Sienna's first jump school

I'm usually pretty impressed by the dedicated people I see running through High Park in the mornings -- but have to admit the one I saw today who was smoking *while* he was running just made me laugh. There was just something so wrong w/ that.

Alright so... Had a jump school at 8am this morn (once again grateful for an awesome boss who's kewl w/ the whole flexible schedule thing hahaha "ummm my jump coach says this is the only time he can teach me, can I come in 3h late?" Sure. :)

So anyway -- tack up while Sienna's munching her hay and then take thoroughly annoyed horse out to the sandring to w/u. "Ummm HELLO?!?!? It's Breakfast time. Did you miss the memo??? Sheesh." Fortunately after a few disgruntled calls to her friends still in the barn, C settled down to the whole work concept. Warm-up went reasonably well -- helps that she was at least a little tired from the last few days (finally!) Just as I was starting to wonder if my coach was going to arrive, I lost C's attention rather dramatically -- sure enough, coach had just walked into the ring n I was totally oblivious :) Says to me "I was watching you warmup while I was stuck in traffic over there" hahaha gotta love being on a main road eh?

One of the first comments "so she's really skinny..." *sigh* gave the background n then things were ok. Yes I know she's skinny, I'm doing everything I can to fix that. Man I wish *I* had that problem!!!! >;-P Anyways - HAVE to get more weight on her but running out of ideas.... Suggestions??? Currently on F&F, Finishing Touch, Oil, BeatPulp, hay cubes, grass, and all the hay she can eat (which is basically all day). Any one of those items should fatten her up, yet still *sigh* She's been thoroughly wormed and her teeth are fine. She IS still gaining, so I guess it's just a process...

Lesson was very much split half and half between flat and jumping. Totally kewl w/ that. What I was very impressed by was that the flat was *dressage* -- as in long leg, get her back up, bend, straight, solid through transitions, etc etc etc. As opposed to w/t/c around the ring to w/u muscles to jump. It was very much a lesson in itself. AND even better -- it was a lesson that followed very much along the same basic things my DQ coach focuses on. Can't remember the last time I had a j coach and a dr coach who actually agree w/ each other! hahaha not exactly the same of course, n obviously not as in-depth as in my actual dr lessons, but basic premise the same and, much to dr coach's amusement, jump coach says "you need to do more dressage to build her strength". hahaha yeah like I haven't been hearing that forever. N, for the record, we DO do dr fairly regularly. I may mutter about it *g* but it DOES happen. hahaha And again, focus on relaxation first (yeah! "without that you have nothing to work with") and from that rhythm, suppleness, contact (hmmmm any of this sounding familiar?). And very close attention to the million and one ways my horse can evade being straight. hahaha man I miss the mirrors! And yes I can feel it (C's not exactly subtle in her evasions!), but it's just so much easier to be able to see.

Anyways -- got some reasonable w/t transitions (they're starting to get more consistent), n while t/c *is* getting better, it's still in the "please don't watch this" stage of things. hahaha ah well -- have a month to fix that. No problem >;-P Really.

So then (now that as far as C's concerned she's finished her quota of work for the day!) we could begin jumping. 1 fence, np. 1 fence w/ a pole in front of it? Still np. Then the games began :) As we worked our way up to two and then three fences in a row -- w/ all sorts of poles in the middle and on landing. He feels the rushing/hollowness I was concerned about is entirely due to lack of strength -- which is why one fence at a time it's not a problem. Hard to put muscle on a too-skinny TB. Anyways -- jumping was some work on my own position and mostly just letting her figure it out. Obviously she's never seen anything like this in her life, but he built it up slowly so it was all good. Some hesitation at times but she gave everything a good shot. Had a tired pony by the end of it! Coach tried to give her a mint and she wouldn't have anything to do w/ it *g* Very poor PR Miss C! hahaha "awwww she doesn't like me." Sheesh. ah well. I do know she doesn't like those kind of mints though -- yes I *would* have a horse who differentiates between what kind of mints she eats! Chestnut TB mare remember? >;-P

Anyways -- basic assessment was horse has good natural movement, albeit a little "TB-downhill" but workable. Great attitude and work ethic. No strength and underweight (no surprise w/ either of those). Good basic form over fences but no real idea of where to put her legs *g* hahaha so there is hope :) Not too bad for my 1$ pony eh?

Down side to starting work late is *ending* work late. The afternoon is just dragging on and on and on :( Boooo Ah well -- such is life.