It's been forever since I last posted, mostly due to lack of interest in sitting in front of my computer. However, Joe's home and he's given me his brand new laptop, so now I can watch True Blood and update my blog all at the same time! Joyous!
anyway, as the title of this states, I've rediscovered Mary Wanless again. I was first introduced to her on the flight to Ireland many years ago, played around with it, and then gave it up as my instruction at the time didn't lend itself to going with her methodology. After a recent thread on the COTH BB, I picked up the book again, had many more "ah-ha!" moments, and then proceeded to buy two other Mary Wanless books (because, typical of me, if I like something, then of course i've got to have ALL of it!). I've been struggling with juggling all of the basic tenements of MW, such as bearing down, pinching, making sure my seatbones are properly aligned, and keeping that push towards the front. Usually what happens is that I forget the pinch and start to obsess over the seatbone placement, which of course has been lost because I've forgotten the pinch. Then, if I get the pinch, I forget to bear down. Oh, and to top it off, I need to focus on my thigh keeping close to the saddle, as my right thigh wants to wander off. I know that I have a weakness in my right hip - I can feel it sort of aching right now as I'm sitting here, typing. I have very little difficulty moving my left hip around, but the right one seems "stuck".
So, I had a jumping lesson with Gina today. Fabulous. There were icy patches still in the arena, so G thought it would be a good idea to run Oliver through a grid. It consisted of a placing pole, double crossrail oxer, placing pole, double crossrail oxer again, and then two strides to an oxer. We warmed up over the blue plastic box vertical with placing poles on both sides. When the jumps are this little, Oliver tends to drop behind my leg and then barf over the fence, adding a funny little shuffle stride right after the placing pole, which makes me barf over the fence, too. Gina told me that as I'm crossing the pole on the ground, to add leg and then keep the leg all the way over the fence, while I float the rein like I was riding a hunter. I also need to keep my upper body from folding too quickly because that just gives him reason to dump his front end. G told me that we need to run through a grid with no reins so that I can realize that I don't need my reins at all with this horse. If he needs something, he needs leg. He sets himself up before the fence, so as long as I sit up and keep my leg on, I can float the rein at him and he jumps well. We went through the grid, and I thought it went well, except that G told me that I had my thighs too open throughout, even though my lower leg was on. Damn - that is a leftover from the way I was taught before for MANY years. It's hard for me to keep my thigh on because I'm scared that I will pinch with my knee and then pivot over it. So, a la' Mary Wanless, as I approached the first fence, I had to think of "hooking" my knees over that imaginary iron bar and using my lower leg over the placing pole, while keeping my rein soft. That worked quite well - he really jumped up and over and I felt much more effective through the grid. The last thing to work on was that between the second crossrail oxer and the two stride to the last oxer, I had this tendency to keep in a huntery half-seat, which rendered me ineffective and also flattened his jump. I had to make a conscious effort to sit up and keep my leg on. Gina said that Oliver tends to do what Errol does when you lean forward to ask for a lengthened stride - they sort of drop backwards out behind you. I have to concentrate on sitting up and then sending him forward. Gina raised the last oxer, and then we went over it, and although it was really hard, sitting up and pushing with my leg made for a much straighter jump. She then raised the middle element, and we went over it again, jumping really round and cracking his back. Gina said that the coolest thing was that from behind, she could see how much he lifted his back over the oxers, but that since my leg was so tight, I just stayed with him. She then put up the first crossrail oxer to a regular oxer, and we went through again. This time wasn't so good as he dropped behind my leg, so I went through again and revved him up a little before, and he sprang on through. G said that there are times when i look like a Novice rider, like the last time through, and then there are times, like this one, where I look like an Intermediate level rider. yay! That was quite a compliment! we went through the gymnastic again after a short break, and then landed, turned left, and galloped down to a regular square oxer on the fenceline, landed, re-grouped (because he got in quite deep to the oxer), galloped down to the rolltop which we jumped backwards (and this time left a little long), down the hill, and then turned to the vertical with black barrels under it. not too bad, especially since I barfed through the turn and didn't sit up and use my outside rein. The next time through, Gina wanted me to jump down the line, which started with a single grey brick box, one stride to a vertical with a grey brick box under it, and then three strides to a vertical out. The first time through, I didn't pull him together enough, and he wobbled towards the brick box, and I took my leg off and he stopped. i got chastised for that one - Gina told me that i'm a much better rider than that and when I feel him raise his head and look, that is my cue to sit back and really drive him from the back. So, we went through again, and I really collected him through the turn and drove him on, which resulted in a huge jump over the single wall, and a hurried jump over the vertical, and then three flat strides out. Not bad, not good. This next time I went through, sat him down, let him flow forward over the single wall and we had a very nice jump through. As a finale, gina wanted me to go through the natural in and out - oxer first, then the vertical. Oliver took a huge jump over the oxer, which practically jumped me out of the tack, but I quickly sat down and we jumped out in a semi-organized fashion. I got complimented on my stick-ability and Oliver's honest nature by our audience of one (the new boarder at Gina's). We went through again and it was perfect, so we called it quits on that.
My right leg is still weaker than my left, so I've got to work on that. Also, my Antares monoflap isn't cut quite forward enough for my leg in jumping length, so that I slam against the block when Oliver jumps really big. I think I'll sell it and save up for a Devoucoux with a 2AA flap - this one is a 2A flap. Oliver is trying so hard these days. I'm so proud of him. He and I have come a long, long way.
next lesson - hopefully a flat on Oliver this week, if the weather cooperates!
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