Good pony
Had a great jumping lesson last night. What is it about those rides where I can keep Clover forward, rhythmic and on the aids? I guess it's consistency of contact, again. I did have some trouble keeping her straight, though. She tended to want to keep her shoulders to the left, so I had to concentrate on riding shoulder fore to keep her straight, with some opening inside rein.
We started over ground poles—the point was to maintain an elastic contact, slow the trot down and encourage suspension in stride over the poles. We had some really good steps—and I could really feel the suspension and lift in Clover's back underneath me.
Then we rode some gymnastic exercises, two bounces (cavaletti to x-rail to x-rail) to a one stride x-rail. The first few times through, no problem, but as the height gradually increase, it was more difficult for Clover to get her hocks underneath herself to get over the second bounce. We didn't have any stops or take any rails down but we did have one moment of hang time over the second bounce, while Clover decided if she was going to get her butt in gear or not. It was like a brief levade, but she got engaged in the hind end and we finished the line no prob. Eventually the line got up to cavaletti, bounce to 2'4” vertical, bounce to 2'4” vertical, one stride to 2'6” vertical. We went through twice cleanly, and I let Clover quit. She was such a good pony!
The three of us went on a hack to the bridge to cool off.
We started over ground poles—the point was to maintain an elastic contact, slow the trot down and encourage suspension in stride over the poles. We had some really good steps—and I could really feel the suspension and lift in Clover's back underneath me.
Then we rode some gymnastic exercises, two bounces (cavaletti to x-rail to x-rail) to a one stride x-rail. The first few times through, no problem, but as the height gradually increase, it was more difficult for Clover to get her hocks underneath herself to get over the second bounce. We didn't have any stops or take any rails down but we did have one moment of hang time over the second bounce, while Clover decided if she was going to get her butt in gear or not. It was like a brief levade, but she got engaged in the hind end and we finished the line no prob. Eventually the line got up to cavaletti, bounce to 2'4” vertical, bounce to 2'4” vertical, one stride to 2'6” vertical. We went through twice cleanly, and I let Clover quit. She was such a good pony!
The three of us went on a hack to the bridge to cool off.
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