Getting our jump on

I have come to realize in the weeks since our fall that while I initially wasnt all that shaken about it, it definitely had a way of creeping in. All my hard work of not riding so backwards to fences seemed to have reverted and I found myself getting really frustrated for always wanting to do the add before jumps...which isnt always the right answer.

Jump chute day with the campers...Tillie clearly prefers going long

I hate being that student you have to be a broken record towards. So I have promised myself I need to be sure I find the time to make it to more P lessons to get in the coursework since that seemed to really help us earlier this year. Dom lessons are wonderful for thinking about the set up, getting the correct form and jump and definitely is helping, but I need to add the P coursework back in to really practice what we work on in Dom lessons. With the shows on weekends, its been tough getting those in, but I have a bit of a break now before the next one.

Mare's got hops!

With that said, Dom came Friday to help us prepare for Waredaca and promote Tillie getting the nice jump that will get her landing softer and not so downhill and ready to take off. He started us with a simple low wide oxer to work on finding the right canter, distance and stride and slowly built it up to Training level.

Notice the "V" poles which helps Tillie jump more uphill with the front end. Dom raves about her tidy hind end so its about getting her better with the front half of her body now.

That portion went pretty well...then we added the grid/triple to let that do the work for me and allow us both to focus on ourselves and get out of the habits we tend to pin each other into:

Tillie wasnt really wanting to give me the left lead but Dom said not to worry that we have been working on it, it would come when the straightness got there.

Then we tried to put it all together

Needless to say there were ups and downs, but I am pretty proud of this horse...she has come so incredibly far this year!