Given how well the dressage went two weeks ago, I wouldn’t have minded some more of that today. However, jumping was on the menu this week, and this time I also ended up with Gamir instead of Murphy. I guess my instructor remembered what she said about making sure to put me on some other horses for a while (at least, I hope that was it, and that the reason wasn’t that Murphy was injured—he looked fine, though), and when that results in me getting Gamir for a jumping lesson I suppose I can’t complain too much. Except about one thing: these days, he’s worse to tack up than Murphy, who really is just testing who is dominant. Gamir, on the other hand, really doesn’t like the process. Not only does he kick when brushed and saddled, he tries to bite when you get closer to his head. Which tends to be necessary for putting a bridle on, for example. So far, he hasn’t actually made contact, though, so it might just be very realistic-looking threats.
Once you’re on his back, however, Gamir is an angel who wants to do everything just right. Especially when it comes to jumping, which he adores. I could not believe it when the instructor mentioned to me that he’s now 18 years old. Apart from a few white hairs in his mane, you could easily think he’s around 12 from the way he looks and the way he moves. I do hope he stays sound (he has had back problems before, which accounts for some of his dislike of being saddled), as he’s such a valuable horse for the riding school, not the least when it comes to showing people how a well-trained and sensitive horse reacts to aids. He certainly managed to teach me a few things today.
The exercise connected back to our previous jumping lesson, focusing on turns and on getting the horse to land on the correct leading leg when switching direction after an obstacle. To make sure we got to practice this a lot, the mini-course we built consisted of riding a figure-of-eight pattern across three obstacles placed along the centre line.
To start with, we rode the pattern at a trot and jumped only the obstacle placed in the middle. At first, we rode it a few times without having discussed how to do it in advance. We then paused to discuss how to prepare the horse for the changeover to the other lap by getting the new inner shoulder into the body in advance, effectively changing inner sides before changing laps. When we resumed the exercise, most of us noticed a difference compared to how the lap changes had felt before, when we weren’t doing the proper preparations.
I had some initial problems getting a good feel for Gamir’s movements today. He can get a bit too behind the bit, and although his strides will feel balanced and ‘springy’, they tend to lack proper hindquarter and back activity. For me, it almost felt as if he was walking on a rubbery surface today, and sinking down a bit too deeply. I then ended up fiddling with my stirrups, so they went from too long to what felt like much too short. I used to be able to ride with quite short stirrups, but now I felt as if I was going to tip forward too much.
I ended up settling for an in-between length that was good for one leg and okay for the other, but I guess I need to work harder on lengthening those pesky tendons at the back of my heel so I can manage shorter stirrups once again. For now, at least, it worked somewhat better once I had them adjusted to a bit but not too much shorter. With my seat better balanced, I started asking for more trot from Gamir, and managed to get him moving forward in a fashion I thought was quite nice for him.
However, I always find jumping at a trot very tricky, no matter what horse I am riding. Once we got to move on to cantering things really improved. Gamir was very easy to adjust today. Possibly just a touch too laid-back, just like in the trot, but he perked up after a few rounds. The idea, you see, was that we kept jumping the figure-of-eight until our instructor was happy. With Gamir, alas, that tends to happen before you’re satisfied with the amount of jumping you’ve done. However, I was very pleased that I got a chance to really work on my preparations for the change of lap and the change of leading leg that of course had to go with it.
The first jump we got it wrong (though Gamir of course corrected his canter quickly enough on his own), but after that we got it right each time. Not a huge feat on such a well-trained horse as Gamir, but his responsiveness really helped me narrow down just how to do my preparations and how it was supposed to feel when I got it right. This was particularly useful as I felt initially as if I was too far forward into the saddle, especially when shifting the weight to the new inner leg to signal the upcoming change of lap, but clearly it was the right thing to do. My instructor noted afterwards that I had maintained a much better leg position—especially when it came to keeping my heel down—than what I usually manage for jumping, and one of the other girls said she thought my round had looked really nice. Which I naturally don’t mind hearing. :)
So, I will definitely have to work more on always getting my legs down and a little bit forward when jumping and, at the same time, making sure to keep my upper body from going too far forward. Now that I have had a chance to get a taste of how the correct position feels, and how effective it can be, it should be a little easier to combat my tendency to dive forward with my upper body and to have my legs going back and up so that I end up with my toes pointing down. Just a little, though. Gamir is, after all, a very good, very well-schooled jumper.