Lisa's Blog post # 52

At least we ended on a good note!

Because last month’s canter sessions over little fences had gone so well I thought we’d be able to pick up where we left off… A few weeks of either not riding at all or riding but not jumping had gone by and Cotton was extra excited when I pointed him at the little fences this past Monday.  He was definitely in “yee-ha” mode!  We didn’t get a whole lot accomplished.

With a day of serious and, I might add, very successful dressage work in between, I was more hopeful that we could get a full course under our belt.  It was time for “Jump a Course Month” and I was ready! 

Not so fast.  He was still just as hyper - leaping and bucking and rushing off after the jumps just like last time.  We stopped jumping to do some more canter work but that didn’t help.  I was determined to accomplish something even though we had been at it for almost an hour already! 

I ended up halting him in front of a jump, having him stand there until he let out a bored sigh – something Lesley had me do with him one time before.  Then, because he was still anxious on our next approach I veered off into a circle last minute, both directions.  When he finally relaxed and didn’t rush toward the rails I let him take it.  He was calm on the get away and stopped easily so I figured that was a great time to reward him and head in for a shower.

One good jump out of  2 full days of work!  Not a good way to start “Jump a Course Month”.

But I did learn two very important things:

1 – I can’t skip on the canter warm-up with Cotton.  Even though he was cantering nicely for the flat, the canter I need for jumping him is different.  I need to do lots of canter walk transitions before starting our jumping so I have him well in hand and back on his haunches.  I need to be able to half-halt him easily from my seat so I’m not tempted to pull on him even just a little.

2 – Even though we did a few combined jumps last month, I can tell he is surprised when we put two jumps together.  My entire jumping history with him has been going back and forth over single jumps – with only doing a few lines here and there.  When I have pointed him towards a second fence he is uncertain about my intentions to jump it.  Sometimes I have to cluck and bump his head up just to get him to look at it.  He needs to know we are “on course” now and be ready for the next one!  I think I’ll start off by jumping courses at the trot so he gets used to connecting fences together.  When things are going well I will allow him to stay in the canter to the next fence but when he is rushing or not steering well I can take him back to trot so we can have a successful course.

We still have a long ways to go so for now I have entered a dressage schooling show this weekend!  Training Level tests 1 and 2.  I’ll let you know how we do!