We might be getting good...

At jumping! Yes, it's true. Jetta has been super good the past few days. On Sunday after the Steffan Peters clinic I went to ride. Even though I was super tired (that whole time change thing was not really working for me) I really wanted to ride because I was feeling "inspired". Of course I rather would have ridden dressage, but since I had a lesson on Monday, I wanted to pop over a jump a few times to make sure Jetta was going to behave herself. Of course it was hard jumping when there's two other girls riding around, and not in a discernible pattern, lol. But I got to jump her several times both ways at the trot and at the canter and she was perfect! Didn't rush, didn't refuse. She came back to me so easily too, a lot of the time she rushes off after the jump, but I was able to bring her back to the trot or a collected canter with no issues. Yay! This seemed to bode well for our lesson the next day...

The next day was of course rushed. I had class until 2:30 and we needed to leave at 3:30 to get to the lesson at 5pm. ML was coming with me, which I was very grateful for. It's twice as much fun with a buddy! I got to the barn, unattached the truck and got gas. The gas station of course was very busy so it took forever. Then came back and hooked it up to CL's trailer. (ML is half-leasing CL's horse Tanq). We had to use CL's fancy trailer because Tanq is so big and the trailer is extra tall. I ♥ her trailer so much! I may just take it for a "lesson" and not come back :)

Anyways, finally got everything loaded and horses groomed. Buuuuut, Tanq had a farrier appointment at 3:15. Sigh. Of course. And the farrier was just a few minutes late. But the good news was that we got out of there at 3:45, so we weren't too late. We were just about on time for our lesson, it's a good thing Karen isn't a super stickler for being on time. We tacked up in lightening speed and warmed up.

We had a good lesson! Here's what we did:

The first exercise was just to pop over the four jumps in the circle. Started with the two ones on the rail, then added in all four. Of course the first time through Jetta had to be a brat and refuse one. So we trotted the circle several times. Way to make me feel good Jetta, while everyone else gets to canter and work on their striding. The second time through though in the opposite direction, Jetta got it together and it was rather nice, if I do say so myself. But we just worked on getting her over the fences with her head up, not diving down.

Then came the really fun part. Jump the whole course. You started out jumping the circle, then went from the vertical on the wall, bendy line to the oxer, then on the diagonal line to the vertical, half circle to the other vertical, diagonal to the oxer and then finished with the bendy line to the vertical on the wall that was part of the jump circle. Jetta did very well on this, and she even got the proper 5-6 striding on all the jumps, though the focus was still on the whole going over the jump thing. Can I just say that it was so nice to actually get to jump a course? It was so nice!

I was very proud of my girl and happy with the progress we've made since the last lesson where she was a complete, utter brat. I hope this positive trend will continue!