Gaining Gumption With Grids
Admittedly, I'm still mentally recovering from this summer's various crashes and TheHorseShowThatShallNotBeNamed. I've been doing a ton of flatwork and keeping the jumping to a minimum. I jumped 2'6" for the first time in a long time last week, and while Dino absolutely attacked the fence and I saw my distance 7 strides out, I was still nervous about it and only jumped that high because Michael was there to jump crew for me.
Basically, I need to get my guts back. Dino is totally ready to jump bigger fences again, as evidenced by his "I Will Eat You For Breakfast" attitude any time I point him at a fence.
So today, I built myself a grid.
I decided this would be a good way to go since in a grid, my only responsibility is to keep my leg on and stay out of the way. I can start gaining back my confidence without having to worry about getting the perfect spot, keeping a perfect pace, or even really steering.
The grid I chose consisted of a bounce to a one-stride to another one-stride. The first time I sent Dino over, he jumped the bounce and then slammed on the brakes, his thought process being something like: "OMG SO MANY JUMPS IN A ROW WHAT DO I DO!?" So we came around and tried again, this time making it through the whole grid, but it wasn't pretty. Dino stepped on a pole or two and pretty much just bungled his way through.
This, apparently, did not do wonders for his confidence. After a somewhat-unpleasant first go through the whole grid, Dino was not too excited about going through again, and the next time around we came to an abrupt stop at the first element. I found myself starting to succumb to negative thoughts. "I knew this would happen. I shouldn't have tried." being the prominent one. Thankfully, I noticed what I was doing before it went too far, and realized that it was not time to give up, it was time to put on my big girl panties and RIDE.
So I came at the grid again. And again. And walked him over the bounce. And came again. And trotted the bounce and then stopped at the first in-and-out. And came again. And eventually we made it through the entire grid. We jumped the entire grid three times in a row and each time Dino became more and more confident, realizing that the poles would tell him exactly where to jump. The best part was that the grid ended in a 2'9" vertical, the highest we've jumped since the HorseShowFromHell. While I'm still not sure if I'm ready to tackle 3' courses again quite yet, today's trials and tribulations gave me a huge boost in confidence. The fact that I needed to be confident to give Dino the assurance he needed to do his job was the deciding factor in today's jump school. There was no room for being a weenie when my pony needed me to grow a pair to help him through a new exercise.
The moral of the story is, if you find yourself riding like a total pansy, go jump a grid.
Basically, I need to get my guts back. Dino is totally ready to jump bigger fences again, as evidenced by his "I Will Eat You For Breakfast" attitude any time I point him at a fence.
So today, I built myself a grid.
I decided this would be a good way to go since in a grid, my only responsibility is to keep my leg on and stay out of the way. I can start gaining back my confidence without having to worry about getting the perfect spot, keeping a perfect pace, or even really steering.
The grid I chose consisted of a bounce to a one-stride to another one-stride. The first time I sent Dino over, he jumped the bounce and then slammed on the brakes, his thought process being something like: "OMG SO MANY JUMPS IN A ROW WHAT DO I DO!?" So we came around and tried again, this time making it through the whole grid, but it wasn't pretty. Dino stepped on a pole or two and pretty much just bungled his way through.
This, apparently, did not do wonders for his confidence. After a somewhat-unpleasant first go through the whole grid, Dino was not too excited about going through again, and the next time around we came to an abrupt stop at the first element. I found myself starting to succumb to negative thoughts. "I knew this would happen. I shouldn't have tried." being the prominent one. Thankfully, I noticed what I was doing before it went too far, and realized that it was not time to give up, it was time to put on my big girl panties and RIDE.
So I came at the grid again. And again. And walked him over the bounce. And came again. And trotted the bounce and then stopped at the first in-and-out. And came again. And eventually we made it through the entire grid. We jumped the entire grid three times in a row and each time Dino became more and more confident, realizing that the poles would tell him exactly where to jump. The best part was that the grid ended in a 2'9" vertical, the highest we've jumped since the HorseShowFromHell. While I'm still not sure if I'm ready to tackle 3' courses again quite yet, today's trials and tribulations gave me a huge boost in confidence. The fact that I needed to be confident to give Dino the assurance he needed to do his job was the deciding factor in today's jump school. There was no room for being a weenie when my pony needed me to grow a pair to help him through a new exercise.
The moral of the story is, if you find yourself riding like a total pansy, go jump a grid.
Awesome! I bet it felt great those last few times. Kudos for sticking with it after all your negative experiences.
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