Jump lesson!!!

Whoo hooo! It seems like we haven't jumped in forever! And we haven't ridden in at least 6 days since I was in Kansas. Luckily it was warm and it was NOT raining, so whoo hooo!!! We met Beth at Ashland and tacked up. I still had my stirrups off as I was still trying to prolong no stirrup November. Beth saw me grab them and told me "you can leave those here!" ever so sweetly and innocently ;) ha!

We warmed up and Beth worked really hard on my position. I need to consciously pull/push my right leg forward to the girth. It always wants to slide back and that causes me to twist too. I also need to think about almost pinching with my knee on that side. Not that I want to be pinching with my knee, but I need to be rolling my calf in and not poking my toe out and getting Fleck with the spur non-stop. Then through out the course of the lesson, we also realized that I was collapsing on my right side and by thinking about picking my right shoulder up and back, and almost drawing my right knee up at the same time, I would straighten my core and my whole self and could ride more effectively. It also helped even out my hands because when I am collapsing on my right side, my right hand goes forward and gets too loose and giving.

Phew, that was hard work!! Then Beth made me really work on getting the correct canter. That was also hard work, but much easier when my position was correct. Its' the same old story. I had to get the canter and then keep the canter. I was not to allow him to lengthen to the base and thus get long and flat, but I wasn't wanting to shorten him either.

It was fun. And when I could put it all together, it was great :)