Not just Rolex weekend!

Of course everyone is excited that Rolex weekend is finally here.....  However, this weekend is double exciting for me since Jan Byyny is in town coaching at Rolex, we are able to get together for lessons.  Jan originally had two horses headed for Kentucky's 4* this year but sadly, both had to be withdrawn.  The good news, both horses will return to competition this late summer/ early fall.  She has a wonderfully written blog series on the Rolex web site if you want to read more.

Lesson Day 1:  Thursday April 26th: 
Thursday was a jump day for us.  Jenn O'Neill and her upper level horse, Lewis, joined us for a lesson.  Jan asked me if I had anything specific I wanted to work on.... then paused and said that she had something in mind.  She wanted me to work on putting the numbers together.  I said, "Sure!  That sounds great!"  And in my mind, that sounded easy enough. 

Well, I did not know that these two little white boxes Maggie owns could be so evil!  LOL.  Jan had Jen and I canter the boxes on 5 strides, 4 strides, and 6 strides.  Jan mixed the numbers up and I quickly learned that adjusting the canter was essential and I learned that my canter was not very adjustable!  Needless to say, those of you who know Frankie can imagine that the 5 and the 4 were way easier than adding for the 6!  And doing the 6 strides did not mean pulling all the way down to the 2nd box with her running through my hand like a fire breathing dragon!  I am sure you are getting a visual! The exercise was to teach us react, almost before you landed in some cases, especially on the 6!  One time I actually got 7.  Well, getting 7 strides was not the exercise but what I learned was that I was unaware of the canter I needed to get the 6 strides until it was too late.

Next, we incorporated this to a 3'+ vertical to a 3'+ oxer line set on 7 strides.  We had to do the 7, 8, and 6 strides, both vertical to oxer then oxer to vertical.  I was happy that Frankie was getting better and the canter had really improved.  Lewis was really adjustable and they made this exercise look really easy. 

From there we did the same thing but jumped a 4' vertical on the diagonal line and from that jump we had to adjust the canter to get the 5 or the 6 strides to a 4' vertical out of the turn down to a 4' oxer.  This was tricky for me because it was out of a turn and when I "add" it is from pulling at the base of the fence from not seeing a distance and usually it's not on purpose!   It is at this moment that I panic and take my leg off.  The outcome is usually not ideal.  Luckily, all the work we did prior set us up for success.  I was able to adjust the canter before my turn to the first vertical and stay in that canter when we landed so the last two strides to the oxer, I was not pulling but supporting.  It felt great.  Had we started trying to do this with the jumps at this height, I would not have been successful and can only imagine how disastrous it would have been. 

Jan said she knew by watching me go at the two Pine Top's, Southern Pines, and Fair Hill that this was an issue that had to be addressed and as it turns out was my undoing at Fair Hill.  The "soft" jump into the corner combination, my lack of response, combined with me not believing in the adding stride then supporting with my leg, caused the first miss at the corner.  The second miss was my line.  I made the same mistake at the sunken road where I picked up my 3rd stop.  I came to the "A" element of the sunken road with a powerless canter.  I have a better feel today of a slow, balanced canter that has power- and that I can believe in, and I realize that was NOT the canter I had at Fair Hill. 

Friday we will have a flat lesson and I am sure it will be just as eye opening and something tells me there will be a lot of working on the canter!