Video Cudo and I FINALLY jump again!

[BunnyDog]

Well my recovery took me a while but yesterday I jumped Cudo for the first time since my accident on 9/12. 12.5 weeks since I jumped last (9/10) and boy have I gotten a bit rusty!

A few things stood out in my ride. I'm usually just able to feel the distances. I did for a bit then when I tried to see them I was choking him into a non existent stride and without his fit tummy muscles he couldn't shorten that much. Those ugly bits are not in the video but I felt myself trying to control too much early on. So then the 'fix' reaction was to try to go forward more so there are more than a few fences where we're powering the last 3 strides. Overall, look I'm a realist, he looks great. I'm not loose and other than throwing my upper body forward in massive gestures, there's not a ton to hate. But I know where we're were before and I want to get back there. So I'm a little rough on myself. The video looked better than what I expected but we have to fight our way back to our competence from the summer. And we will. I'm taking him for fitness work at Boyd Martin's track this afternoon. Then he'll get pulsed tomorrow and rest 2 days.

Couple notes:

He just got his hind shoes pulled off this week for a break for a couple shoeing cycles. I do this devotedly in the winter to help their hoof health.

He's not had any of his Cosequin supplement since October. He'll start back on that shortly. (Cosequin Asu Plus is one of the few supplements on the market that has been proven to work)

We probably won't jump a lot for a number of weeks. Overall strength and stride adjustments are more important at this point. There is a clinic next Sunday with Laura Chapot and we might do a low level group or we might skip it. We'll see. I'm unsure if I want to go, so I'll sleep on it a bit.

He's so damn happy to be jumping. I am too. It felt good to be flying again.

Emily

 

[HufflyPuffly]

So happy to see this, you look great, although I know how easy it is to be hard on yourself!

I was not injured but haven’t really jumped since the end of Sept, I looked so much worse on my lesson yesterday ??!

 

[BunnyDog]

So happy to see this, you look great, although I know how easy it is to be hard on yourself!

I was not injured but haven’t really jumped since the end of Sept, I looked so much worse on my lesson yesterday ??!

We're all our own worst enemies! ?

What did you work on in your lesson?

Em

 

[HufflyPuffly]

We're all our own worst enemies! ?

What did you work on in your lesson?

Em

Releasing the handbrake and putting my hands forwards and down! Letting Skylla come in a rhythm and figure out the jumping herself!

I’m terrible for trying to control every microsecond and jump for them! Managed to mishear and jump and enormous (for me) skinny brush fence but Skylla was awesome ?.

sharing this as it’s far away enough not to see my terrible riding ??

https://www.facebook.com/250544601798074/posts/1179577418894783

 

[BunnyDog]

Releasing the handbrake and putting my hands forwards and down! Letting Skylla come in a rhythm and figure out the jumping herself!

I’m terrible for trying to control every microsecond and jump for them! Managed to mishear and jump and enormous (for me) skinny brush fence but Skylla was awesome ?.

sharing this as it’s far away enough not to see my terrible riding ??

https://www.facebook.com/250544601798074/posts/1179577418894783

Ok 1) that's not terrible riding at all

2) Letting go is what I walked into the ring wanting to work on yesterday. I maybe softened for 3 fences. ?‍?‍?‍

3) Jumping the 'wrong' fence is always the best moment... when it goes well!

Em

#MIPSSaves

 

[HufflyPuffly]

Ok 1) that's not terrible riding at all

2) Letting go is what I walked into the ring wanting to work on yesterday. I maybe softened for 3 fences. ?‍?‍?‍

3) Jumping the 'wrong' fence is always the best moment... when it goes well!

Em

#MIPSSaves

You are very kind, I am just glad my complete panic at a bad stride to the bank was not captured on film ???‍

You look so fluid in your position though! I feel clunky and clumsy but I guess it will come back eventually...

he said the ‘green’ fence and I was too chicken to actually clarify which fence he meant ??.

 

[ycbm]

Welcome back Emily, I was about to ask how you were.

.

 

[Bernster]

Yes, welcome back and very glad to hear you’re back up and at em. We are generally our own worse (worst?) critics and whilst it’s good to know what to work on, it’s a little too easy to miss where we’ve come. Wishing you both lots of fun for the future.

 

[DressageCob]

Well done!

We all get tempted to criticise everything about our riding. I thought you and Cudo looked comfortable together, as usual, and surprisingly confident given the break you've had. Your comeback fences are my top of my game fences, so I suppose I can't compare ?

 

[BunnyDog]

Well done!

We all get tempted to criticise everything about our riding. I thought you and Cudo looked comfortable together, as usual, and surprisingly confident given the break you've had. Your comeback fences are my top of my game fences, so I suppose I can't compare ?

To be fair I walked into the ring thinking..

"Right.. have to work on giving with my hand, really softening more. We'll stay around 1m and just do a little. "

Safe to say that Cudo had slightly different theories. I only hopped a couple 1.15's (and I'm still feeling guilty) to see if more his normal size fence would in fact back him off a bit. I felt that in the early low fences we were moving on a bit more than normal and my half halts were not giving the normal results.

A day later and with the benefit of watching the video (20x or so) looking back and such I know that it was my defaulting to being a bit in the back seat and pushing at him that caused the forwardness more than the jumps. Coupled with having lost all that brilliant stomach/ carrying himself muscles that have faded with time off, I wasn't able to sit up and hold off the jumps the way we'd had before. But we know that now. So we'll do it differently next time.

We went and "galloped" at Boyd's track today. Only did two 3:30 canters and about 15 mins cumulative trotting. He was great and it was the right amounts that he wasn't ever blowing more than a 2 minute walk would recover.

Gosh it's nice to have my life back. ?

Em

 

[Goldenstar]

I am glad you are back in the saddle and getting on ,you both look just fine .
Much better than my first attempt since April however in my defence it was on a new horse who I did not jump when I bought him.
onwards and in your case upwards in my case it’s onwards and stay at 80 cm for a while .