Jumping Lesson with Jamie

Had another great lesson today - really pushed us both out of our comfort zones so was rather scary to be honest LOL!

We started with a little x-bar and poles however Cobs wasn't jumping them properly so Jamie set up a bounce with a small raised pole to make him back off the first jump & make him think. He clicked onto it pretty fast and started to round more over the jump so that was great. Good little exercise to remember.

We then went into the main arena for some grid work. Had a place pole to an upright one stride to a double oxer. Coming into it the first time I wasn't ready for him to back off so it went pear shaped. He still jumped it though which was good but gave me a good wake up call.

Jamie got me to go into a few jumps closing my eyes about four strides out just to sit with him & stop fiddling before the jump....can honestly say it was scary LOL! The first time I counted strides and got it wrong so jumped before he did which then got all messy! So we did that a few times until it became less scary for me. Something I am not going to do again in a hurry. Amazing what a difference it makes though.

So once I stopped trying to make things happen she put the jumps up....(gulp). He wasn't getting into a great spot for the second part of the double so she put a pole over the rails (photo below) to try and get him to back off a bit. It worked but we did some rather hideous jumps and my chicken arms came back with a vengence LOL!

But we got there in the end. Cobs actually felt quite tired today - think I will give him some time out for a few weeks. He has been working so well that I don't want to spoil it. Think we both deserve it :)

Bounce Exercise:

Pole over Oxer:

Dressage Lesson with Liz

Went up to Liz's place today for a lesson - what a great arena! Cobs settled in really well in the arena so we were straight into it.

Today we worked on my heels (surprise surprise), transitions, canter serpentines, my heels, trying to unlock my left shoulder & more transitions & more on my heels......never ending theme!

Cobs was so super today - really shone & made me very proud. Mum came up to watch the lesson as she hasn't seen us at Liz's lessons & she was blown away by the difference.

Did lots of work on out trot/canter transitions - he tends to jump into the canter so worked on that. Once we both knew what was expected of us they came along very quickly but will have to be something that we continue to work on.

Our trot work is awesome - our canter was also great today so its all coming together nicely. Fingers crossed we can do this when we are out competing next :)

Canter serpentines are still a little hairy...we are totally new at doing stuff like that so I will be happy if we attempt it & get the right leads etc. Our mediums have gone out the window still (however when we went for a big trot out at the racetrack yesterday he could do them just fine....toad!) - not too fussed about it though. We will attempt the movement and keep working on them over winter.

Loads of stuff to work on before our next lesson....of course LOL!

Lots & lots of photos today cause I am so proud :)

Exercise to help unlock my shoulder:

Shortening the trot stride:

Nice stretch out to finish:

Lesson with Jamie

Back up to Jamies today for another jumping lesson - today was great as we did lots of courses which pointed out how I still stress in them.

As soon as I sat & relaxed & just let the fences come to us he jumped awesome. However when things weren't going right & I started to fiddle with our canter it all turned to shit....including crashing through a jump....bugger LOL!!

Very happy with him though - once again he tried his heart out for me. Its all about me doing too much so have loads to work on still. Shame I can't jump during the week to try and get this sorted sooner.....roll on summer.

Jaime gave me some pointers on breathing & relaxation techniques when doing the rounds so will be good to put this into practice. I may go down to Woodhill tomorrow to do some jumping but we will see....

Lesson with Liz

Had a great lesson down at Woodhill today with Liz. In our next test we have to do canter serpentines with changes through the trot so we practiced that today.

Must say that we aren't that great at it but at least I feel more prepared from working on it. We then tried leg yielding again but that still isn't that crash hot LOL! Something for us to work on over winter.

I feel his trot is heaps better so stoked with that. Canter is also feeling a little straighter and easier to do things with now....we will get there!

A friend came & took photos for me which was fabulous :)

Photos from Mini ODE 7th June

I ordered some photos off Marie Richards who now sends electronic copies as well.

