Simple jump lesson, 5/19/07

I set up two jumps for today's lesson. But to back up, Thursday I rode Mercury outside because we were having nice weather. He was an idiot. After he spooked at a chicken two fences away (a chicken!), and then spooking at the chicken scared him into spooking at a cone on the ground we'd been past, oh, 200 times, I went in and put him on the lunge line in side reins, brought him back outside, where he proceeded to: 1) not make a round circle - ever - in the next 45 minutes; 2) not transition or consistently move his feet, including lots of stumbling like he had jello-Gumby legs; 3) not be able to not bend to the outside; and 4) not run around with his head up in the air like a giraffe. It was agonizing. I was so mad I was ready to sell him, and Friday I called and meekly asked what kind of lesson Bob wanted on Saturday since I can't even lunge my own horse.
So I set up these two jumps, because I wasn't even sure we'd jump, given my Thursday humilation (Bob was out mowing, so he got to watch the whole horrible thing). I set ground poles on either side, 3' away, and Bob thought that was hilarious because it would make Mercury jump a 6' spread. Note to the inexperienced, do not set your ground poles at trot distance.
We actually had a great lesson. Bob laughed at me for a while about Thursday and said that I need to do two things: 1) calm down - I get so worked up and that doesn't help because then Mercury just gets more upset; and 2) get help - if something is going wrong, and I know it's going wrong, then ask for help. He said it doesn't do me any good to wait and ask on Saturday because then the problem is over with, more problems have developed because I couldn't handle the first problem, AND I don't listen to the actual solution to apply it, I just hear "that was so simple" and then beat myself up for not thinking of it. Bob said it's good I can identify there's a problem, but that it's normal that I can't think of the solutions (and normal that if you don't fix it, one problem turns into 2, then 3, then 4 ....) He said you have to learn the solutions from a trainer.
We worked on the same old things, only over different jumps (because of the ground poles):
1) Head up - do not look down
2) Nice impulsion coming in, but don't race to the jump
3) Sit a few strides out
4) Hands forward a couple strides out
5) Half halts a few strides out
6) SQUEEZE all the way through
My legs just completely disappear most times.
And suddenly, today, after all these times Bob has said it, it finally made sense. I don't RIDE the jumps. I sit on Mercury and wait for him to do it. I don't do those 6 things. I just sit there, like a passenger. When I actually ride him, he says "oh, ok" and then we both do it.
When Bob put three poles after the jump, and Mercury jumped around, I said "why is he doing this?" and then realized, as Bob was saying "well, how many times has he done this before?" I keep forgetting Mercury is a green horse. I expect him to act like a trained horse.
I could feel the difference between when he jumped but I hung on his mouth or jumped ahead and was heavy on his neck, and when he made a round arch because I gave him space and the impulsion to do it. The round arch was sooooo smooth!
Oh yeah, and think sit up straight. I begin tilting forward pretty far out, to go into my showjumper position.
He got tired because he's fat and out of shape.
For next week - I am supposed to lunge him before I ride him to get some of the attitude out. I can lunge him over jumps to help him learn where to take off from and how high he needs to jump. He is lazy about knocking his legs (that is not just me messing him up). And I need to make my side reins progressively tighter during the lunge (about every 10 laps).
I need to ride him more often, which is hard because work is heating up and I am stressed out at home because of the dogs and work being done on my house.
If I get mad, call Bob.
Ride dressage up to a stride away from the jump.
I think that was it. It was a great lesson - lots of progress, but also a lot of the same messages. I felt good afterwards.