What happens when your almost 70 year old (don't tell her that I said her age) mother decides to take a jump lesson? Pretty much the best thing ever. Rolex watch out my mom is coming. First a little bit of background on her. My mom grew up on a ranch and she spent the majority of her adult life on ranches, so she has ridden pretty much her entire life. About three years ago, shortly after my dad was diagnosed with Parkinson's, they had to "retire" from ranching.
Charlie and his bridle charm
I had been after her for a few years to stop riding the young horses. Over her lifetime she has racked up quite a few concessions and it has gotten to the point where if a horse bucks or spooks with her, she black out and falls off. Not a good combination on young horses and why you should wear a helmet. And no, I didn't wear a helmet until I started riding again a few years ago, but that doesn't make it right. But I felt bad that when they stopped ranching they got rid of all of the horses.
My mom is like me, she loves riding and her horses. So last year when they came to visit I thought it would be fun for her to take a lesson and ride. She took a lesson on Charlie. This year, I asked if she wanted to take another lesson and she announced that she only wanted to do it if she could ride Charlie and could jump. I said I would ask S about it. S agreed and so it was set up.
Her jumping was pretty much the cutest thing ever and Charlie was so good (aka lazy). They had a blast and I think if my mom could, she would start riding again. Hopefully, she doesn't announce that she is taking up eventing, because I am pretty sure I would be murdered by my siblings.
I think I am finally starting to figure out this whole jumping thing. Charlie is a fantastic horse, because he is so steady. I can flop and flail around on him and he just keeps jumping. His only fault is he rushes sometimes, but we are really starting to click. I am more confident and this helps me not be as tense. When I relax so does Charlie and I am getting some control over the tempo. We still have rushing moments, but it isn't as bad. In the beginning I felt like I was just hanging on and trying to get my butt out of the saddle. Now, I can feel when the take off is going to happen and I am getting more balanced. I still have a long long long way to go, but it is a start.
Most of this improvement started when S set up a grid for us. It finally gave me a chance to just focus on me. Once I got the hang of things I started getting my balance. And since then I feel like I have been making progress every lesson.
One of the most frustrating things for me is the regression in my riding. When I went of to college I was in fantastic shape and a good rider. I had awesome stickability, oodles of balance, a very still leg, and a light steady hand. Now, I am far from fantastic shape, ok stickability (Stinker hasn't dumped me yet so I still have something), my balance is kind of meh, my legs swing all over the place, and my hands have a mind of their own. My legs are what make me the most crazy. A lot of it has to do with my hips and ankles. I played basketball all through college and destroyed them. When I was in grad school, I started sitting a lot more and exercising less and learned my hips are jacked up. I started having back problems and this led to getting my hips x-rayed. The doctor took one look at the x-rays and said, "Wow, you have a lot of wear on your hips, even for an athlete." Thanks doctor... Back to the point, my hips are super tight and contract my hamstrings, they also . In addition, I have sprained my ankles so many times that I have a drastic reduction in mobility. All of these add up to the fact my heels like to creep up and my legs like to creep forward. None of this adds up to good riding.
Back to the point at hand. My riding isn't where I want it to be, but my jumping is improving. I am lucky to have access to Charlie, because he is a great teacher. As much as I like him I really miss my horse. The little Stinker sees the vet on Monday and I hope that I get a game plan. Right now I feel so lost since I have no idea what is wrong with him. I am crossing my fingers that I will be able to ride him in the clinic next weekend, but I have a sinking feeling that will not happen. I will most likely be riding Pongo. He is a good horse, but not my style. I like them a little hot and he is more on the lazy side. Plus his gaits feel really weird.
Since I don't have any good pictures, I leave you with this video of my little idiot.
Well, Charlie jumped and I stayed on. It wasn't anything big (he could have trotted over it if he wanted), but it was my first time jumping something in a jump saddle. I used to jump everything that my horse would in a Western saddle. I also accidentally jumped in a dressage saddle before I got Stinker. Hazard of riding an ex-jumper in the stadium ring to do a dressage lesson. Anyway, I learned several things today.
1) I am horribly out of shape. Seriously one circle in two point while trotting and I was huffing and puffing. I guess I need to add in more two point and either running or swimming. I much prefer to get my exercise riding Stinker.
2) Two point in canter is a hell of a lot easier than at the trot. Everything is much more balanced and I don't flop as much. Charlie is a saint and doesn't seem to mind when I start flopping around. I think it helps that he loves to jump. I am pretty sure he would do anything to jump.
3) Charlie loves the long spot and I have no concept of timing. If I wasn't precise with my aids and left things up to him he would launch himself from the looooong spot. Sadly this resulted in me not releasing in time. Poor Charlie.
4) While jumping is fun I don't find it as interesting as dressage. This may change, but I think there is a dressage queen hiding out somewhere. And by dressage queen I mean a totally redneck dressage queen. I love dressage and quite frankly the thought of big jumps terrifies me. I might be a horrible eventer but I am game for trying.
Now I leave you with a terrible picture of Stinker. It is quite difficult to get a picture of him when all he wants to do is lick you. How do you end up with a horse that licks??? It is so weird, but he is my little weirdo.
I had my first jump lesson today. It wasn't on Stinker. It was on this handsome fellow.
Please excuse my horrible picture
This is Charlie. He is the opposite of Stinker in many ways. First Charlie is giant 17+ hands compared to Stinker at 15.3. Where Stinker is always forward Charlie can have his lazy moments and he is totally ok with ignoring my leg and me flopping around. Stinker tends to over react to everything. A little leg allow me to half pass 40 feet before I will realize nothing is getting me. But back to the point at hand. Charlie is very different and will help my riding.
Charlie has a very interesting (and sadly probably not that uncommon) story. He was ridden by Phillip Dutton and Kim Severson and has run up to either Intermediate or Advance, or so I have been told. He was then sold to a movie producer and eventually ended up with bad feet and very out of shape. The barn manager was told to go look at him and took the trailer to get him without any idea of what the horse had done. When he got to the barn he was in rough shape and I wasn't sure they would ever get him sound. Fast forward six months he is sound, fat, and sometimes quite sassy.
Anyway, today he was a total gentleman. He let me flop around in my attempts to do two point and didn't take advantage of my lack of balance or finesse. We worked on two-point (which needs a lot more work) and went over a few ground poles. I think I am going to try to bum a few rides on horses that aren't spastic to practice (I am only lessoning on Charlie once a week and that won't be enough to build up my strength). I also really need to work on doing fitness outside of riding, but that isn't as much fun.
The highlight was I finally got to wear my jump vest!!! I might have fallen off of the oldest horse (that is still being ridden) at the barn last fall. I bought the vest shortly after that but due to some swapping of the horses I was riding I never had a chance to use it. I have had it for about 6 months and if I was going to pay $$$$ for it I am going to wear the darn thing.
I leave you with the Stinker looking adorable in purple.