I love these photos - getting the two jumping ones bigger so I can frame them.

Woodhill Sands Winter Dressage Series Day 3

Back to Woodhill Sands for day 3 of their winter dressage series :)

Had the BEST warm up ever. Not sure why today worked but it was great!! Was able to do a proper warm up for the first time in a long time so was super stoked with him.

We did test 2.1 first - I was really happy with the test. We both died a little in our canters which seems to be a theme however the rest of the test was great. Our mediums didn't quite get to where we had been schooling but as a whole the test was great.

We were rewarded with a blue ribbon for that test which was a nice surprise!

Our second test was 2.5. I tried to rev him up a bit in our warm up but didn't quite succeed!! So we did our first few movements and then it started to rain. He got a bit iffy but carried on working quite well....until we had to halt at C & do a rein back.....lets just say that movement consisted of us swinging our bum to the rain & not really halting for long enough to get a proper rein back. So I thought well we have to do the movement so lets do it even if we are facing into the arena!

It all went down hill from there basically. Couldn't get him to canter on our markers so he got a big pony club boot in the gut. Our medium trot was non existent as its quite hard to do when you are swinging your bum round everywhere!

I was really disappointed as he had been going so well - thems the breaks I suppose. Still super happy with our first test. The second test is what counted for the overall series so it was a real shame things didn't go according to plan.

Never mind! One more day of the series & then I think he can have a holiday as he has been worked quite hard of late.

2.1

2.5

Medium Canter

Video of our test 2.1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UYjUUFrvw4

Lessons!

More lessons!

Had another great lesson with Liz on the 11th. Worked mainly on leg yielding and our medium trots. Cobs went really nicely but then decided it was becoming too hard so started to spook etc. I don't think I will bother having lessons in Chrissys arena as he never really settles down there and it just gets frustrating.

Still happy with what we did though - be good to see if we get good trot marks this weekend as we are really making him go more forward than I have ever asked before. Our canter has all but disappeared so lets so how that goes tomorrow!

Had a fantastic jumping lesson with Jamie today. Cobs felt just awesome and was jumping out of his skin!

I actually feel like we are getting somewhere now - feels like we are back to where we were before Xmas time so stoked.

Today we did one stride in a grid of three which was good. I have to learn to stop trying to adjust him in the middle so Jamie made me sit there and just go with it. Was hard at first but by the end we were going great guns. Did a few little courses as well where I started to bring the canter back too much so he got in deep but still jumped awesome. I have to really focus on not changing anything....hard habit to break.

Did lots of getting our corners right so we were hitting the jump straight & in the middle of the jumps. Great stuff to work on....if only it was summer.

Photos!

Woodhill Sands Mini ODE

Decided to enter the Woodhill Sands Mini ODE just to see how we were going with the whole competition jumping thing - after coming off at the last few jumping shows it was suffice to say I was rather nervous.

We did a nice dressage test. Warm up was hideous again - as soon as we get away from the other horses he works nicely so its just going to be something we need to work on. Seems to be getting worse not better so I suspect its my nerves that are causing it.

Anyway the test was nice. I was pleased with it. I am now twisting my upper body for some god unknown reason so I am sure that wasn't helping. He died in the second trot & was getting behind the vertical a little so will have to work on that this week.

Then the jumping.....so proud of him! It wasn't the prettiest round but I was more worried about staying on than anything else. Didn't feel like I was going to come off at any point though so really happy.

We just knocked the rail on the last sj fence which was my fault as I couldn't see my stride & just sat there like a nana. Lesson learnt. So I stopped & regrouped before I went out & did the x-country.

He got a growling into the first two as he was backing off but then remembered that x-country was fun and then tonkered round. Was really pleased with him. Jumped huge over most of them like normal so glad I decided to stick with Pre-Training and not go down to Intro.

So all in all a good day. Not sure where we came overall as the day was long so came home.

Kristal & Tracey came out for support so that was fabulous. Kristal took some photos for me :)