Post by racaille on Dec 9, 2015 8:05:02 GMT
I have been lent some jumps so, last lesson, that's what we did. It was great fun and I felt confident and relaxed 
We were working on shorting and lengthening strides between jumps which was useful for P as he's not a natural jumper and doesn't always get his legs in the right place at the right time - and anyway he was a pig over the jumps in the last PTV. He also needs lot of rebalancing between elements as he tends to get flatter and flatter.
It was going very well and P was listening to me and my coach kept putting the jumps up. Towards the end the oxer in the double was getting serious and I looked away as it was going up again, on the basis that if I didn't see it I couldn't stress about it.
So we turned towards it in a good canter and I was looking where I was going, ie not at the jump. Over the first element fine, then I sat up and rebalanced P and he sat up and saw this mammoth oxer and thought: You cannot be serious! All his motivation died at that point. But mine didn't - I still hadn't clocked the size of the jump - and he was pretty much obliged to have a go.
Well, you can imagine the carnage. He was too close and with not enough gas in the tank so he took a sheep leap and came down in the middle of it. I was pinged out of the saddle and landed halfway up his neck, minus both stirrups, while he took off in a wall of death around the short side of my arena. There was a time (very recently) where I might have given up and let go but I'm not that person any more
Luckily he has a good neck and didn't dump me so I was able to sit up, regain my stirrups and slow the stampede. But it was touch and go; I so nearly ate dirt. My coach said the demolition was Paco's fault as he lost his nerve but I do wonder whether I rebalanced him too much, too late.
Then, of course, I had to have another go. This time we both knew what to expect and I stamped on the accelerator while keeping the handbrake on so got maximum torque behind. This time he sailed over it and for a moment we were flying
We were working on shorting and lengthening strides between jumps which was useful for P as he's not a natural jumper and doesn't always get his legs in the right place at the right time - and anyway he was a pig over the jumps in the last PTV. He also needs lot of rebalancing between elements as he tends to get flatter and flatter.It was going very well and P was listening to me and my coach kept putting the jumps up. Towards the end the oxer in the double was getting serious and I looked away as it was going up again, on the basis that if I didn't see it I couldn't stress about it.
So we turned towards it in a good canter and I was looking where I was going, ie not at the jump. Over the first element fine, then I sat up and rebalanced P and he sat up and saw this mammoth oxer and thought: You cannot be serious! All his motivation died at that point. But mine didn't - I still hadn't clocked the size of the jump - and he was pretty much obliged to have a go.
Well, you can imagine the carnage. He was too close and with not enough gas in the tank so he took a sheep leap and came down in the middle of it. I was pinged out of the saddle and landed halfway up his neck, minus both stirrups, while he took off in a wall of death around the short side of my arena. There was a time (very recently) where I might have given up and let go but I'm not that person any more
Luckily he has a good neck and didn't dump me so I was able to sit up, regain my stirrups and slow the stampede. But it was touch and go; I so nearly ate dirt. My coach said the demolition was Paco's fault as he lost his nerve but I do wonder whether I rebalanced him too much, too late. Then, of course, I had to have another go. This time we both knew what to expect and I stamped on the accelerator while keeping the handbrake on so got maximum torque behind. This time he sailed over it and for a moment we were flying
for so much hard work we thank ye!!
