2023 & 2024 Riding Journey

#31 Jumping Cordell Again

Once again, I rode Cordell for this lesson, and both Vivie and Friend were there.  Friend was on Mariah again and Vivie on Rugar, and we were all in the outdoor arena.

Seeing as the set up was the same as last time, I made the assumption that we were probably going to be doing some jumping and so I started in on a bit of a warm up before my trainer spoke to me.  I walked around a bit, and halted Cordell to make sure he was staying off the bridle.  He did well with all that, so I started gaiting him, and that's when my trainer spoke to me.

I'd just started gaiting him, and I think done one circle, when she said something like "That's good Abby, now we want to be doing this running walk but we want him to soften in his neck and stretch out."

So, that's what we worked on in the running walk. Cordell would give to the bridle willingly, and I tried to make sure to remember to thrust my hands down like I was pushing a wheelbarrow.  My trainer said I had to find the length of rein that would allow him to work over his back as he should, but not have anything longer than that.  It really wasn't as long as you would think it'd be.  Also, if he was stretched out nicely and then started to speed up / stiffen up, I was to bring him down to walk, and then start again.

My trainer also reminded me not to let my elbows get stuck sticking out, but to make sure that they moved as needed.  She also said something so interesting about having a set length of rein for a horse to stretch into.  If you had that steady contact, and then you pushed the horse forward with your leg into it, that is one way of working the horse from 'back to front', which is what we want, not 'front to back'.  Cordell would meet the steady contact of the rein and give to it, which was a neat feeling.  Then, to keep him from stiffening up, all I had to do was make sure to push him forward with my leg into the bridle.  'Front to back' would be pulling on the reins to try to get a horse into a headset, for example.  

So, we got some good moments of stretching and it was fun to play with.  I always like working on that type of stuff.  Then my trainer told me to do a little bit of cantering.

So I went and did some cantering.  Cordell actually did really good at keeping the suspension in his canter like he should.  With Cordell, if he's not keeping the suspension, his canter is so flat you wonder if you're cantering.  But if he has the suspension he should have, it feels slightly bouncy and weird-ish, but not terribly uncomfortable.  

We cantered both directions, then I walked him out for a bit, and then my trainer asked if we were ready to do some jumping. I told her I thought so.  She told me to go ahead and give Cordell a halted break to give his muscles a chance to rest, as properly carrying himself can be a lot of work for him.

So we halted and took a break while my trainer lined us out on what we were going to be doing next.  This week's course was a type of figure 8 in terms of the turns made and the way we were going to be jumping.

First, you were to come from the left off the fence to jump the log standard jump going southeast.  Then you were to loop around to the right to jump the telephone logs going northeast.  Then you were to make a turn to the left to come around to do the log standard jump again, and so on.  So your turns were always alternating from left to right and back again.  

If that sounds confusing, well, don't worry.  I was confused at first too.  My trainer lost me when she was describing what we were going to be doing.  I was going to ask her after she finished, but I didn't end up having to.

My trainer said we were going to be doing the first two jumps in trot (or running walk, in Cordell's case) to let the horses see the jumps, and then we were going to pick up the canter. Ideally, if we were looking to where we were going over the jump, the horses would change leads over the jump for us for the next turn. If they didn't, the wide turns we were going to be doing would help us as we came to trot / running walk to pick up the canter again.

So, the focus of this exercise was on changing leads, whether over the jump or on the turns. The jumps themselves were quite small.

My trainer chose Friend to go first, so I watched her and that was how I figured out what our course was. She and Mariah did lovely, they looked so nice! Then it was Cordell and I's turn.

Our first two jumps went well in running walk, and we picked up the canter. We were not as nice and fluid as Friend had been. We had to figure some stuff out, but it wasn't too bad. I didn't look over the jump enough to tell Cordell where we were going next, so we didn't get lead change over the jump that I remember.

One of the things Cordell would do was an ugly shuffle when we were changing leads and my trainer has me push him through that. We also just had to make sure to keep our canter going good.

After that, we took a break while Friend did her next round. My trainer raised the log standard jump, but only by raising the one side that had been set down, so it still wasn't very big, only a little over a foot high. Once again, my trainer wanted us to do the first two jumps in trot / running walk before picking up the canter.

Once again Friend did well, and Mariah began to pick up the leads over the jumps too. On their last jump, Friend looked to the right just before the jump, and the line that Mariah was on wasn't right anymore. Despite that, she still changed leads for Friend, and so she was rewarded for that by the ending of the jumping.

This last round of jumping was also better for Cordell and me. Before we started my trainer reminded me that I needed to stay back and just let Cordell do his thing. He would do his best to find the distance; but he would have to adjust and so I was to stay up there quietly and close my leg as needed to say, "Yes, I see you're trying, keep going and jump it." My trainer said it would be better for me to be sitting on his back than to throw myself forward.

That and looking where we were going after the jump to help him get the lead were on the two main things I kept in mind as I went to jump him. It was not easy to resist the urge to leap forward onto his neck, as what he does under you to make the distance feel so weird. But I made it, and if I remember right, we started to get lead changes over the jumps. Overall, it was our better round in general. After a jump over the log standard where Cordell picked up the canter on the right lead voluntarily after the jump, we called it good.

My trainer was pleased with both Friend and I in our jumping. She said when you jump Cordell higher, that shuffle / adjusting in front of the jump goes away, but it's his way of making the distance, and good for teaching little kids.

Overall, it was a useful exercise and I liked it really well! Cordell was good as gold. 

Actual lesson 10/10/2023