Lesson with Jaime

Went up to Jaimes for our first lesson with her since January. Cobs was actually pretty damn good so stoked with him.

Unfortunately all our bad habits have come back to play. Cobs has this hideous habit of when he is mid-air he veers left. I feel I am taking off in the middle of the jump however every time we land we are landing left.

As my left side is painted on I guess I am just not strong enough to catch this and fix it. This is why we have so many issues in combinations as he isn't straight and then our striding is wrong for the second part of the element.

We worked on that HEAPS and eventually got it. Although once I got that sorted my canter had gone backwards again as I was concentrating too much on getting things straight. Sometimes having a lesson makes you feel like you don't know a bloody thing!

Jaime hopped on and worked Cobs for me to see if it was me causing the left side issue - unfortunately this was confirmed LOL! She also jumped him and was surprised at how quickly he went from being straight to diving left. She worked him through it though and has given me heaps of exercises to try and get this issue sorted out.

I love watching people ride him - he went so nicely for her. Now I know he can go like that WATCH OUT COBS LOL!!

Woodhill Sands Dressage 4th April

Finally I found a competion to do! Unfortunately I have only ridden twice this week as have been struck down with a hideous stomach bug so we were not prepared but I was determined to give it a go.

We did tests 2.1 & 2.3 so nothing too hard in them.

Cobs was SO unsettled in the warm up - took a while to work through & eventually kind of relaxed. Our tests were always going to be tense & the first one was no prize winning test!

He leapt around and shied at things etc - normal bring back into work, haven't been out for ages crap. I made a course error as well which didn't help our dismal % but never mind!

The second test was a little better - I was pretty exhausted by the end of it though so I didn't have the strength to push him on when he needed it.

Its his first dressage test since middle of December so with that in mind & the fact we couldn't do anywhere near the amount of preperation I normally like he did quite well. I knew he was going to be a bit of an egg to take out again - maybe not as bad as he was but it was expected. Overall I am happy and thats all that matters :)

Lesson with Liz 27th March

Off to see Liz which was awesome - I can't wait to get into a routine of fortnightly lessons with her as we improve so much with her help.

Cobs was pretty good though - we haven't really gone backwards after our break so that was a relief. My position has gone to the pack which is pretty normal - decided I am going to buy a new dressage saddle and that will fix all my problems (tui advert anyone??!!)

I have entered the next Woodhill Dressage day so we just did some movements out of the tests. Our canter is pretty hairy so not sure how we will fudge the tests but we have to start somewhere again.

Cobs tried hard but got a bit pissy with having to do some proper work so threw a few tricks in (see photo below) - normal stuff for him but doesn't make it any less frustrating.

Unfortunately I have been sick since this lesson and our dressage is in two days - not sure if I will manage both tests but we will go down there & give it a go. Bad timing!

Jumping at Raider

Due to my dismal start back jumping I asked my friend Michelle if she had time to come & give me a lesson at Raider Lodge today. She agreed and off we went!

Michelle started with place poles & a small cross - Cobs got a bit excited to start off with but settled in really well so the jumps went up quickly. I was surprised at how quickly I felt back to normal so that was great - has made me feel a lot happier about things now so was well worth doing.

By the end of the ride we were trotting into 1m oxer and cantering off & doing a course. Was great & I am so grateful for Michelle coming down to give us a hand. Thanks!!

Wainui Practice XC

Cobs has been back in work a few weeks - he has been pretty full of himself as we have NO grass so its getting huge feeds twice a day so that energy has to go somewhere!

In the two months its been since I jumped I have lost some confidence - intro jumps now look huge! When I saw Wainui advertising their practice night thought it would be a good idea to take him out & see how things went.

I was a bit concerned at how he would be going out again but he was absolutely fine. So thats a relief!!

Jumping.....well he is pretty excited to be doing it again and I am a nana again so that combination never bodes well! However we did do a few good jumps but on a whole it was pretty damn messy. I want to really concentrate & do a lot of jumping over the next few weeks to try and get us back even to half way where we were before I turned him out.

Unfortunately we still have not had any rain so the ground is absolutely no better than it was two months ago which sucks. Never mind - he seems to be coping fine with it so will just play it by ear. It has to rain soon right??

Dressage Lesson with Liz 11th February

Although Cobs is meant to be turned out due to the hard ground I decided to have a lesson with a top dressage instructor last weekend....what a total disaster that turned out to be.

Too much pressure got put on Cobs and he just didn't cope with it. At all. By the end of the lesson he was just stopping in the arena and wouldn't move. Was SO upsetting & I was worried that all the hard work I have put into him would have gone out the window so I organised to have a lesson with Liz so we could work through any issues if they arose.

To say I was a bit apprehensive would probably be an understatement however I shouldn't have worried. Cobs was a really good boy. Could definitely tell that we hadn't had a lesson for six weeks but he tried really hard.

He got a bit tense however once he figured out that things were just normal he relaxed again so super happy with him. My riding on the other hand.....lets just say legs were the word of the day LOL!

Cobs is now on a holiday until the ground softens up. Will aim to do the winter stuff with him again like last year to keep him going.

Lesson with Jaime

Had the day off work today to take Cobs to the dentist so managed to fit in a lesson with Jaime.

Todays lesson was good but man I rode like a muppet. About half way through the lesson things just went totally wrong & I kept stuffing up so had to stop and regroup. Just over thinking things AGAIN (for something different to do...not).

Cobs tried really hard and when I rode him properly he was great. He was a little bit behind the leg today so I needed to ride him the last few strides before the jump - you know the habit I have been trying to get myself out of! I give up LOL!

But it was a reminder to me that I have to ride him differently depending on what mood he is in - not every ride is going to be the same & I have to adjust to that. Just when you think things are going better things just remind you that actually they aren't!

We did quite a few courses which is what I need to practice on so that was good. Also did a bounce everytime which I didn't freak out at so thats got to be a good thing!

We managed to get our strides right in a four stride line - Jaime told me when we had done it once that it was good that I managed to get the striding right as it was a really long four for him which he normally struggles with so at least something good came out of the lesson LOL!