Post # 101!!!!!

woohoo -- made it past 100 posts!!! hahaha don't know whether to be proud or disturbed by that :) And absolutely amazed by anybody who's actually read all of them! hahaha gold star to all of you!

So interesting comparison the other day... I had a jump lesson and Denny had asked us how we felt about our abilities wrt a certain skill and had us analyze where our skill level was. So I told him where my skill level was and that I felt it was about average and insufficient. If I had to pick only one thing that could be magically fixed wrt jumping, that's what I'd pick. Ok np. Pretty standard stuff. But then later, I was setting fences for another group and there was a new girl, maybe 17 yrs old, in it. They were asked the same question. Her response: "oh I'm great at it!" -- entirely sincere. N I didn't get the impression she was showing off or had an overinflated ego... She just sincerely felt that she had entirely mastered the skill in question. Fair enough. But the interesting thing is, when she was asked to rate her skill level, it was well below where I put mine.

So that set me wondering where the difference in viewpoint comes from... Is it simply age? At 17 (when my abilities would've been very near hers) would I have been equally confident that I was a star? Is it the difference between training w/ someone who continually tells you how good you are, vs training w/ someone who continually helps you to see what you can do to improve? Is it solely that our expectations of ourselves are different? Or is it entirely attitude? -- in which case is it good (positive, confident, etc) or not (hard to learn when you already know everything :)...?

Anyways -- there's your random philosophical moment :) Aren't you glad you tuned in to post #101?

Now yesterday I took Sienna around and led her over some of the baby jumps... Mostly daydreaming about when I'd *eventually* get to jump her for real... Well eventually came sooner than expected :) Yes that's right, today we both cantered for the first time under saddle AND jumped for the first time!!! Woohoo! She was sooooo good :) It helped that when I brought her out she was super-chilled (for the first time ever) so that was a good place to start. Prob had something to do w/ the fact that her buddy was in the ring and also super chilled (buddy had already been lunged for like 20 mins by the time we got there). So hopped on and before too long Si was trotting around like an old school pony (well most of the time anyways -- first time somebody cantered past her was a little exciting :). Cantered, successfully, BOTH directions. The right was a little harder for her, but she gave me the lead willingly enough. And it was actually a really nice canter to sit. Don't get me wrong -- classic TB, downhill, on forehand, etc -- there's a whole lot to work on there, but it def had a rockinghorse thing to it... Which I was thoroughly pleasantly surprised by :)

Yes and then we jumped! First we just trotted over a couple random poles on the ground (not related)... Then half an X hahaha... Then a real X... Not terribly exciting, I know. Not even 2' I don't think. Went back and forth a few times -- no probs. But the point is, she did it! And she did it willingly, and she got the general concept down. And she was chilled about it. Woohoo!!!!

hahaha ok so I realize this entire thing is exciting to nobody but me. But any of you who've worked w/ greanbeans b4 will at least appreciate the experience :) The first time backed, the first time riding w/o a babysitter, and the first jump are always the most exciting moments for me :) The first *anything* is usually a pretty big deal, but those three in particular :) And since Si was backed before I got her, the first two don't apply -- so I'm allowed to be excited about the one that's left :)