Post by pboy on Nov 28, 2015 13:39:21 GMT
I had a jumping lesson this morning despite the cold wind...brrrr! My phone decided it didn't like the cold so I didn't get any pics or vids.
I really like my instructor's approach, she focuses on letting the horse learn rather than on micro-managing. We used a great little exercise that she uses to introduce young horses to fillers, and as Indio isn't at all spooky about them we moved on to jumping skinnies
The aim of the exercise is to teach the horse that no matter what happens visually to the jump, they need to keep coming with even rhythm and even strides.
We started with five canter poles on quite short distances. We're working on improving his 'sit' in canter hence keeping the distances short and bouncy. She then turned the last pole into an upright and added the fillers, first on the edge then in the middle, then turned the first pole into an upright so it was upright - three canter strides over poles - upright with fillers. RI told me to keep the approach and my riding the same every time even if he makes a mistake, then just come back round (on the same rein instead of alternating) if he made a mistake. Each time he did make a mistake (e.g. lost balance, knocked a pole) he corrected himself on the second attempt, which is what she wanted to see. Had he continued to make the same mistake she said we would have changed something, but in general it's very important to be consistent so the horse understand's what we want and what to expect from us. Especially with a horse like Indio who tries so hard to do what we want!
We then upped the difficulty as he was going so well! She removed one of the fillers and put the other in the middle, under a pole with plastic blocks on either side to 'channel' him in. As expected, no problem
Then she removed the blocks and the pole gradually so it was just the narrow filler with wings. Then she did the same with the first upright so we were doing two skinnies with three strides in between. Indio had a little wobble coming into the first but he jumped them both cleanly so we left it there. It was a very technical question for such a green jumper so I was delighted!
His canter is also feeling fantastic. He is so much more balanced and together. We can do a good walk-canter on the right rein now (usually our worse canter leg!) but he hasn't quite got it on the left yet. Hopefully we can move on to Novice dressage soon, and maybe a jumping show or two!!
I really like my instructor's approach, she focuses on letting the horse learn rather than on micro-managing. We used a great little exercise that she uses to introduce young horses to fillers, and as Indio isn't at all spooky about them we moved on to jumping skinnies
The aim of the exercise is to teach the horse that no matter what happens visually to the jump, they need to keep coming with even rhythm and even strides.We started with five canter poles on quite short distances. We're working on improving his 'sit' in canter hence keeping the distances short and bouncy. She then turned the last pole into an upright and added the fillers, first on the edge then in the middle, then turned the first pole into an upright so it was upright - three canter strides over poles - upright with fillers. RI told me to keep the approach and my riding the same every time even if he makes a mistake, then just come back round (on the same rein instead of alternating) if he made a mistake. Each time he did make a mistake (e.g. lost balance, knocked a pole) he corrected himself on the second attempt, which is what she wanted to see. Had he continued to make the same mistake she said we would have changed something, but in general it's very important to be consistent so the horse understand's what we want and what to expect from us. Especially with a horse like Indio who tries so hard to do what we want!
We then upped the difficulty as he was going so well! She removed one of the fillers and put the other in the middle, under a pole with plastic blocks on either side to 'channel' him in. As expected, no problem
Then she removed the blocks and the pole gradually so it was just the narrow filler with wings. Then she did the same with the first upright so we were doing two skinnies with three strides in between. Indio had a little wobble coming into the first but he jumped them both cleanly so we left it there. It was a very technical question for such a green jumper so I was delighted!His canter is also feeling fantastic. He is so much more balanced and together. We can do a good walk-canter on the right rein now (usually our worse canter leg!) but he hasn't quite got it on the left yet. Hopefully we can move on to Novice dressage soon, and maybe a jumping show or two!!
for so much hard work we thank ye!!
