Jumping Lesson with PICTURES!!!

OMG. I am so excited to have fabulous jumping pictures. If you have a brain in your head, you're insanely jealous of my luck in having Ellie as a friend. She came out Thursday to take pictures of Izzy and I in the freezing cold and did an absolutely fabulous job, as per her usual.

Without further ado:


We came into the arena and immediately started galloping around. I'd shorten around the ends a little, then let her go really forward down the longer sides. I wanted her forward and in front of my leg.

Zoom zoom zoom!!










Then we started doing transitions to sharpen her up. Gallop. Halt. Trot. Leg yield. Gallop. Walk. I flexed my body left and right and remembered to stay light and balanced over her, using gravity to stay in the saddle instead of sheer deranged-monkey-grip.









Soft, forward, responsive. That's how we want to start a lesson. Look how shiny her browband is, too. Mmhmm. Someone broke out the brass polish this week.













And we're off! The exercise was a line of bounces. We were working on staying balanced and letting the horse do her job. We started brilliantly.










Then we had a little role confusion. Izzy says "OH MY GAWD that is big, mom".

Straightness. It's important.









Of course, if you miss your line in a grid like this, Izzy can jump pretty darned high. Look at us go! I'm absurdly proud of this picture, even though the reason we're jumping so high is because I screwed up.









Two things:

1) While not perfect, look how much better I'm riding. Amazing what lessons can do.

2) I actually don't mind how I look in breeches right now. Could be better, but has been worse. Winning!