Kip seems to get better every ride, with no help from me. This guy is so smart, it is scary.

Our lessons have been gymnastics for the last month or so -- with winter setting in, keeping rides interesting is hard. Our lesson last night was extra fun. We have been working on transitions in between jumps. So we started with 18" cavaletti 3 canter strides apart. The exercise is come in (straight) at a trot, land, transition to a walk, and then hop out. Then Canter in, trot transition, hop out; third, canter the whole thing. The key to this exercise is for me to SIT UP for heaven's sake. It's eighteen inches after all, no need for a crest release.

Add to that a bounce. So, enter canter, cavaletti, three strides, cavaletti, land on left lead, sharp left, 2' bounce. (that is an in-and-out with no stride in between) . That was cake, Kip is super catty and snapped his feet up nice and tight through the bounce. Add to that - land on right lead, right turn, down the long side (Keep that canter forward and bouncy) sharp right to cross-bar on the diagonal, land in left lead, down the long side, left turn over another cross bar.

That is a lot of thinking. One of the challenges of a smart horse is they have opinions about what they want to jump and in what order. Kip "locks on" to any jump we have even the barest line to, and I have a hard time convincing him that that is not, in fact, our jump. So I need to get a lot more precise in seeing the line. Something I have not been really great at in the past. Part of this is sitting up, and going deep into the corners. Since most of my past experience is with Jumpers, I am used to cutting those corners, and jumping out of a bending line, taking the fence where ever will get me closer to my next fence. Two problems with that are, Kip is green and still figuring out where his feet go, so he needs to come in nice and straight; and I am not riding Jumpers, and that is not how you ride Stadium. Old habits, and all that.

This week's lesson: SIT UP. Put on your leg, and support that canter.