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Monday, December 10, 2012

Don Sachey Clinic

We had a great opportunity to take advantage of a Don Sachey clinic!

It was very interesting to hear from a top rider/clinician about some of the trends he sees in eventing today, and the differences in training and riding tendencies between many US trainers and much of Europe. I am processing some of this still, hope to blog on some of what I'm thinking.

Another time...

Until then, I have video! We aren't perfect, but we also had only jumped twice since she had come back. PLUS she had started some random lameness days about this time that turned into an abscess out the left hind heal bulb a month later. Poor dear,  her canter issues through December were pain related.


This is one of the final videos. It was SUPER fun!


Friday, December 7, 2012

2nd Jump Lesson

After the "storm of the century", or so my husband called it based on the weather forecasts, we finally got out to a jump lesson. A few jumps had been rescued from the water logged arena and brought into the indoor arena, so I took off early from work to squeeze in a mid-week lesson.

It felt good to be jumping her again. She also felt much more like I remembered her feeling. In the first jump lesson, she felt like she would slow and almost pause before the jump. It was weird to have to really PUSH her to the jump because she had never been like that. That all disappeared! She was a powerhouse!

She doesn't feel like she's dragging you to a fence, just that she gives the feeling that she's confident and eager to jump it.

Our lesson, like any of my lessons, was about asking her for a better canter every step of the way. I tend to want to turn "hunter rider" and sit perched all pretty on whatever canter she's offering. Ya, that's not going to cut it. So I really sat down and rode the canter all the way to the jump, then sat right back down to balance for the turn (think small indoor).

I felt really good about the lesson. My trainer popped them up a few times, and at the end when I hopped off to inspect I was surprised that they were 2'9"!