XC School - Go forward!!!

Last night we had a flat lesson with Danny. Lesson learned there was to make sure Legacy is off my leg. I need to be quicker in getting the response off my leg. I need to start my workouts with leg yielding and forward and downward transitions...if I don't get the response I'm looking for (left, right, forward, back) then I need to spur him immediately until I get what I want. I can't give him an inch. Then we worked on getting him to give his right jaw. He's tricky because he appears that he's soft, but he locks his right poll and jaw against my hand...and I lock my hand against him. When going to the right I need to continually ask him to give and watch his jaw muscle to see if it is tense. He has also started to open his mouth and will stick his tongue out when he's mad. I rode without a flash noseband so that I can really identify whether he's soft or not. When on a circle I need him to give his jaw left and right and still remain on a straight line.

So today was the big xc school at Unicorn. He started off really sticky into a few jumps. Then Danny kicked our butts on the big hill bank complex. He brought a skinny chevron and we started by jumping up a bank, go over the hill and jumping the chevron at the bottom of the hill. And we started with a stop...then he started to drill into my head that I just need to make sure he goes forward...wherever he goes it needs to be forward. So we came around and I got after him a bit more and he took the chevron and almost popped me out of the tack!! Then he moved the chevron to the top of the hill and we jumped it both directions...again started with a stop...I continued to get ahead of his motion instead of staying behind him and driving him forward. We got through that as well and started to get into the swing of things. Then we tried to go over the big hill on the bank and drop off the bank...Legacy had a fit...and I let him for a while. I realized I don't know how to use my whip and I need to learn to bridge my reins so I can let go and hit him. I had a bit of trouble getting him to drop off this bank...then Danny had me send him across the field galloping....it seemed like that turned a switch. We got over the hill bank, 2 strides to the chevron a few times and he really started to get in a groove. I realized that I think I was trying to ride too perfectly and worry about getting a perfect stride to every jump, but I can't do that b/c sometimes it's going to be midstride and I still have to get him to move forward. We went through the sunken road and he was great!! It felt like my old horse...he took me right to the jump. I think I got too complacement and didn't ride him at all at Rubicon. I thought the course was going to be relatively easy until we got to the water, but I need to realize that I need to focus and ride aggressive from the warmup on now. Training level was easy for us and I was just a passenger...I need to relearn how to ride him and trust him and myself to make the decisions.

S-L-O-W D-O-W-N my brain

So we had a really good lesson tonight with Danny....I guess I should say I learned a lesson about my thinking (a lesson that's not new to me, but I need to be reminded often). First of all, the mini-boot camp worked...his canter felt awesome. And as long as I keep him straight using my right leg and right rein (both directions) he goes straight and stays soft. I need to learn to get him off my right leg and not let him bulge against me...I just can't tolerate it and have to realize when it's happening. Well all that prep work was supposed to set us up for XC...as soon as I saw the combos that were set up, my mind and heart started racing and of course it transferred right to him. I couldn't get him to walk...we tried to just calmly go up and down our small bank and it was like the devil was chasing him...then he had a slight hopping fit...and then I got my ass kicked. I need to slow down in my mind and not make such a big deal of new exercises. After we had the runout at Fairhill off the bank to the corner, now in my head corners are terrible and I try and micro manage...ugh. At this point I'm thinking we aren't even going to get to the exercise since we can't even calmly go through the small banks. At this point I'm pissed that I've lost my mind and I'm causing the problem...I'm overthinking and just need to reset my brain. So we go to the exercise. We start by coming up the ramp of the bank, turning right, dropping off the bank, one stride to the skinny coop. We get through it and then we move onto dropping off the 3' bank, right bending line, 3 strides to the corner. The first time we drop off the bank and he hops to the right and we never even get close to the corner....second time, same thing. So the next time, Danny says, "Just open your right rein and go to the corner", well what do you know when I got out of his way he soars over the corner, no hesitation, no problem. I need to trust him...he likes his job and he wants it to be his decision...he doesn't want to be forced. So turns out I was micromanaging and trying too hard to yank on the right rein and right it to perfect instead of just letting in happen....sometimes I need to stop thinking and use a bit of instinct. I need it to be more routine and not be a big deal. It started to feel not so rushed...the first few times we did it it felt like it was a bounce instead of 3 strides, it started to get less and less hectic in my mind and I started to feel like I had time in between. I need to school that enough that it becomes second nature and I don't have to think. It was definitely a good lesson that was needed.