Sprat
Well-Known Member
As some of you know, I have had a massive loss of jumping confidence over the past year after losing my dear friend at Solihull. The idea of jumping made me feel nauseous and I was catastrophizing horribly, it just wasn't fun anymore. I posted about this around a year ago and the suggestions from HHO were hugely helpful. I decided to take the pressure off and work on flat work, hacking, polework and galloping around the countryside instead.
I'm not sure what changed, or what has made me find my lady balls to get going again, but I have been quietly plugging away at some small fences at home with minimal drama, so just over a month ago I booked some jump lessons with a good friend. We started off in the arena getting comfortable cantering over tiny fences that were no bigger than raised trot poles really, concentrating on the quality of the canter rather than what we were jumping. My mare loved it, and surprisingly so did I.
Onto some further lessons, and we went out into the field to pop round some sj fences. Cue confidence crashing again. Why?! Just because we were in a field. My mare has NEVER given me reason to panic in an open space, so I had to pull myself together and crack on. My instructor challenged us more and more with oxers and scary fillers which I initially had meltdowns over (again, no reason for it really but the brain is a funny thing). We got over each and every fence that we pointed at eventually, again concentrating on the quality of the canter and making sure I don't freeze coming into the 'scary' fences. My confidence in myself and my wonderful mare has been growing steadily, and yesterday we managed a full course of fences!
What I struggle with when jumping is either being too in front or too behind the movement, I'm just not experienced enough at it to influence those strides yet. Finding a stronger seat in a more slight seat canter has put me in better balance to tackle a longer stride and stops me from throwing myself up my poor girls neck and putting her off balance.
Yes the fences are small, but I am now comfortable enough with this height and set up of fences that I don't have any wobbles coming towards them. Next steps will be to make the fences a bit chunkier, keep working on that good bouncy canter I need and maybe even trying some fences at a clear round or small competition. I came away so buzzing, I cannot wait for another one
You can see from the video, she bloody loved it - love her little pricked ears the whole way round.
I'm not sure what changed, or what has made me find my lady balls to get going again, but I have been quietly plugging away at some small fences at home with minimal drama, so just over a month ago I booked some jump lessons with a good friend. We started off in the arena getting comfortable cantering over tiny fences that were no bigger than raised trot poles really, concentrating on the quality of the canter rather than what we were jumping. My mare loved it, and surprisingly so did I.
Onto some further lessons, and we went out into the field to pop round some sj fences. Cue confidence crashing again. Why?! Just because we were in a field. My mare has NEVER given me reason to panic in an open space, so I had to pull myself together and crack on. My instructor challenged us more and more with oxers and scary fillers which I initially had meltdowns over (again, no reason for it really but the brain is a funny thing). We got over each and every fence that we pointed at eventually, again concentrating on the quality of the canter and making sure I don't freeze coming into the 'scary' fences. My confidence in myself and my wonderful mare has been growing steadily, and yesterday we managed a full course of fences!
What I struggle with when jumping is either being too in front or too behind the movement, I'm just not experienced enough at it to influence those strides yet. Finding a stronger seat in a more slight seat canter has put me in better balance to tackle a longer stride and stops me from throwing myself up my poor girls neck and putting her off balance.
Yes the fences are small, but I am now comfortable enough with this height and set up of fences that I don't have any wobbles coming towards them. Next steps will be to make the fences a bit chunkier, keep working on that good bouncy canter I need and maybe even trying some fences at a clear round or small competition. I came away so buzzing, I cannot wait for another one
You can see from the video, she bloody loved it - love her little pricked ears the whole way round. 
