jumping

When Everything Clicks

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Last weekend my riding club ran a fun jumping event and I decided to have a go.  Galahad had never jumped a course indoors before but he has been in several indoor schools so I was not anticipating any trouble.  It was rather chilly and drizzling so we spent a lot of time walking up and down outside still wearing a rug.  A first for Galahad but one he took in his stride.

Our first class was 40-45cm – nice and simple to start.  Apart from a bit of hesitation at the bogey fence by the gate (a lot of horses stopped there) we had a lovely round, although as usual it wasn’t particularly flowing – there was a lot of trotting round the corners.

Luckily the hesitation wasn’t counted as a refusal and we got through to the jump off – our first!  After the first fence the whole jump off course was on the left rein which made it easier to keep the canter and as he had been so good I felt a lot more confident about pushing him a bit more.  Of course we weren’t competitive speed-wise but suddenly it felt like we were jumping a proper course instead of several separate jumps strung together.  It was a fantastic feeling.

Next was a pairs class at the same height but all against the clock.  I now felt a bit of team responsibility so pushed for a bit more speed and Galahad was amazing.  We jumped a lovely clear round which was only slightly spoiled by him shying away from the box at the end and delaying my pair’s start.  It was only when I was back in the box watching his round that I remembered I could have cut some corners but that was just my being over-cautious.  We actually managed to come fourth in the pairs class which I was not expecting.  Another first – a rosette for jumping!

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Lastly we had a speed class, this time at 60-65cm.  We had another really good round with only a few strides of trot for lead changes but sadly one pole down.  We weren’t fast enough to be competitive but Galahad was amazing, clearing the jumps with plenty of room.  We even managed to cut one corner!  I was so proud of him.

I had such a great day and it finally felt like we had really got the hang of riding a course.  It helped that the fences were nice, plain poles with no scary fillers but it seems like a big step forward for us – Galahad is growing up!

Back to School

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When I got on my half clipped pony for our lesson on Friday I was ready for anything.  He had never been clipped before and my sister has vivid memories of a freshly clipped pony throwing her off. In the event I needn’t have worried.  Galahad had a bit more energy  (a good thing) but that was all.  I could feel myself tensing ready for an explosion though which is definitely something I need to try to avoid.  The lesson went really well.  Galahad is perhaps a little stiffer than he was in the summer but that is only to be expected – we haven’t been able to school in months.  He is also still using his right shoulder as an escape route so I haven’t improved much there.  Hopefully as the ground dries out I will get the hang of stopping him.

We also jumped for the first time since before Christmas and I was thrilled with the way he went.  He had a good look at the water tray before he jumped it but he didn’t stop.  In fact,the only stop we had was at the scary fillers in the second part of the double.  Galahad was not at all keen on those but once we got over them once we had no trouble at all.

It was a really good session and clearly demonstrated that the clip was worthwhile.  Galahad had been working hard for an hour and wasn’t sweating at all.

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The next day I again took advantage of the limited time we had access to the school. Galahad was fully clipped by then but still behaving impeccably.  No jumping this time but still a good session and I think we were showing some improvement, even if it was erratic.  My sister was schooling her pony at the same time so we would switch between working in a fairly nice outline to working very hard at escaping through the shoulder towards them.  In general though it was very encouraging work.

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Exciting New Additions

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I recently had a birthday and one of the most exciting things I received was this.

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I have to admit I had no idea what it was when I unwrapped it and it took me a while to work it out but when I finally did I was thrilled!  I then had to go outside to find these in the field.

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Aren’t they wonderful?  The tallest is five foot and whilst we obviously won’t be jumping that high it turns out it is pretty good for practising low branches for trec.

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Just not when I am on board.

It will be lovely to have some proper jumps to use now.  I can’t wait for the ground to dry out so we can give them a go.  Galahad should like them too as he does love to jump.  Although, the first time he caught sight of them I was riding him and he was taken by surprise.  Cue a massive spook and a mad dash toward home.  He still likes to keep me on my toes!

Working Hard

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Way back before Christmas when the ponies were away I managed to squeeze in another lesson.  Actually two more – I split my lesson in two and did half on each pony.

This time it was daylight so Galahad was concentrating a bit more and worked really well.  We still have issues with him escaping through his right shoulder but I think it is improving.  My riding and ability to deal with any wobbliness is certainly getting better!  My instructor made the interesting point that Galahad’s trot work is so much freer and looks a lot nicer after he has done some cantering.  Even if it is just halfway round the ring it really makes a difference.   I would have liked to take advantage of this and have a bit of a canter before my walk-trot dressage test but the waterlogged warm up ring made it impossible.  Still, it is good to know for the future.

We also had a jump over what was quite a twisty course my instructor had built.  She was impressed with how Galahad had improved since the summer.  He is now much better able to hold the canter round corners between jumps and the whole course was much more fluid than before.  The jumps were slightly bigger too – this was more of a 2’3″ – 2’6″ course and in the summer we were jumping 2′ – 2’3″.  We even had a pretty decent spread as the last fence – which we probably jumped better than anything else!

in fact, our only trouble was caused by me.  I know that if I look down he is more likely to run out but it can be quite hard for me to act on that.  Something to work on.

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The shorter lesson actually worked out pretty well as Galahad was starting to get tired.  A clip will definitely be in order once I can start working him a bit more consistently.

Working Hard

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This week I had a long overdue riding lesson.

Eleanor and Magic

I like to have a lesson on a different horse every so often so that I’m not only able to ride one horse.  I grew up riding a huge number of different horses and ponies and it really stood me in good stead.  At inter-university riding competitions we had to ride horses we had never met before and I felt I had been well prepared for that!

