Horse show update and this week in lessons

Had fun at the horse show on Saturday! Nice weather, although still a little muddy. Wolf and Duncan both behaved and came home with a pretty assortment of ribbons. There were quite a few horses that looked a little shocked to be at a show, with may run outs and refusals in the 2'3" division...some of these riders should have been reading this blog to know how to handle the run outs, and instead of stopping and reassessing and/or letting the horse look at the jump, they would just keep going at a canter and loop back and try again...and again...and again... trying the same thing over and over is just going to get you the same result!

I am still not sure about going to jumping shows this early in the year though...it was awkward to not be able to warm up properly before the classes and to have to get off to get into the show ring, and then get on again to show...and we didn't exactly bring short horses! I so look forward to being outside again!

This week in lessons we will still have some spooky jumps, but it will be more of a jumper course vs the hunter type courses we have been doing. This means some bending lines and complex turns. You still want to get the horse straight to the spooky jumps, so it is important to hold the horse out on the turns and keep control of the horse's shoulder so they are straight when they get to the jumps. To this end we will do some flat work to make sure the horses are listening to the leg aids and bending around the inside leg rather than falling in.

Karen