Connection and balance

Had my first lesson with Christan on Sam, and we focused 1/2 on flat and 1/2 on jumping. Sam is still a bit out of shape due to his extended time off (since Lumber River), so we took it easy. The first thing Christan did was fix my hands. I have a tendency to carry them too low, with palms down - an apparently unfortunate legacy from many, many trainers along the way. Part of that legacy included fiddling with the reins, too, which Christan also nailed me for. I didn't realize just how much I fiddle with the inside rein until it was pointed out to me. So, I had to keep my elbows bent, my wrists straight, thumbs up, and the reins short enough so that I could carry them out in front of me. Leg stays on, and pushes him up into the contact. It was terribly hard not to give into the temptation of a fiddle when Sam hollowed when I put my leg on, and just sit and wait it out, keeping the leg there until he softened. Christan also warned me not to soften too much, or I'd be dropping him and inadvertently "punishing" him for taking the contact. I noticed that when I rode this way, Sam lifted through the wither, bringing his shoulders up, and reached out to the contact, instead of bending his neck right behind the poll and getting too low. I also, apparently, run him off his feet, because Christan said that when he slows his tempo down, he overtracks by quite a bit. She also said he was pretty fancy when he's put together, and that if I rode like that at a show, I'd be getting scores in the mid to high 20s. Hopefully, we'll get the chance to see if that's true!

For the canter transitions, I had to keep my hands up (resisting the urge to bury them into his withers), open up the outside rein and push him into it with my inside leg, and maintain the bend and ask for the transition. Sam's number one problem is that he isn't instantly obedient to the leg - he takes too long in responding to the canter cue. Obviously, we need to fix that problem first, but then Christan said that too many people try to ride "down" into the canter transition, by dropping their hands and tipping their upper bodies forward, instead of riding forward and "up" into the canter transition. This was very hard for me, as both Denise and Holly wanted me to sort of hold his head down into the transition. Argh. Christan's explanation made so much more sense to me, as it follows the classic principles of riding and training. Once in the canter, I have to remember to keep my hands up and ride him up in each stride, so he doesn't pull me forward and onto the forehand.

For the jumping, I realized that I have no idea how to jump a crossrail. Sam hasn't jumped in a bit, so his reaction was to charge at the crossrail and get flat. Christan's observation was that Sam doesn't "pop" off the ground and jump around the fence - he sort of drops on his forehand, and then heaves himself up over the jump. I allow him to do this, because I drop my hands on takeoff and lean at the fence and don't maintain that "up" quality of the trot or canter. Christan told me to pretend the fence wasn't there - easier said than done, even when it's a tiny crossrail - and keep the bend and the balance all the way to the jump. When we started cantering the little vertical, she put a placing pole out front so I knew when to soften and keep my leg on. She also wanted me to give him a little pop with my leg to encourage him to jump UP and around - next time I'm going to jump with a whip so that I don't have to take my leg off to pop him. The first few times it didn't work, probably because I didn't really get him with my leg, but the third time he pinged off the ground and it felt great. Christan said that it was a good start, which means that there is more to work on.

After this humbling realization that I've been running Sam at his fences and not really knowing how to bring him in balance to a jump, I decided that I cannot go Novice at any of the September shows until I can make this new feeling a habit, so I've decided to drop him back to BN for Five Points, since I have that coupon. I wanted to do the show at our place, but there isn't much time until the show, and Sam really isn't fit, and all this is new for us still. I don't want to encourage the "old" way at a show, because it isn't muscle memory yet.