Is it just me or does it seem like the older you get the faster time seems to fly?!?! How is it mid-October and already time for midterms???
I should have spent the weekend writing papers and studying but neither of those things happened. I’m a serial procrastinator.
Saturday:
We had a relatively uneventful ride. I dropped my irons for 15 minutes. I feel that I can officially call that goal met. One day I hope to feel more comfortable jumping without stirrups. For now I’ll stick to the W/T/C.
Time to set no stirrup work aside and start focusing on 2pointober. I was only able to hold the two point for 2 minutes. I can’t figure out how to stop turning my ankles out. It’s quite painful. Any tips?
Then I took Tucker out into the field to do a bit of hill work. This is when the eventful part happened. We were trotting down the hill when Tuck tripped. He had trouble getting his balance back and took several stumbling steps. I started to panic a little as it seemed a real possibility that we were going down. Thank the lord for sturdy horses though. Disaster averted, he managed to get his feet back under him. We did a bit more work, making sure to take a bit different path down and then cooled out.
Sunday:
Jumper lesson day. For the most part it was quite a crappy ride. I just couldn’t get my shit together. G says it’s likely because we were only jumping cross rails. It’s hard to change your eye from 2’6″ with boxes and fill to tiny jumps without anything under them.
Jumps were a mess, lead changes were a mess, rhythm was not great and I was closing my angle way to much for such tiny jumps. So naturally G adds the 2 stride to our course. I HATE in and outs!!! I was crapping my pants and shaking like a leaf.
We turned the corner to the 2 stride with good rhythm. I tried to think of it as part of a gymnastic. I actually felt like it was doable. And then I panicked and dropped my eye. I picked we chipped in and G yelled to let him add. I clucked us through in an ugly 3 strides.
G of course made us go back and fix it. Still shaking like a leaf I made sure to keep my leg on to hold the rhythm. And I forced myself to commit. It was not our prettiest line but we got the job done. Huge pats for Tucker for saving my life and we were done for the day.
Then John and I ate Turkey for two days. It was awesome. I love Thanksgiving. We now have leftovers that will last us all week. Yummy!
In and outs used to make me go crazy too. Took a lot of miles, but they don’t bother me as much anymore.
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Ugh. I would say that in and outs are probably the main thing keeping me from dipping my toes into the jumper ring. Good thing I love the hunters!
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I find that my toes turn out less when my stirrups are shorter and I can really get my weight into my heels instead of gripping so much with my calves/ankles. I also keep my feet a little more ‘home’ in the stirrups, so the iron is a little farther back than the ball of my foot.
I am jealous of your turkey!!
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That’s not quite my problem. I seem to be putting the weight on the outside of my foot and rolling my foot out. I’m going to try shortening my stirrups perhaps it’ll work for me too.
Love turkey! I think I love leftover turkey even more.
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Yum turkey!!!! My toes point out pretty much always so I’m no help there… I do love in and outs tho. Not sure why bc I usually have trouble committing to the forward stride… But somehow it’s like I just think “eh two strides is too short for even ME to mess up. Granted I’ve proved that incorrect… But my brain seemingly hasn’t caught on yet and they are still deemed fine 🙂
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Haha. My brain thinks “crap two strides is not enough to fix things”.
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I used to have be same issue with my lines, but my instructor tricked me into fixing it: extend and contract the canter on the flat during warm ups, then set two cavaletti poles 4 proper strides apart. “Jump” them in 4 strides, then 5 strides, then 3 strides. Learn whether you’re better at adding or subtracting strides, and pea tide practice practice. When you hit tough lines and aren’t sure what to do, either add or subtract based on what you and your ride are best at! I prefer to add but I know others with bigger horses who find it easier to kick down the lines. To each their own 🙂
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