The Old Man Still Has Some Springs :)

Well, as a bit of a break from the ongoing battle of Hannah vs. Surf over stadium jumps, it was old man Huey's turn for a jumping lesson. I've been trying to limit the pounding I put on his legs, as I'd like him to last through several more seasons...so I only jump him in lessons (probably once every 2 weeks or so). I figure that this horse knows how to jump, knows his job, and the part of the equation that needs work is ME...and we can work on me with Surf, since both of us need frequent practice on our issues, that are quite specific to us as a partnership. Huey, really, is not a complicated ride over fences once he decides that he's willing to work with you...apparently if he doesn't like you, forget it. You can't do anything with him (I've heard some horror stories about past lessors...). However, once he's on-board with the partnership, and you figure out his little quirks (developing a tick more canter than you think you need, as he's got more heart than scope, floating him a bit of rein in the approach to give him the freedom to really use his head, again due to the more heart than scope issue, etc.), he's amazing over fences...and a total blast to ride :)

Since Huey is really game for jumping anything, anytime, anywhere, we were the guinea pigs for a new set of exercises...

When Julia says you're the guinea pig, you're always in for a surprise. The jumps set up didn't look like much at first - a simple gymnastic in the middle, and 4 fences around the outside. First we played around over single fences, just getting warmed up and working on Huey not getting super excited that we're jumping again...and working on controlling him from my seat/leg rather than my hands. To help with this, I've been jumping him on the snaffle ring of his bit (he goes in a 3-ring elevator/bubble bit/whatever you call it for jumping...and the leverage action on the lower rings is great for xc!). Next we started to focus on the fact that the 4 outside fences were all set at angles...which has the effect of surprising the horse...and thus setting them up for an added stride if you're not clear with your line and your aids. We worked on having a straight approach to an angled fence...so that your line is straight, but you jump the fence on an angle, since it's at an angle to your line. First we jumped the angled fences individually...taking this time to work on the scary nature of the fences, since there was an oxer over a liverpool, an oxer with boxes underneath, a set of flower boxes, and the scary rainbow jump. Then we worked on jumping pairs of angled fences - first on a bending line riding each fence perpendicularly - so that A to B rode in 5 and C to D rode in 6. Next we worked on making the fences line up with a straight line from center to center...which means you jump the fences on an angle so A to B becomes a 4 and C to D becomes a 5. Huey much preferres to shorten his stride and always add, so it was a challenge to push him into a more open stride. J and I have been working on getting me to the point where I can ask huey for the bigger step at home, but also teaching me to be quiet and let him add if he needs to add when we're at shows to put together a smoother, more comfortable ride. This exercise was good for my eye...as my eye is a big problem. I have a hard time letting go of the hunter mentality to pick a spot, and I have a tendency to look down through turns or at fences I'm worried about, thus causing all the horse's energy to fall out from under me. We worked on the concept of, when you turn onto a line where the fences are not set perfectly straight to each other, finding your line where the standards of the fences line up...then putting your eye back down on each individual obstacle in turn, and riding in the "jimmy style" where you look at each fence until it dissappears between their ears, then look for the next individual fence. The weird thing about this is that you can see the entire line when you line up the standards, but the "line" dissappears when you look back at each individual fence...which makes you set up your line early and commit to trusting the line even when you can't see it anymore...and really riding on feel and riding the good canter that you've hopefully established. It's a strange sensation...try it and you'll see. It's very hard to trust the line when you can't see it anymore...especially for someone like me who likes to micromanage :P

After playing with the angled fences, it was on to the next exercise...which I initially thought was a rather dull x - 1stride -1stride gymnastic. Boy was I wrong! We rode through the gymnastic normally first...then the fun began. Let's see if I can explain. Those little Orange dots in the diagram are cones. 1st, you started at the cone near D, trotting to the left, going between 3 and D and trotting over fence 1 (the x)...which means you had to go between 2 and 1 to get to 1, which is only an average 1-stride amount of space. Then we landed with a R lead canter, went around the cone near C (going between 1 and C) to canter fence 3, the oxer. Then we landed cantering left, around the cone to jump over fence 2, going between fences 1 and A on landing. Talk about having to be good with your eye. We worked on treating the space you had to go between fences as a jump, focusing there as well as on the jumps. Then we went back to the D cone and reversed the exercise - going R, trot the X, left lead canter back over 3, right lead canter over 2. Of course J had to make it harder after that :P Starting at the D cone, you jumped fence 1, R lead canter over 2 landing between 3 and B, left lead canter over 3 landing between A and 1. Of course, we reversed that exercise too. Again, working on sharpening my eye...treating each fence individually, but looking for the line on landing, treating the space between fences like 3 and B or 1 and A through which we had to pass as a separate obstacle.

What a Workout! This afternoon is a flat lesson with Surfie...and tomorrow Surfie jumps with his buddy Paris, but we'll probably have a new set of torture exercises set up by then!