More On Jumps

I thought Jumping was so much fun at Dawson Butte, but I wanted to be more prepared for the bigger jumps and have a better seat. So, my horse trainer came out, we took a break on body control, and we jumped Ollie yesterday.

Ollie loves jumping, and he really picks his feet up. We had to lift the jumps more though because he started to just canter over the small jumps because he is so athletic. 

Pretty Boy

All of his groundwork is paying off-he now easily canters in a circle around the person with a lot of slack in the rope. 

He is incredibly willing to try nearly anything-maybe that is part of his Appaloosa nature. While he may be stubborn sometimes, I am glad that he is ready to learn anything thrown at him (except maybe a plastic bag.....still working on that). 

After he started to get the idea of jumping and where his body is, I saddled him and got on. 

Mrs. June helped show me where my hands are supposed to be, and a friend of mine who has been jumping for years also came by and showed me what to do considering posture. 

I was still using a Western saddle, although I do have an english saddle. I haven't ridden English in a while, and I knew that I would be more comfortable in the Western Saddle. However, I will probably get my english saddle out next time! 

"Don't look at the jump...."

"Prepare for the jump....contact, contact!!"

"Start to lean forward and slide your hands up his neck..."

"OVER!!" 

I had a great time working more on jumping, and while jumping is also fun, it is teaching Ollie more about how to use his body. Just during this lesson, I asked him to canter from a walk without and trot steps in the correct lead and he did it! I have NEVER been able to get that out of him yet, and just during the lesson I asked him three times and he did all three times without fail. While the lesson was about jumping, probably the most monumental thing to me was when he did that.

Until next time!

~Alyssa