Yesterday I took Squirrel for a jumping lesson at Warren's. I was a little undecided what to do as neither my dressage or SJ went entirely to plan on Saturday, but decided to jump as I worked him hard on the flat on Tuesday and he was lovely. Besides, it was far to hot for me to be carting jumps around at home, and i really wanted to jump a treble to ensure all confidence was intact.
It proved to be incredibly interesting and a lot of puzzle pieces have clicked into place. Whilst warming up, Squirrel was typically behind my leg, so Warren had me doing trot, 1 stride of walk then canter transitions. BUT the trick was, I had to over emphasise having my shoulders back,to the point I was almost lying in his rump.
The point was that I like to do too much to get Squirrel forwards, which results in me tipping my shoulders forwards, and then he drops off behind me, whereas by keeping my shoulders back, he stays in front of me. The point of the over emphasise comes in in that Squirrel sets me up to do this by collapsing, which tips me forwards anyway. However by over emphasising this, he has no choice but to stay in front of me. Once he learns to do so, i can sit up more as he is less likely to drop me, therefore tipping me forwards. It also means if I get used to sitting like this, when I sit up more in balance, I will be in the correct position.
It really explains a lot to me - the reason that after 2 years, I still struggle to get him in front of my leg is me collapsing, not him being thick as I had privately concluded. Anyway, this progressed to me jumping a course like this. I also had to think about just standing right up in the stirrups instead of folding. We were only jumping 80-90cm and I tend to throw myself forwards - which fits into the above as I put far too much weight over his shoulders, making Squirrel's life far more difficult.
When I jumped the treble, it was very lackluster and pathetic, so Warren had me go through again and flick him with my schooling whip on landing to send him forwards to the next fence. The first time Squirrel was very unimpressed, basically crapper himself and went through the last part. But then when I jumped it again, he landed and took my forwards to the next fence.
I hope i did a decent job of explaining the point of me leaning back, it made a lot of sense to me but quite hard to explain! We finished and had a nice chat about him. I pointed out this explains why when i took a check xc i think had to work so hard to get over the fence, as he just dropped me. I said i had put this down to him not being the boldest horse, and Warren just looked at me in disbelief and sad "that horse is as bold as they come, it's an amazing experience learning to ride a horse like him as it sets you up for life. When it all comes together, there's nothing better than riding a horse like this" :D Then my mother waded in and asked him how far he thinks Squirrel will go. He said it really depends on the rider, then confirmed hew as 15. He reckons we should easily do a few intermediates at least, in the time we have.
He also added, if Squirrel were younger, and he was looking for an advanced horse, he's have no problem putting him on his truck :D he said he's got technique, plenty of scope, trainability and self preservation, and he can gallop, and if he were looking for a badminton horse, this is exactly the kind of horse he would pick! I commented that when i got him, he would never ever stop, would literally jump off any awful stride even if it were dangerous, but now he will stop if it's that bad; and he said he thinks he was scared. That someone took a stick to him and beat him when he stopped. This explains why he used to rush so much too! Horrible to think, that anyone would take such a genuine, kind horse and beat him. Its not like he often stops, only when he really really has to.
Anyway, all set for Milton Keynes on Saturday, then Alfie is being revetted on Tuesday eek!!
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