It has been a few months since I had a lesson and even longer since I rode a different horse.  It is always a bit of a strange feeling riding an actual horse – their strides are so much longer than Galahad’s!  Even horses I thought of as quick striding now feel incredibly smooth.  The horse I rode this week is much more forward going than Galahad and likes to test new riders to see what they can do.  Once we got to know each other though we got on pretty well.  We popped over a few jumps at the end of the lesson which my instructor set very low to start with as I hadn’t ridden the horse before but she jumped about three feet high anyway.  I always have such a great time when I have a lesson and I really must make sure I don’t let it go so long before my next one.

Galahad has had a week of hacking only as our field is definitely too wet for schooling at the moment.  However, he did have some excitement on Friday as he dressed up to support Children in Need.

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He was surprisingly okay with it but not too pleased about being made to wait for his dinner!

Making the most of my time

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Since I had a day’s holiday to use up I tacked it onto my weekend off and so managed to ride three days in a row which is a luxury now.  Monday was a glorious day – so warm that I found myself riding in a t-shirt again.

Galahad was feeling the heat rather as well and needed a wash down when we had finished schooling.  We worked hard on our flatwork and then had a play with the jumps so Galahad was happy.  Recently he has started to get a bit overexcited when I turn him towards a fence and it is particularly noticeable if we haven’t jumped for a while so I am trying to do some little and often to keep it less exciting.

He did feel a bit strong on Monday but having watched the video I think a lot of it was in my head as it was what I was expecting.  I was very pleased with both the jumping and the flatwork although I have realised that our right flexion can be rather dodgy and needs quite a bit of work.  Does anyone have any tips for good exercises?

I also took my sister’s pony out on a hack he hadn’t done before.  Cookster can be a bit nappy when he’s out by himself but he only tried to go home once and that was when I had turned back to let a car pass so it wasn’t entirely his fault.

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We had a lovely ride and it was nice for him to be taken somewhere different – I think he can get bored pretty easily.  We also met my sister on her way home from work and walked down with her which was fun.  Cookster liked having someone to follow too!

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Autumnal Riding

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We have been  having some glorious weather over the past few day.  There is still an autumnal chill in the air but it has been beautifully sunny.  The crisp air is gorgeous to ride in and everything seems so peaceful.

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We have managed to enjoy several hacks and have reacquainted ourselves with the sheep who have moved back in to the field up the lane.  They appear to be fascinated by us!

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We had a shorter hack the other day and had a play over the jumps when we got back.  This time I took care to do some circling and transitions first just to make sure Galahad was listening to me and the jumping was in a much better rhythm as a result.  He was also jumping the new tyre jump without a second thought so I will be filling in the gap a bit next time.  I am going to need more tyres soon!

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Galloping Galahad!

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It was finally dry enough for me to be able to get some schooling in over the weekend.  Galahad can still take a while to start listening properly but once he is listening he does try hard.  We even did a little jumping which excited him very much.  It is definitely his favourite thing to do.  I would love to take him cross country jumping so now he is happy jumping tyres laid flat I have started introducing upright ones as well.20150830_160415

We are just jumping the pole in the middle at the moment.  It took him by surprise the first time he saw it and he slid to a stop but after that he popped over it happily.  I will fill in the gap soon so we are actually jumping the tyres themselves.

I also schooled my sister’s pony on Saturday.  He is completely different to ride and is a pony of extremes.  It is either a struggle to get him moving forward or he is nice and forward but with dodgy brakes and steering. Saturday was a dodgy brakes day!  We still had quite a good session though and jumped a few jumps.  He is really good for my riding as he forces me to use my legs not my hands and I always feel I have learnt something when I finish riding him.

Yesterday Galahad and I rode out with my sister and we braved the hay bales in the field up the hill.  They are apparently safe enough to ride past now, although they still have to be closely watched.  We had a couple of proper gallops again but this time Galahad went where I was intending and stopped when I wanted.  He is clearly a lot fitter than he was a few months ago as he can now canter the whole way up hills where he couldn’t before.  It is something that seems to have happened all of a sudden without me noticing!  It’s rather gratifying – we must be doing something right!

Jumping and Being Eaten Alive!

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On Wednesday we jumped for the first time in ages.  We started very small as Galahad can get rather over excited and we hadn’t played with the tyres before.

DSCN3267He stayed nice and calm though and considering our lack of practise he did very well.

DSCN3283The only issue we had was when I stupidly said I would try one more jump and he ran out.  A few times.  We had to lower the fence and start again.  I think (hope) he was just reacting to my sister being straight ahead over the jump.  I do need to get him more used to people being around – I am hoping to take him to his first proper show next month.

We had a nice gentle hack this evening which was lovely except for the FLIES which were awful.  We picked them up at the top of the hill and they followed us all the way back down.  Galahad can react badly to fly bites – not in a sweet itch way but he normally has one bite a year which stays raw for a couple of weeks.  I think it causes me more distress than him though!  So far this year Deosect has kept the flies at bay but if anyone has any tips I would welcome them!

This is our current solution. I'm not sure that it made any difference but it made me feel better.

This is our current solution. I’m not sure that it made any difference but it made me feel better.

Galahad also spends the summer in a fly mask as the flies in his ears can be terrible.  He is sometimes a real Houdini with it though.  He goes for days with no trouble and then it disappears, usually turning up neatly hung on a tree.  Last time it took me two days to find it and then it was here.

DSCN3070Something tells me he didn’t want it found!