Pre - Lesson Recap

Since Uno is on trail only duty until our vet visit in April, I have kept plugging away with Dutch just trying to keep fit and dial in my eye for jumping.

IT IS DRY(ish)!!

Also dry(ish)!!

The good news is that his COPD and allergies have stayed relatively OK.

Dutch feels...

At our dressage lesson where I had my feel for how 'up' in front Dutch actually is and what is reasonable to expect for him in that frame.  Since then we have magically started having more sunshiney days, so we have been hitting the trail for some nice long hilly walks. 

Starting to bring back the booty.

He has actually been really good!  We even did a little bit of the worlds slowest, snortiest conditioning set known to man. We did 3 mins of trot, 1 min rest walk, then 3 mins of trot the other way in our big(ger) field, then hit the trials for 30 mins of walk, then 2 minutes of uphill canter, then 15 minutes of walk back home.  Dutch gets fit really easily, but it takes serious time to get him FAST.  He has the slowest canter known to man!! 

I know this looks like a good stride length, but he was passed by a trotting horse 1.5 hands shorter...

Then last weekend we trailer out to do a bit of jumping... it was a shit show.  Thank GOD for my hubby he really saved the day.  Dutch warmed up great, but in hindsight, he was NOT in front of the leg.  There was a line of 2 canter poles and 2 cavaletti set up and he refused. My 19-year-old jumper refused a pole on the ground. Cue all my worst habits - fetal jumping position, no contact, no leg, with a side of forgetting to breathe.

So much bad riding.

My hubby set up a little cross rail course that we worked through a few times as I got my shit together.  Strangely each time I was able to stop curling up and taking my leg off Dutch was a rock star.  My husband slowly raised the jumps to 2'-2'3".  We even jumped a scary thing!

Can we not just jump the height of the jump?

BUUUUUT, I knew I need a lesson from my normal trainer to get my head screwed on and my body working right.  I am going to save that recap for the next post, but I have to say right now that as a horse person you owe it to yourself and your horse to find the right trainer that works for you.  L.O. is worth her weight in gold because she is so good at helping me improve both my physical and metal game.