Oliver's officially barefoot (and sound!)

So, I had a good jumping lesson, and Ollie is sound without shoes, even without Easyboots, so I’m hopeful that he can remain barefoot for a while, at least through Training level. I found this cool hand rasp in the Back in the Saddle catalog, which looks easier to use than a traditional farrier’s rasp, so I can use that to help smooth off the rough edges until the nail holes grow out. I’ve found with Oliver that I have to ride him up into the bridle right away, until he starts to swing through his back, and when he starts to offer a balanced stretch, I can let him take the reins down. He’s getting more spring in his trot, which is a really neat feeling, and also tells me he’s getting stronger. Christan found out a lesson or two ago about my combination phobia (in and outs, and bounces where you have to canter in are the worst for me), so she made me ride a few forward one strides. She also made me do a few bending lines. She kept the height low, but I found that what I tend to do is not get back into the saddle quickly enough between jumps, so I lean and pull at the second fence, which causes Oliver to jump over his forehand. I am really trying hard not to sit down and lean backwards in the saddle, tipping my pelvis under me, but there is a certain amount of leaning backwards I have to do to get my rear in the saddle and my leg on. Someone mentioned it before – your eyes are in the seat of your pants, and when I’m not sitting down, I can’t see my stride so I lean and pull. This, too, has to do with how Holly was having me ride – more forward and lighter in the tack, so I’m fighting those bad habits as well. Today, when I rode, I practiced opening up his canter, and then sitting down and collecting it around the corners, and then opening it up again, so I could practice sitting back down and rebalancing him without hollowing and pulling on him. I found that if I do more of a bump,bump, bump with my calves, instead of just squeezing, I can use my leg more effectively. I have had the hardest time with using my leg into more collection – it seems that I’m squeezing with all my might and nothing happens! So, I tried doing more of a bumping action today, and Oliver responded quite well. I don’t know if that’s the correct way to use your legs, but it seems to work for me, as long as I don’t take my leg off completely to bump him up. Funny how much softer in the bridle he gets the more leg you use ;^). Oh, and I just adore my Albion jumping saddle. I even like it for flatting, almost as much as my dressage saddle.