Today, it was sort-of-dressage, sort-of-jumping. Our instructor had decided to use some small jumps in order to once again get us to ride forward enough and to help us get enough lift and suspension in the canter to facilitate a change of leading leg.
And despite this, I was still on Sammy. A little peculiar, perhaps, since dear old Sammy hasn’t jumped for ... oh, at least 5 and probably more like 7 or more years. He was one of the best (well, most eager, anyway) jumpers in the stable before, but then he went and tore a muscle in a hindleg. This has shortened his stride somewhat and, since he was never a careful jumper in the first place, made them concerned about him tearing that muscle again if overextending himself. So, he was pulled from jumping.
Until today, that is. At first, he seemed a bit surprised to say the least to be allowed to trot over the little jumps. Indeed, even when cantering over one the first time he made a tiny little jump and then slowed down right after. I had been prepared for his usual big, fast jump, so I kind of ended up a bit far forward. But then he got the idea ...
After doing a fair bit of cantering, which he did quite well today (and yes, I mostly remembered to ride him actively from the start, and got a pretty good trot as well to show for it), it was time for the actual exercise. It basically consisted of a jump on a diagonal line where we were instructed to ride for a change in canter to occur just before or over the jump. Since Sammy hadn’t exactly charged into the previous jumps, I made sure to follow instructions and set a brisk pace. But then Sammy spotted the jump, and all of a sudden remembered how he used to jump. Whee.
Laughing a little, and noting that he clearly was enjoying himself, my instructor asked me to ride him a little more laid-back the next time. ;) Which I tried, and more or less succeeded at. Though I was having a bit too much fun jumping Sammy again to actually concentrate on the exercise. ;P He’s one of the few somewhat larger and faster horses I trust enough to jump, even when he gets frisky, because he doesn’t get strong and he never does anything but try to jump a little faster than he should. As a result of my distraction, my technique was too much jumping and too little dressage, and I kept leaning over to the new inner side to get the canter that way.
Next week, its a proper jumping lesson. I suspect I won’t have Sammy then, and if it get Murphy (as I hope), I’ll have a tall order pulling this exercise off in a good way. But I’ll try to come mentally prepared.