Everyone is starting to make plans for 2013. Me, I am making plans for the next day. Similar to what I do as a classroom teacher, I am letting my daily assessment and reflection of my ride tell me what my next steps need to be.
An observation I made about myself this past year is that I ALWAYS jumped in a lesson or under supervision. I always had someone there to “hold my hand” so to say, in case I was making mistakes. With Craig, we’d jump advanced height in our lessons once a week, without question, but if I had to jump that height alone, I found myself questioning whether I should or not do it and fearing that I would make a mistake.
This leads me to where I am now, this winter, jumping alone more often to work on working through situations on my own. I don’t mean that everyone reading this should stop taking lessons, send your help away, and jump alone. For me, jumping alone means having maybe two or three lessons a month and jumping more, or in my case at all, on my own. My husband initially thought this was a horrible idea. I explained to him that it would be fine and that there are people that live on the farm and would be driving past the arena periodically. Also, my friend Maggie, almost always knows when I am riding or is riding with me. I usually text her and my husband on my 15 minute hack back to the barn to discuss mistakes I made, movements that are improving, or opinions Frankie may have had during the ride (and yes…. She can be very opinioned!) My advice to anyone riding a horse anytime is to let someone know you are going out for a ride. So jumping or not, I let people know I am riding.
Craig has said from the beginning that I don’t get to jump enough. I would agree with that. Having only one (upper level) horse does come with its own set of problems. Having another horse to practice jumping 4’ on would be nice but it is not in the cards for me. I am currently not in the market for another horse so here is what we’ve decided will be best for my particular situation.
I will, of course, continue to take jumping lessons. We all need lessons from professionals to continue to improve our riding. I plan to alter my schedule with her somewhat and jump her every 3-4 days. These jump schools will be a combination of flat work or a light trot set and jumping a few jumps or through a grid by myself. It will not take the place of a lesson nor will I jump the same amount of jumps I might in a lesson. This is basically to let Frankie jump and not have every jump school be BIG and it will also let me make a mistake and then allow me to use the tools I have to fix it on my own. By continuing to have lessons, I don’t anticipate practicing bad habits. These jumps won’t be max height but I will be making myself make decisions about my riding and not beat myself up for a whole week about a lesson if I had a bad jump or two. It will allow me to get right back out there and jump again in a few days.
The schedule will change as the competition schedule comes into play but for now, I am not thinking about showing. I am thinking about training my horse and becoming a better rider for her. She deserves the best ride I can give her.
I am happy to report that we went to a local schooling jumper show last weekend BY OURSELVES! Before my first class/ first round, a woman had a bad spill. I was warmed up and ready to go but after watching her fall and lay there waiting for the ambulance, I thought that I could go home cause technically I HAD jumped…. In warm up and Frankie was good. I didn’t leave… (Thank you Lindsay and Drew) Frankie and I were entered in three classes. She was clean in all three, and jumped clean jumps offs and won all three classes. Now, there were not many people there at all but….. I was competing against myself and this time I won…. The me that showed up that day to ride told myself how to go in and ride a smooth round, with soft arms and straight lines. That was the me that won…. I usually find a way to mess it up and this time….THREE times, I did what I needed to do to jump well.
Hope you all are having a nice winter and remembering how fortunate we are to have these wonderful creatures in our lives.
Way to go, Suze!
ReplyDeleteThank you! :)
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