Jumping!!

Izzy was amazing this morning!! (Sorry for the joyous outburst, but I'm having a fab day.)

I set some jumps this morning, then got her out, lunged her briefly, and hopped on to see what would happen. Let me just say that Izzy LOVES the big arena. She walked and trotted nicely, and when I asked her to canter, she LEAPED into it. She nearly galloped down the long side. She isn't usually this forward, so I thought, "Huh, this is a good opportunity to work on lengthen/shorten in the canter." And it was. She's not really quick about responding to me, but she gets it. This is progress!

The jumps I set were about 2'3"ish, so the highest we've jumped together. Irie's mom came over and set one down to a cross rail for us to see if she remembered jumping. Oh boy did she! Again, I was taking advantage of Izzy's forwardness (and staying ahead of my leg-ness) and we had beautiful approaches and glorious jumps. One time I sat down too early and caused her to take the rail down with her back legs :-( , but I tried to keep it together other than that. I mean, she's doing so well that I can start to focus on my form without freaking out about her, which is amazing.

Oh, and Izzy's favorite thing about the new place remains hand grazing after a workout. Fah Bu Lous!!

Oh, AND we're riding in a dressage clinic this weekend. Izzy's gorgeous dressage tack is sparkling and I'm going to break out the fancy new fly bonnet that we haven't used yet. So exciting! (Except that right after the clinic, I'm going on a trip with my mom and sister and won't be able to ride for 4 whole days. Sadface.)

PS I think I have someone lined up to take pictures of us at the clinic. Be happy!!