Jumping

Headed up to Platinum this morning to jump -- me on Pico and Lindsey on Demi.  (Note - even Rochelle says it's time for Lindsey to ride more than Demi.)  

Pico was awesome, especially considering I hadn't ridden him since last Sunday at Platinum.  He settled down right away and found an okay trot.  Same advice as always -- lots of leg into the jump, lots of leg out of the jump and go straight.  Time to wear spurs so he really does listen to my leg.  Funny that less than a year ago he would leap away from a touch of my leg and now he is perfectly capable of completely ignoring a boot in the side.  We need to spend 20 or 30 minutes every day on dressage -- bend bend bend and light off the leg.  I had a little okay canter today.  It takes so much leg to put him together so the canter isn't just racing around -- much like the trot experience only faster. :^)  So lots of transitions and bendy exercises in our future.

Came home and rode Gracie around the loop.  We worked on half steps and a little tiny bit of half pass.  The ground is pretty hard though, so she wasn't anything that resembled forward.  Still, the half-steps are fun and really are working their way towards piaffe.  I read an interview of Rafael de Soto on piaffe and passage.  He likes piaffe to be confirmed for at least 6 months before moving on to passage.