems like the last couple of days ran away with me.

On Wednesday, I had my second first jump lesson.  Although Sunday was my first jump lesson ever, I consider Wednesday night my first real jump lesson, especially since on Sunday I had simply dropped in on a jump lesson designed for people who already jump.  When I led Walker down the hall in my English gear, my instructor (who has a h/j and dressage background) pretty much lit up, and when I told her that I wanted to jump, she was pretty excited.  Our lesson even ended up running late because she had so many plans for me!  I even convinced H to jump in the lesson, although she was nervous.  I don't know why she was nervous though because she has jumped before.  Apparently it was a few years ago on a horse who was an old jumping pro, as opposed to the horse she rides now (Ash) who has a Western background like Walker.  Ash was actually pretty good at it.  Despite his training, he's pretty forward and has a lot of suspension.  In fact,  he's so bouncy that my trainer rarely lets the younger kids ride him because she's afraid that they're simply going to fly off when he starts trotting.  Anyway, my instructor asked us to trot into the crossrail, but Ash was so excited that he cantered in each time.  Once H got going, she felt much better.

As for Walker, he did pretty good too.  Although at one point, my instructor said, "If he goes any slower, he's going to take the whole jump down with him!"  Yeah, I know.  I'm working on it.  The crossrail she set up was in fact much smaller than the crossrails we did on Sunday and which I play around with on my own.  It felt much better though because my instructor actually took the time to make sure I was going into the jump in the correct position, as opposed to Sunday when my trainer pretty much just pointed me to three jumps and said "try it".  I'd say my two biggest issues were trying to keep my shoulders back (same story, different day) and not leaning forward too far.  According to my instructor, that is a tall person problem (she is like 5 feet tall and I am not!).  I'm pretty excited that I'm finally getting some instruction in jumping and that I've convinced H and potentially the other girl in my lesson to start jumping too.  My instructor is also clearly excited that we are doing something she's actually interested in, and she seems to have big plans for me.  She kept talking about the summer and doing a crossrail class in the shows.  Obviously she forgot that I'm switching barns when I move. :S  I'm hoping that I will be able to trailer back for some of the shows though because I'd really like to try some crossrail classes, especially if my instructor thinks she can get us to that level.

It was actually a great end to an otherwise horrible day, whose highlights included getting an eviction notice from my landlord and reading some pretty nasty emails exchanged between my barn owner and M which brought me up in the content.  :S  Luckily, the eviction notice was simply a misunderstanding about the rent that I have since resolved, but the emails were not so fun.  I was talking back and forth with M about going to visit her and Lark at her new barn this weekend, and she told me that my barn owner had sent her some angry emails.  She forwarded me the emails and I was less than impressed that she had drug me into the conversation (along with other people at the barn) to try to justify some of her actions and explain away M's complaints.  M went out on a limb for me and asked the new barn owner if I could have one of the empty stalls at her new barn, but unfortunately I can't afford the extra rent and my current barn owner is my connection with my new barn in the city I'm moving to.  Unfortunately, I don't entirely trust her not to screw me out of there, especially since he only took me because she recommended me.  As I've said before, I don't have nearly as many issues with my barn owner that M had, but I was pretty upset after reading the emails.  At the time, I seriously considered taking M up on her offer to go with her.  My instructor's great lesson really calmed me down and reminded me that I'm sure I can put in a few more months and avoid the drama.

My instructor also made me feel really good because she told me that I was doing a great job with Walker.  She said that he wasn't easy, and most people who had him as a first horse would have given up on him long ago.  I felt pretty good after that!

One of my errands today: annual vet checkup for the other man in my life

Thursday I was only out at the barn for a short period of time, but I switched Walker's bit from the kimberwick to a regular D-ring with a jointed mouthpiece.  That was the disaster bit that I used on him in the summer for maybe two days before I realized that it was, well, a disaster.  I really hoped that it would be better in the indoor arena with literally nowhere for him to run, but I'm not so sure.  He was definitely more forward, which my instructor will love, but it was infinitely harder to get his head into a frame and keep it there.  I only switched bits because my instructor thought it would be a better option to learn to jump in, but I might have to shop around for something else.  D's horse is a lot like Walker in training and she uses a French link instead of the one I'm using now because she said that she had the same problem.  I may give that a try and see if I can get the best of both worlds - forward but packaged.

Unfortunately, I had so many errands to do today that I never made it to the barn, but I'm going out tomorrow.  I'm also going to visit Lark's new home tomorrow so I'll be interested to see what this place is like.  From M's emails, it sounds like a nice place.