madhector
Well-Known Member
All I can say is wow! What a super lesson. Took J down to Essex for a lesson with Lucy Thompson. Was a bit apprehensive watching the lesson beforehand, where they were jumping 3 jumps on a half circle, bit technical I thought for J in a hackamore
Went in and warmed up. he felt very sweet and cooperative for a change. Had a chat about his history and explained our issues showjumping, and how we had ended up in the hackamore, but he was still quite careless. Popped a couple of uprights from trot and he was lovely and neat with his legs, proving me wrong, then they went up and came in canter and the legs started to dangle...
So she suggested dropping him in front of the fence and coming in in a really slow bouncy canter (not J's strong point) suddenly he was very careful and tucked his little feet right up. She said he is the sort of horse that needs to lower his head right down before a fence in order to push up with his hind legs and get his front legs up, so that last stride I have to drop him in order for this to happen, she said this is why the bit was a disaster as he just wasn't lowering his head and then didn't tuck his front legs up. So off we set over a decent double like this and he flew the first bit really nicely and then I dropped him before the second part and he ran out
He has never ever done this! She said she had almost expected it as we had changed his jumping style so much that he was having to jump correctly so his brain couldn't cope. She also said she could see it was the first time he had ever run out by the look of total surprise on my face
After that little upset she worked on getting him jumping straighter over his fences, as now I was dropping him he was jumping violently right handed. By the end of it he was so much better and gave me loads to work on.
She said I needed to go out expecting to have 3 down for now as thats just what he is like at the moment. But that in a years time he would be a different horse. She thought he was super, and said that he was just built to go XC, and with time he will learn to shorten and go straight and the SJing will improve as he has loads of ability, is amazingly bold and will always jump, and isn't at all lazy, just needs to get it right.
So was a fantastic day, lovely to have someone tell me he will get there eventually and is worth bothering with, I will definitely be taking him back for another lesson soon.
Thanks for reading!
Went in and warmed up. he felt very sweet and cooperative for a change. Had a chat about his history and explained our issues showjumping, and how we had ended up in the hackamore, but he was still quite careless. Popped a couple of uprights from trot and he was lovely and neat with his legs, proving me wrong, then they went up and came in canter and the legs started to dangle...
So she suggested dropping him in front of the fence and coming in in a really slow bouncy canter (not J's strong point) suddenly he was very careful and tucked his little feet right up. She said he is the sort of horse that needs to lower his head right down before a fence in order to push up with his hind legs and get his front legs up, so that last stride I have to drop him in order for this to happen, she said this is why the bit was a disaster as he just wasn't lowering his head and then didn't tuck his front legs up. So off we set over a decent double like this and he flew the first bit really nicely and then I dropped him before the second part and he ran out
After that little upset she worked on getting him jumping straighter over his fences, as now I was dropping him he was jumping violently right handed. By the end of it he was so much better and gave me loads to work on.
She said I needed to go out expecting to have 3 down for now as thats just what he is like at the moment. But that in a years time he would be a different horse. She thought he was super, and said that he was just built to go XC, and with time he will learn to shorten and go straight and the SJing will improve as he has loads of ability, is amazingly bold and will always jump, and isn't at all lazy, just needs to get it right.
So was a fantastic day, lovely to have someone tell me he will get there eventually and is worth bothering with, I will definitely be taking him back for another lesson soon.
Thanks for reading!
