I was eagerly looking forward to jumping Murphy this Tuesday, given how well the preparatory exercises went last week. But, alas, it was not to be. The farrier had been there during the day, and three of the horses were sore-footed, including Murphy. Bah, I say.
Gamir, of course, is a very good replacement, but I had already jumped him plenty this semester. Plus, he was in a foul mood in the stables, and it continued down in the arena with much bucking as soon as I started taking the reins. He was clearly rather stiff and unhappy. Fortunately, jumping is pretty much certain to eventually win him over, and its a good way to loosen him up and get him to start using his back and hindlegs without putting any pressure on him.
The exercise was similar to last week’s, in that we jumped a diagonal line. There was no actual lateral movement between the jumps, but we were supposed to ride for the correct canter either between the jumps or after the last jump. Of course ... Gamir does this more or less on his own, so it wasn’t exactly like I could apply much of what I did with Murphy. However, this meant I got to practice doing less and thinking less once again, which my instructor says resulted in some pretty uncomplicated, smooth jumping, where my knees stayed down (they crawl upwards whenever I concentrate on using my legs ;P).
So, in the spirit of that, no more analysing of this week’s lesson. I need to focus on feeling instead of thinking ... at least in some scenarios. I do need to think to outsmart Murphy and stay ahead of what he might try to do to avoid work, but I need to tense up less when I focus on something specific. That way lies nothing but bad leg placement and stiff shoulders.