Ambers Echo
Still wittering on
Fab Feb was fun.... but I am a bit skint now so will be having a month off expensive off-site clinics. But I did have a jumping lesson yesterday at a local venue - mainly because the only way I could use their show jumps was to book a lesson there. I used an inexpensive teacher who is on livery there and does the odd lesson in her spare time. And she was FAB! Just goes to show you don't need to be a world class rider or have a million qualifications to be a great teacher.
Amber was deeply unimpressed at being taken out in a gale in freezing, horizontal rain, which was handy as we spent the first half of the lesson on a 'warm-up for psycho horses' routine. She asked loads about what had happened at A le W and said the halt-canter stuff probably wound her up and set us up in a battle. So instead I needed to warm up forward using circles, lateral work etc so I could get my leg on and direct the energy rather than getting into a fight with her.
Then she said I was overusing the inside rein so we cantered squares getting me to ride with outside aids. Then we did a few warm up jumps and she said I was either chasing her or clamping her down and I just need to be much quieter - keep my leg on, keep my hands quiet, focus on turns so i was straight.
And then we jumped a full 90-100 course twice. And Amber was awesome. RI afterwards was so encouraging too. So lets hope things are a lot better at Stafford next weekend!
Amber was deeply unimpressed at being taken out in a gale in freezing, horizontal rain, which was handy as we spent the first half of the lesson on a 'warm-up for psycho horses' routine. She asked loads about what had happened at A le W and said the halt-canter stuff probably wound her up and set us up in a battle. So instead I needed to warm up forward using circles, lateral work etc so I could get my leg on and direct the energy rather than getting into a fight with her.
Then she said I was overusing the inside rein so we cantered squares getting me to ride with outside aids. Then we did a few warm up jumps and she said I was either chasing her or clamping her down and I just need to be much quieter - keep my leg on, keep my hands quiet, focus on turns so i was straight.
And then we jumped a full 90-100 course twice. And Amber was awesome. RI afterwards was so encouraging too. So lets hope things are a lot better at Stafford next weekend!
squares are an excellent exercise for all kinds of things, hard but really effective 
