So, for this lesson, I rode Cordell, and for the first time in weeks, we had our regular lesson group of Friend, Vivie, and James.  James was on Nova, Vivie on Rugar, and Friend on Mariah.  We rode in the outdoor.

After I'd mounted up and walked around for just a bit, my trainer said we were going to shorten my stirrups since Cordell is so narrow.  Now, I had them at 'flatwork' length, and to shorten them would be to put them at jumping length because of the way the stirrup leathers are set up, remember?  My trainer came over to help me shorten them and realized this, so she said that for now we'd leave them long, but when it was time to jump we'd shorten them.

She said that I might loose my stirrups when they were long like that, and to not be afraid of it.  I was to just hold the stirrups in place with my feet, not mash my foot down into them.  If I felt that I was loosing them, I was to drop my heel to lengthen my leg and not mash my foot down.

I didn't struggle too much with these stirrups for the warm up, but I'm glad my trainer said I could shorten them for jumping.

So, after that, I knew I was probably supposed to be doing a warm up for jumping.  So after I'd walked Cordell around for a bit and did some circles, I picked up a running walk and did some more circles.  I tried to make sure he had a good running walk going in preparation for jumping.

That went good and my trainer told me to pick up a canter when I was ready.  When I did, Cordell offered me a bouncier canter, which meant he had more suspension, which was what we needed for jumping.

I did one big circle, which I intended to be smaller but didn't know how to make smaller without running into something where  I was, and my trainer told me I needed to make a smaller one to prepare for jumping.  So, I found another, clearer spot and did that.  When I did, she told me to push him through it.  It felt crazy fast, but after I'd come down to walk, she was telling Vivie it needed to be that way.  Otherwise, if he lost the suspension of the canter on the circle, he risked loosing his balance and stumbling.

I felt that when I went to canter him the other direction and did another circle.  I don't think I pushed him enough, and he struggled more and I think stumbled at least once.  So, I marked that down to remember.  

Sometimes, my trainer only has us do trot / running walk before we start jumping, but today she had both Friend and I canter, because when we were jumping it was going to be mostly in canter.  Literally, there was only one round of jumping that was in running walk / trot to begin things with, the rest was all in canter.  In the past, it's mostly been trotting.

Anyhow, after the canter, I walked Cordell out for a bit on a long rein before my trainer called Friend and I over to outline what we were going to do.  It was going to be a 'figure eight'  of sorts, because after each jump we were going to be changing directions.  I've done a figure 8 exercise before, but it was changed up because instead of going over the telephone poles, we were going over the tires for one of the two jumps.

So, we were to come off the left (aka make a turn to the left) to get to the line for the log standard jump.  Then after the log standard jump we would go on to make a turn to the right to get to the tire jump.  Then a turn to the left to get to the log standard jump again, and so on until my trainer says you can stop, haha.

The thing with the tire jump was that we were going to have to be careful at what angle we jumped it so that we didn't 'interact' with the log standard jump that was just beyond it.  If our angle was perpendicular, we'd have to do some quick correction upon landing to avoid the log standard jump.  If it was angled to the left, it would be hard to then have the room needed to make the next turn to the log standard.  But if it was angled to the right, you'd have a clear line and more room to make the turn to the log standard, so that was the line you wanted to try to get.

I had to shorten my stirrups, so my trainer picked Friend to be the first victim.  She did good, and then it was my turn.  My trainer again told me that it would feel like Cordell was taking forever to leave the ground, but I had to stay back in the saddle.  As I was coming around to the first jump, my trainer said that I was to be in two point but be far enough back that I was nearly touching the saddle.

Things blur together when you jump like this for me, so I'll just have to name highlights.  The first round in running walk went good, and then we picked up the canter.  My trainer immediately started having me push him through the turns.  I think we did only one  full round in canter that time, but she had me come jump the log standard a second time to practice getting a better line to it.

I think it was that jump that Cordell took a bit of a flying leap, but my trainer said my position was ready for it because of riding Mariah.  Which would be true, I'm beginning to feel a little more stable / confident about jumps that feel crazy.

Friend did a second, lovely round, and then it was my turn.  My trainer told me I needed to make sure to go large to get the right turn to the log standard, but I had to come inside the mounting block, I couldn't go around it.  This round I think we did three complete rounds of jumping, and it all felt crazy because Cordell was going so fast.

I was starting to jump ahead of him and my trainer reminded me not to do that.  The main thing I struggled with was pushing him through the turns and yet feeling like the momentum might be fixing to sling me out the side door because the turns were so tight.  But I didn't fall off, and things got better.  The last round was the best, and we called it good there.

I don't think we struggled with getting the right leads too much, because Cordell picked them up over the jumps pretty easily.  It's just everything comes up so fast!  But we made it, and I wasn't totally overwhelmed.  Once I get the hang of it, it could even be fun.

My trainer told me afterwards that Cordell has to have that canter to make the distance / striding to the jump.  Otherwise, he will struggle.  

I walked him out for a bit after that on a long rein, because that's hard work to be cantering that much and doing all that jumping.  It's also one of the few times I've had to walk a horse out to cool them down.  A lot of the work we do is not intensive enough to justify that, or they can stand and catch their breath, but my trainer had both Friend and I walk our horses out today.  Cordell offered some lovely stretch on a long rein to me.

Anyhow, despite how crazy things felt at times, it was still an awesome round of jumping and I'm happy with how it went.  I fear I caught Cordell in the mouth a time or two, I'm still figuring out how to stay back, and at the same time allow the horse to do what they need to do.  But otherwise, things were good.  Cordell is just so sweet and he really does try for you.

Actual lesson 1/23/2024