Yet another lesson where we jumped but didn't do any cantering! I had the gorgeous Elliot today, he was very forward for our flatwork but I wasn't doing so well at getting him forward over the jumps. Well, I say jumps, the largest was 1 foot. So for big old Elliot, it was a raised trot pole!
I bought all my own stirrup bits today! I bought some second hand bent leg irons at a tack sale the other day (along with a cross country top and a show jacket, getting a bit ambitious I think!). Then I bought new treads and leathers today. It looks like I'm going to have to punch some new holes for jumping in my leathers though, I had them on the highest hole for the flatwork today. I did have them a hole lower, and although they were fine in the walk, trotting was really hard work, so I had to pop them up a little.
We all had the usual shambles warming up. It'll now take me less time to sort out my stirrups seeing as I know what length I need now. The problem we all have is getting in each others way. It isn't made any easier by the horses all going at different speeds. I suppose it's easier if your horse is slower, you can just keep plodding along whilst everyone has to move around you! Elliot was on a bit of a mission today though so I had to turn away a lot.
A big chunk of our lesson today was devoted to shallow loops on both reins. First in walk, then in trot. Then we had the stirrups taken away. I really think I'm going to have to invest in some better fitting boots and leather gaiters (Christmas present?), as I have issues with my Dublin Pinnacles when I ride stirrupless! Riding with stirrups is perfectly fine in them, so when I look after horses I can do my yard jobs then ride. I don't tend to ride without stirrups with the horses I look after. I haven't got quite used to Bruno's trot yet, and with Ziggy I'll either ride with stirrups or bareback. My main issue with my boots is that they slip off my feet a little, so I'm concentrating more on shoving my feet back into them than on the riding! The top of the boots also catch on the saddle, which makes it very hard to keep my legs in the right position. Again, I concentrate on wiggling my leg out of the saddle catching than the riding! Oops! I think until I get some nice new riding boots I will ride my lessons in my manky old jodhpur boots and suede half chaps. Now to convince someone to get me a Stockley Trading gift voucher for Christmas...
I struggled a bit with Elliot's trot when I didn't have my stirrups. I was really annoyed about this because I was doing sitting trot on him with stirrups really well! I also had a very successful sitting trot with stirrups session with Bruno yesterday! So I'm blaming the boots!
When we had about 20 minutes left Simon set up 2 poles and when we'd gone over them a couple of times he changed them to 1 foot cross poles. After we did that on each rein a few times he changed the first jump to a 1 foot vertical. I wish we could do them in canter, I find it much easier as the jump is like another canter stride. Trotting into jumps is just awkward! We hit them a few times because I couldn't get enough umph into Elliot's trot. The biggest horse there and he was the only one to knock them down! Haha!
Can't wait for next week!
xx
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