My Fault

I jumped Jetta again today over some bigger jumps and it went ok. Most of the problems we're experiencing right now are my fault. For some reason I lack the ability to do three things at once:

• Sit up (chest open, sitting back so that Jetta can lift her forehand and not jumping ahead)
• Give a good release (not catching her in the mouth, especially on landing)
• Keep my leg on (both to keep Jetta from stopping and to keep my leg from slipping back)

I can do one at a time, maybe two if I'm lucky, but doing all three at the same time remains elusive...

Started off jumping a 2'3" vertical and asking her to land on different leads. Took a couple tries but eventually she got it and was very good about landing on the lead I asked for. Hey, if we can't do flying changes, maybe we won't need to if we always land on the correct lead!

I put the tarp over the barrels to make it more of a challenge and after giving it a hard look and spooking herself when she nosed it, she jumped that without a problem. I also set up a 2'9" vertical which she was okay about. It was closer to one end of the arena on the long side so I guess all that wide open space to her meant gallop!

Then I set up an oxer that was just a hair over 3 foot. The first time we approached she almost stopped and we had an awkward deer leap over it and I almost fell off lol. After that she was much better, the only problem is that she kept running out to the right when we circled to the left over it. Circling over it to the right was fine. Even when I sat up and really put my leg on to keep her from running out she did it anyways. Once I finally got her over it she jumped it nicely, but still. That was totally on her because there was nothing funky doing on in my riding to cause her to do that... I think.

 By the end she was getting bratty because she was tired and wasn't listening about slowing down after the jump and she kept putting her head down despite my efforts to get her head up. It's kind of hard to jump something if you're on your forehand and aren't really looking where you're going. Luckily I will pull out the segunda for the show so hopefully there won't be any of that nonsense.

Speaking of the show, I'm really excited and nervous for it. We haven't jumped at a show since last spring at the same venue. Jetta did really well last time, so I'm hoping she'll impress me once again! We entered 5 classes, most of them jumper classes, but one hunter and one flat class. One class is 2'6" and the rest are 3' so I hope I don't embarrass myself by entering something we're not ready for. But then again, Jetta's got the scope and can easily jump them. It's me I'm worried about...

What? I'm just cute. Not my fault my rider can't get her act together.

Anyways, plan for the rest of this week. I'm going to try and ride Tuesday and Thursday even though those are the days I have class all day.

Tuesday - dressage
Wednesday - dressage/cavaletti work
Thursday - ride in jumping saddle, work on two point and turning, maybe jump a little
Friday - no ride, bath time!
Saturday - ride in jumping saddle with show bit, work on two point and turning
Sunday - show!!!!