We jumped yesterday, and I was more than a little pleased that I got to trade Fleur in for Murphy. Murphy may not have been quite so pleased, since he tried to sink his teeth into my nose a few times, though he did appreciate the treats. He was also fairly forward-going, suggesting he hadn’t done too much work (if any at all, since he was a bit muddy) earlier in the day. Another plus was that the riding school had bought some ‘sugarcubes’ to use for small jumps instead of needing us to drag in the very heavy wooden supports we usually use. So we were able to pretty quickly setup a nice line of four small jumps with related distances and then a bigger one with the usual equipment.
As during the dressage of late, the focus was on rhythm and pace. Specifically, on riding pretty quickly. Usually we focus a lot on precision when jumping, but today she wanted to make sure we could gallop ahead at a brisk clip. On Murphy, I have no issues with that. ;)
I did have some issues with the first passes across the small jumps at a trot, as she felt I was staying too upright when posting. I think I got a bit stuck in a dressage frame of mind, and it took a while to get into a lighter and more forward seat. But jumping at a trot never really works well for me. Which is odd, because normally I ride much better at a trot than at a canter or gallop. I think its probably because my sense of timing isn’t very good, so its easier to handle jumps when I’ve already got a canter going, whereas jumping from a trot becomes very jarring for me on most horses.
Once we moved onto cantering, the small jumps went pretty easily. The first pass was perhaps not quite forward enough and I was working a little too hard in the canter, but the next time I had him at a brisk, steady pace early on and with the earlier reminder to just stay still and ‘hang down’ through my heels I managed a very smooth, uncomplicated run. The only other issue was that I got a little too enthusiastic patting Murphy afterwards and she thought he looked a bit dubious about it. I’ll have to retrain myself, because I am used to getting a bit ... exuberant. ;P
The final run was the best, though. We then added in the free-standing, larger jump after the line of smaller jumps, and we got to pick low, medium or high for the last one. We very rarely jump anything of any particular height (too much wear and tear on the riding school horses), but jumping high(ish) jumps is one of the few ‘daring’ things I have no issue with (on the right horse), so I love doing it. So, we waited until the end, and then I got Murphy galloping on at a really nice, forward gallop. He handled the small jumps with no issue and, more importantly, I really got a great sense for how to not work too hard at it. I didn’t get the least bit stressed, I didn’t try to push him forward in the canter or lift him over the fences, and I was able to very smoothly guide him along the slightly curved first line and through the curve to the final jump. It felt so easy, I was quite amazed of how it clicked for me.
The last jump was pretty much a matter of letting him handle it. I nudged him on a little, just in case the height would make him hesitate, but he just kept steady and did a beautiful job of judging the distance to jump off at. The jump was a good deal bigger than anything I’ve done on him before, so even though I was prepared, I wasn’t able to keep my balance perfectly. My heels came up a bit and I tipped a little forward, but I regained my balance fairly quickly and could have continued with another jump if there was one. That does show, however, that some occasional jumping of higher fences could be useful, and when I mentioned that to my instructor, she agreed that we’d try now and then. She was also very pleased with how uncomplicated I made the cantering.
On the whole, very nice. I just wish we could have jumped a bit more, because it clicked so nicely that last round. And I almost remembered not to pat Murphy too vigorously, too. ;) He then got plenty of cuddly pats and scritches and candy.