Epic 2 day lesson report *long but with Pics*

Prinzess

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New SJ trainer was over so decided to bite the bullet & book 2 lessons. Finished work early to trundle up to RC for our lesson, me & 2 other girls were in a group to save money! Started off with a simple place & landing pole, though Lilly's reaction was one of complete shock as she has obviously never seen a pole before :rolleyes:
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Even with the poles taken away she was still suspicious!
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Lilly has a tendency to fire at fences from a stride out (slightly better then 3 strides out when I got her) which had become a bit of a mental block for me, I was just accepting it as that is what she did. Which resulted in take offs like this, which we thought were fine but obviously aren't lol.
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Trainer had us in a much slower, bouncier canter to give Lil time to look at her fence. Which was really helping, I was able to see a stride easier and actually kept control after the fence instead of endin up in the next county. We had 1 stop to a triple bar as I came round corner & went 'omg its a triple bar' & threw the reins at her :rolleyes: cue Lilly telling me where to shove it! Represented, kept my reins & got this
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Then finished on a course with the last jump being rather wiiiide! I could have walked Lil through the middle of it! It doesnt look that big, but I hate spreads!
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Learnt alot just from 1 lesson & was really looking forward to Saturday to build on what we had learnt today. However I must get to work so will do Saturdays report this evening! Cups of tea if you trawled through all of that! :)
 
What a gorgeous horse! She looks like a female version of my horse Bill :) How is she bred?

Great lesson by the sounds of things. I think our horses tell us when we get it right - and wrong :rolleyes:
 
Great jumper! She does look super careful though, which is always tricky!

Sounds very productive - great to be able to do a couple of days in a row, I often find that more helpful than the same number of lessons spaced out.
 
Beautiful mare- don't you just love a chestnut mare and their silly notions? ;-) in the first picture she definitely thinks that placing pole is going to jump up and nip her! :-D mine used to be exactly the same! Sounds like a great lesson and agree with tarrsteps she looks really careful!
 
BeckyD- She is Westphalian, by Peking, out of Pretina. With Pilot, polydor, Pilatus along the way. Any relation to yours?

Tarrsteps- Thanks, she is very careful! Believe it or not she used to over jump by a lot more!! & completely agree about the lessons being close together, I found it alot easier to build on what we had learnt, rather then go back a week later.

Elliefiz- Nothing quite like a chestnut mare! What amde it worse was the fact we had been doing tonnes of pole work the week before haha!

Thank you for all your kind comments :)
 
Lovely looking mare and clearly you made alot of progress, is she young? Looks a little like my small chestnut mare, she is Oldenburg so foreign like yours, and I've not had a foreigner before, I'm just teaching her a little English at the moment, :)

Where did you get her from? Looks like she has a cracking jump in her, keep us updated with your progress.
 
Then finished on a course with the last jump being rather wiiiide! I could have walked Lil through the middle of it! It doesnt look that big, but I hate spreads!
burgandy.jpg

Learnt alot just from 1 lesson & was really looking forward to Saturday to build on what we had learnt today. However I must get to work so will do Saturdays report this evening! Cups of tea if you trawled through all of that! :)

but when you jump big wide scary jumps you get pictures like this!! fab picture - well done :)
 
Thank you everyone for all the kind comments :)

Milz88- She turned 7 in March. I have owned her 16/17 months & she had only been jumping for about 2 weeks before i bought her & not done much other then hack tbh. Then 6 months off jumping due to saddle issues & we *touch wood* seem to finally be back on track!

LeannePip- haha that is very true! Must get over my nerves to get more good piccys :)

I can't get on photobucket at work, but will make sure I do Saturdays lesson this evening. With more pics :) Again thank you for all your kind comments guys, CC is welcome, but not on the X pole pics haha
 
Shes really nice. Very flash! She is a funny girl with the pole lol. You look like your doing a really good job well done :).
 
Up bright & early for a lesson Saturday morning before trainers flight home, just me & 1 other in the lesson today which suited us both much better. Bit more flatwork to start to really get them listening, lots of weaving in & out of the jumps, basic stuff, but to start with Lilly's eyes were on stalks! Things to remember today were, to keep our canter contained, and for me to keep my shoulders back more over the fence, & not be so keen to launch myself over it before the horse. Warmed up then straight into a course. Fence 1
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Then I cant remember the rest of the course, so here are some photos for you :)
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Does anyone know the proper name for the funny spread above?
Then we spent 5 mins at the end working with a filler. Lilly has had numerous tantrums about fillers, some she will jump 1st time, others will jump for months, then decide it will kill her. Approached in trot, and the moment she went 'omg!' we stopped. I was apprehensive about this approach tbh, but then we represented & she popped it sweetly! Just popped it, no leaping, tanking, nothing!!
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Put it under a straight, same thing! She didnt even look at it!
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So trainer turned it round, again, no reaction!
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Doesnt sound like much, but I honestly expected rearing, spinning, leaping etc. Trainer explained it was mostly due to the fact I had control now, so was able to steady her, to let her see the fence. Instead of career round the corner, then Lil goes 'Omg Jump, run away'
Super pleased with my mare :) CC is welcome but please be gentle :)
 
TiddlyPups- You're a genius, thank you!! I completely forgot to ask trainer what it was called when she put it up lol. Thanks :)
 
Firewell, Sorry i have only just seen your reply! Funny would be a polite way of putting it! haha. Thank you, I still think the only reason I bought her was because I was blinded by her flashyness, that and her pretty face anyway :)
 
Who is your trainer? The improvement is huge, she looks a lot calmer in the 2nd lesson and is jumping better. She is going to be brill, looks like she has a lot of potential. :)
 
I believe your trainer is based here in the SW & actually a member here on HHO, used to post but hasn't for a while.

YOur mare is like my boy. Hyper careful and really bascules, feels great when they go & frustrating when they see something terrifying.
 
I didn't post after the first set of pics because while the horse is flash and has a big jump I didn't like the shape over the fence, it looked like it was standing off the fence and jumping flat and I was wondering why you had spurs on but that's probably because my trainer has an obsession with everyone wearing spurs. The second set however look much better the horse looks more together, the jumps are a better shape and the overall appearance is much more controlled. Huge improvement in a day
 
Thanks everyone :)

Siennamum- it is so frustrating once they get it into there head that the jump/leaf/wall will eat them!

Countrychic- You should have posted anyway, I did ask for CC :) One of the first things trainer said was how far off the jump we were, still a work in progress, but as you say, I do think there was an improvement. & am very pleased other people can notice it just from some pics. Spurs are because she is an idle cow, as soon as she thinks thats the end of the course, she falls into a heap & also as she is so spooky, once she is in her 'spook zone' I cannot get through to her any other way. I know my lower leg is a bit cr@p over a fence, but again, we are working on it.
 
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