Lesson with Jamie

Well after having a two week break from jumping and not much riding happening I was very surprised to have a sane pony today at our lesson. He was actually really good & tried hard. Did a few silly things like thinking the sun wall which we have jumped before was going to eat him and fell over it but never mind! Just proves that I don't have my legs on really.

Today we started with raised trot poles & a little jump just to get him using his back & thinking etc. Was actually a really good warm up exercise for him so will do that at home when/if the grounds ever dry out.

Then just did some courses etc where it was highlighted that I am still not that confident at getting the right strides etc. So we did that for most of the lesson just to try to stop me from doing too much in front of the fence & then stuffing the jump up.

I have seen in the photos that my heels are coming up again so will be doing lots of work during the week without stirrups etc to try & get this sorted out.

So very pleased with him again - I can't wait to get weekly ones again and while I am off work intend on getting some serious lessons in and then do some Show Hunter or something to get our confidence up again.

Put this photo in as WTF is he doing??? LOL :)

Woodhill Sands Winter Dressage Series Day 2

Well our good luck did not continue.....however I am pretty pleased with Cobs as we have done one proper days schooling (yesterday) since the last dressage day as the weather has been shite & the showgrounds are under water.

You get out what you put in :)

We unfortunately had a horror warm up but as soon as we got in the ring he was great. We had 2.4 first which was a shame as it would have been nice to have had the easier test first but never mind. He tried really hard & coped very well with movements we haven't done in a test situation before or had much time to practice. We got slammed by the judge though which is a shame and I don't think a true reflection of what the test was like....never mind......everyone has those days!

We then did 2.2 and just to keep things going the rain started as we went over to do the test. He was good though & tried really hard. We had leg yielding in this test which I managed to not do properly but he did what I asked him.....just have to ask the right thing next time LOL! Again he was good & I am pleased with him.

You can definitely see we haven't had regular dressage lessons for a while though so will be looking at fixing that soon. Will give him some time off for now and then regroup.

So yeah - not the results I was hoping for but still very happy with him.

Lesson Update

Had a dressage lesson with Karley on the 13th May. Was a bit of a write off as the showgrounds are under water so really couldn't do that much. Then it poured down but we kept working through it.

In our next test we have leg yields etc which we can't do to save ourselves so we tried to get that sorted....tried being the key word there LOL! Never mind, we will give it a go in the tests. Not fussed if we screw it up as long as we attempt it.

Had another wicked lesson with Jamie today. I really feel like we are making improvement and getting out confidence back again which is just awesome.

Today we did lots of roll backs to get me thinking about the rhythm etc. I am still strugging getting the right canter speed & bounciness but we aren't any where near as bad as we were before.

He backed off a few of the fillers but didn't stop which was good - I got him in deep to a few and he just did them and then carried on like nothing had happened which I think is the best confidence boost for the both of us.

So yes very proud of my boy today - he tries so hard:)

Lesson with Jamie 9th May

Had another great lesson today. Worked mainly on our canter which we need heaps of work on as I stuff around with it too much & then proceed to stuff our jump up.

So was good to go through it again and then do some related lines and mini courses. Cobs decided that stuffing around after the jump was the order of the day so just did lots of getting him back into a nice rhythm etc after the fences.

We did some grid work - just two strides to a one stride. I was pretty pleased with him as he didn't try to chip in or anything (oh I know why, cause I had the right canter at the first fence LOL!).

Looking forward to next weeks one - again have more of the same homework to do. Hope the weather is better next week so I can put some homework into practice so we can actually make some progress from the lessons. We had torrential rain before I hopped on & then after our lesson had finished so that was great - pure luck!

Kristal came to watch so she took photos while Mum videoed so have the best of both worlds!

Lesson Time

With me falling off every bloody where I decided to start to get weekly lessons again to help our jumping out.

I am having them with Jamie Campbell - today was our first one and was great. We have gone right back to basics which is what we both need to get our confidence up.

I had a great time - absolutely knackered but it was awesome. Amazing how much my riding has gone backwards from not having regular lessons.

She has given me heaps to work on so I hope to do lots of schooling this week and then hopefully improve by next weekend.

So watch out Cobs - lots of work coming your way LOL!