Butt Kicking

Jetta and I got our butts kicked in a lesson with KO today. It was a good lesson, but geez it was hard! I'm so out of shape for doing jumping.

As soon as I got on Jetta I knew it was going to be an interesting ride... She was pulling on me and then spooking at all the jumps. Oh joy. I rode her last night just to make sure she was sound and she was awesome. No theatrics whatsoever. We worked on our brakes and leg yields, two things I knew we'd have to have for our lesson. She was so good.

I got to use our new leg wraps I got for my b-day for the first time and I love them! So much better than using shipping wraps or doing standing wraps. Love them.

Looking legit in our trailering gear. Now all we need is a turquoise web halter for trailering!

Fancy new Premier Equine quick wraps

Anyways, we worked on the flat at first and Jetta got complimented on her trot and that she looked good :) I however, got constantly told to sit up, shoulders back! I swear, someday that advice is going to stick, I promise... I think I need to record KO yelling at me then play it on my ipod while I ride at home. That would be kind of amusing.

We moved onto the jumps and the first jump was doing a figure 8 over a tiny vertical with two ground poles in front. The poles were placed close together so the horses really had to shorten their stride to get both strides in. Jetta however on our first time through took a flying leap after the first ground pole. Over achiever. It was a tough exercise for us because Jetta has such a huge stride so packaging her up that tight took some doing. We got it eventually. Then we put together a mini-course. The same vertical with the two ground poles, 6 to 7 strides straight ahead to a small oxer with flowers. Jetta jumped this one nicely (she always jumps oxers nicely). Then right turn after the oxer and make a left handed loop around to jump some barrels (easy) then continue to the left to jump a 1/4 round. Hah. We've never jumped a roll top and even with a strong leg on Jetta refused. Second time around HUGE leap over it like it was 3'6" even though it was probably barely 2'3". We did the barrel to roll top several times until we nailed it.

The next course was even more fun. The two ground pole jump taken twice off of each rein, then straight ahead to the oxer, loop around to the left to come through a three-bounce and one one-stride gymnastic. We really haven't done many gymnastics so that was kind of interesting. Come around to the other side of the arena and do two verticals, three strides apart, then four strides to the roll top. Hah. Not that scary but for some reason Jetta refused super close to the first jump then jumped back and I almost came off, luckily just landing on her neck. Sigh. Take two - super strong leg and more forgiving hand and we launched our way through it. Not very pretty. Take three, still a little overenthusiastic but she went for the roll top, landed straight without scooting away after the jump and came back to a nice trot. Finally. I was about ready to die.

Looking snazzy! Tired pony.

Take away from the lesson - get Jetta's canter more collected, leg on. Just because I'm trying to get her collected doesn't mean I can't release over the jumps (duh). Sit up, sit up, sit up! Land straight, sit up and make a balanced and collected turn, even if you end up counter cantering. Look towards your next jump! All in all, a good lesson and now I have some motivation to continue jumping. We're never going to move up if I never jump! Jumping lesson on Wednesday with JB so we'll see how that works out...