Sunday Jump lesson

I had my jump lesson Sunday morning, that I woke up dreading a little bit.  We had gone out Saturday night, and while I only had one margarita and then a glass of wine later in the evening, I woke up with a slight headache/hangover.  Then the fiancé surprised me with a tablet (I’ve been wanting one for a while), and so I really just wanted to stay in bed and get it all set up. 

 *speaking of tablets: any suggestion for apps to notify me when the blogs I follow get updated?

 Headed out to the barn, solo this time, and found out that only one other person in my group lesson was able to make it, so was really not looking forward to how hard we would have to work.  Got tacked up and headed to the outdoor jump ring to warm up.  He warmed up pretty good again, and my trainer came out so we started trotting the crossrail to warm up, then did the little gate a few times.  The other girl then moved on to a few bigger jumps, and when she took a break, I started cantering the crossrail.  That went well, so we moved on to the gate.  Otter was great –cantering away after jumps like a little hunter pony.  Even when we had a couple of shorter distances (nothing like the underneath the fence we used to have), it still didn’t rattle him and he stayed balanced and without the dramatics after the jump.  We then took a break, while the other girl jumped a few more. 

 When it was our turn again, our trainer had us jump the oxer coming down the center line, which requires a tight turn and short approach to it, and has to be jumped at a bit of an angle to avoid hitting the jump a few strides behind it (the joys of a small jump arena).  He did great, so we changed direction and started jumping it going up the center line.  The first time we jumped it this direction, he jumped it huge!  And I may not have been expecting it, so we *may* have ended up going outside the arena because I wasn’t prepared for the turn.  The next few times were much better.  We took another break while the other horse and rider did a different course.

 After she finished up, our trainer looked at me and asked when was the last time we had done a combination, which had not been for a while.  So she put together a short course of the one stride line, then the white gate then the oxer.   He jumped the one stride line like a boss- really round and really confident, while not taking too much control.  We kept it together for the gate and the oxer, and then ended on that. 

 We cooled out then I took Otter out to graze a little because he had been such a good boy!

 I have to say that I may have been a little frustrated after our last few jump sessions because I felt like we have not been able to do much with the heat and humidity, and both of us attempting to adjust to it, and trying to only have positive sessions.  Sunday’s lesson proved that even if we only jump a single jump for a few times during a session, as long as I make those jumps count, it will still help us in the long run.  Jumping wise we have not been on the same page since last year with not trusting each other to do their job correctly, and it feels like we are finally moving past that.