We were supposed to get a snowstorm yesterday, but for whatever reason, I guess it decided to bounce over us. I skipped my last class anyway because it kept threatening freezing rain. I decided to run out to the barn in the afternoon to lunge Walker in anticipation of him being a crazy man in the lesson. After all, the last time I officially rode him was Friday, even though I did free lunge him on Sunday.
Walker was in a pretty bad mood for that. He actually turned on the lunge line so that his butt was facing me as though he were going to kick out at me! Ummm. Excuse me. In what universe did you think that was ok! He's never done anything like that before, but he only did it once! I made him regret it immediately.
When I came back for my lesson, it ended up being just two of us. Walker wasn't hyper at all and frankly didn't need to be lunged. The warm temperatures seemed to make him lazy and he made me work for every step. Every so often, he'd get a little burst of energy and try to canter and then think better of it and slow to a walk. In the lesson we worked on turns on the haunches and turns on the forehand (kind of).
We weren't going to jump because snow was coming off the roof, but Walker isn't very spooky and the temperatures were dropping and solving that problem. Walker was much straighter in his jumping today but my position still has a lot to be desired. Either I am bending too far forward (and my legs are going back), or I'm taking my leg off when I should be applying it. Walker is also rushing the jumps a little bit. He's still trying to get his balance, and for whatever reason, he didn't want to trot the jump, only canter it. I think this is my fault because I let him canter the jumps when I practice on my own time, but my instructor is afraid that it will become a bad habit, so I'm going to have to work on keeping his pace consistent to the jump. I find it difficult because he'll have a nice speed and then we round the corner and he slows down so I apply leg and he sees the jump and doesn't go back up to a nice trot, he just bursts into a canter and by then it's too late to try and stop him. I appreciate his enthusiasm. I just don't want him to start rushing fences early on. I'm going to have to lay down the law!
Maybe he's cantering as it's easier for him since that gait has a big moment of full suspension already?
ReplyDeleteTry some trot poles leading up to the cross rail. :)
Ditto Julie's suggestion. Trotting and cantering single poles might help too? Just to get him calmly going over an object.
ReplyDeleteYeah. A couple of weeks ago, my instructor put down a set of trot poles immediately before the jump. He cantered them. :) but I do think that poles are the key. It's not a serious problem yet, but I can understand where it would be
ReplyDeleteWe had to teach one of our Open Hunter/Jumper horses how to do trot poles before an equitation class one time, haha. Just do work with trot poles without the jump so he figures out what they're all about. Easier on you!
DeleteWell, you see, we have no problems with poles. My instructor is like the queen of poles. We never have a lesson without them, and he trots them just fine. It's just the jump that he rushes.
DeleteI think it's partly because he doesn't have the balance and partly my fault. I was so eager to learn to canter the jumps that now I think that he thinks it's what I want. Oops. When he gets tired, he goes back to trotting (and he gets tired of jumping pretty fast!).