The Vicious Cycle of Jumping

I jumped Jetta today. It was ok. I set up jumps on a two-stride, they were about 18" tall. We had a few runouts, but after two or three times I got Jetta to go straight through. Going to the right was all good. Then we changed direction and now Jetta decided that she needed to rush. So I made her stop before and after the jump, then made her trot slowly over the first one, stop in between, then back up and trot the second fence. That helped a little bit, but she was still wanting to rush.

It was kind of a vicious cycle: She's rush, so she'd have to take off early, so I would catch her in the mouth. Then the next time around, she'd anticipate that I'd catch her in the mouth and launch early, then I would catch her in the mouth. Frustrating! I took down the first jump (it was only the second jump that she'd rush) and made her slowly trot up to the second jump and then give her a ton of rein. She did good trotting, but as soon as I asked her to canter she'd rush (though this time I made sure to give her her head). So I made both jumps into just ground poles and we did them over and over until she decided to not rush in the canter.

We had a very tired pony today but it was important to me that we ended the lesson on a good note. So guess what we're going to do tomorrow? Canter poles! Fun...

And here is further proof that Jetta is probably in heat:

Bad cell pic, but you can see Dudley in the red circle. Bad pony!

 She keeps scooching her butt over to Dudley the Flirt and he was licking her butt and playing with her blankie. Naughty ponies.