Jumping at Platinum

Went up to Platinum this morning with Lindsay K to take a jumping lesson.  She rode Gracie and I rode Pico. (Lindsey Joy came with us and rode Demi, but she has a sore neck, so only walked around.)  Started out with poles on the ground.  Goal is to trot along and just ignore the poles, keeping the tempo the same.  The right tempo on Pico is really really slow.  When he slows down he lengthens his stride and begins to engage his hindquarters.  Until then he rushes around with very very short steps, legs going all over the place.  

The poles on the ground turned into cross rails, then cross rails with flowers and pumpkins in front of them, and finally into tiny little verticals.

Big take-away -- I have to put my leg on way before the jump -- like 20 or 30 feet in front of the jump.  I also have to leave my reins long, even when his head pops up. Go to the leg first for steering, then the reins.  If they are spooking (which Pico actually doesn't) the leg on will help them focus on the jump whereas going to the reins focuses them on the reins or the spooky thing and they forget there is a jump.

Long reins, lots of leg, straight after the jump.

It was very fun to watch Lindsay ride Gracie.  Her trot was looking great.  Canter was iffy.  Her jump was fairly nice when Lindsay used a huge amount of leg.  Even at its worst though the upside down deer jump is gone.  She looks like a dressage horse these days, which is kind of cool.