Lisa's Blog post # 36

My word for today was “composure”.  Lesley has taught me the correct techniques to ride Cotton successfully and now I need to work on my ability to consistently apply the right technique at the right time in the right way.  That takes poise and confidence on my part.

I was eager to try my hand at cantering a course during my lesson this week but Lesley said I needed to get to the point where I was jumping normal fences again in order to do an entire course – Cotton would just get all revved up cantering over these little things.

She had me do a series of lines where I trotted in and cantered out then trotted to the next line, cantered out and so forth.   It felt great to be cantering at least ½ of my fences again!  The one thing I did wrong, which is what lead me to my “word for the day”, was that I half-halted him too abruptly in between the fences.

I’m learning on Cotton that good riding is the result of finesse and technique and I wanted to work on that today.  We jumped 2’3” and I focused on getting him to the fence well and making a smooth transition afterwards either to a turn or a half-halt or a change of lead. 

The exciting thing is that with my toolbox full of the right techniques I am able to fix things myself now!  Only a couple of months ago, if I had a dicey jump, I would have to wait for a lesson so Lesley could tell me what I did wrong and how to fix it.  Today when he sped up or had an awkward take-off I knew what I had done wrong and was able to correct myself on the next go.

Another very exciting thing is that Cotton hasn’t switch leads on me for a while now!  We are rounding tight turns using the “tunnel” technique and I have learned to ease him through it rather than press him into it.  Even when he gets a little fast and out of balance I am able to remain “composed” and realize that he will settle down again if I just stick with the program.

We will be getting ready for a dressage show September 17^th so my lessons will focus on that while I continue to practice cantering jumps on my own.  From now on I will only work on BN height – it’s time to fish or cut bait!