Still Time : Forward

I had the most fabulous lesson EVER with S today :)!!! It was my first lesson in over a month because of France/bad timing/etc. and I was super excited to get some professional help with the problems I've had lately. We started out doing flat work and she was pretty adamant about how much she likes the three-ring for us, which is awesome because I really like it too! It's officially our jumping bit, while the boucher will be reserved for dressage. Only time will tell whether or not the three-ring will work for XC, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Anywho, S was thrilled with how much we've progressed since she last saw us (early December) and was extremely pleased with our canter work especially. We did maybe 5 minutes of trot and canter both ways on a circle, then moved on to jumping back and forth over a baby cross-rail. Limerick was good, though the teensiest bit distracted, which causes him to drift =/

However, today really drove home how important it is to ride to the jump and really get Limerick going in a forward trot. The more energy and impulsion we have, the smoother the whole thing feels and the easier it is for me to ride his jump. Then S added another cross-rail on a diagonal from the first one, which we also did without any problems, other than the drifting. Lim even landed in canter a few times and we cantered on to the next jump without any meltdowns on my part! I really do like cantering jumps and I think I'm finally starting to chill out about the idea, but when I first started, my heart pounded out of my chest and I was a giant ball of nerves.

Next, we made a course of a cross-rail -> cross-rail oxer -> 2-foot vertical -> big cross-rail -> outside line of 2 cross-rails, which went really well when I remembered not to let Limerick putter out in front of the jumps! The lesson was awesome, Limerick jumped the best he's ever jumped (thank you, Rood and Riddle), and I felt like we were really in sync with each other :) For smaller details and to watch parts of the lesson, here's the video that my awesome-possum friends took!