Jumping on my own

 So I have now jumped on my own a few times. I have another jump lesson this weekend so here are my thoughts on what we have on our own right now.

One - I suck at softening at the right time and just leaving him alone.  I line up, the canter feels good, but then I do not see a distance and just hold at the base.  It doesn't seem to bother Uno, but it has definitely gotten worse the longer it has been from my lesson.

Two - The prep for a turn on the backside is LIFE CHANGING!!  It makes everything workable for me because I am less worried about odd jumps and more worried about control around the corners.  I hate being run away with. 

Three - He still gets ramped up and tries to jump back up into canter whenever we do a downward, but I am finding it very easy to balance within the gates and ride forward AT the jump or pole. I have started jumping after a very short warm up.  I jump around for 10 - 15 minutes then go into our lateral dressage work. Travers and renvers at the walk. Walk to canter transitions. Leg yielding on a soft rein in both trot and canter. Then working on our halts.  

He got a bit heavy yesterday in the canter work - which happens a lot when he is tired, but he tried so hard and was a literal star for the jumping even though I saw no distances at all. I am just happy we seem to have gotten our groove back.  With this ramp-up in work it may be time for another round of robaxin and previcox, but man he is getting so strong and ridable.