Onwards & Upwards
You have been warned before you read this entry that I have been reading Chapter 2 of my book “Think to Win”. It’s all about speaking aloud what you want and banishing negative statements. So if this sounds a little American to you probably best to skip this section :)
Since the New Year Sam and I have started to seriously focus on our jumping. We are having a jumping lesson every week and I am starting to remember how much I LOVE it! The first couple of lessons I was still terrified about jumping anything “big” i.e. higher than 2ft9 (how embarrassing) but that fear is beginning to recede and now I am much more focused on improving mine and Sam’s technique. This was perfectly illustrated in my lesson last week (where all the photos come from) where it turned out that the jump at the end of the grid was the largest Lucy has had us jump (3ft3) and I didn’t even notice!
The areas that are our biggest challenges and which I am therefore every focused on improving (this is the positive talk I warned you about …) are:
Sam - is getting much braver and keener to jump everything and not run out. He is very fast still going into the fences but this is partly his own natural stride i.e. bloody quick and so I need to learn to work with it. Sam just needs more and more practice so that he makes a better shape over the fences and doesn’t dangle his little legs at the front (very green – bless him :) I also need to work on making the canter bouncier and more contained as we come into the fence. This will of course help him with greater propulsion to get us over the fences.
Sam dangling his little legs (over the big fence)
Since the New Year Sam and I have started to seriously focus on our jumping. We are having a jumping lesson every week and I am starting to remember how much I LOVE it! The first couple of lessons I was still terrified about jumping anything “big” i.e. higher than 2ft9 (how embarrassing) but that fear is beginning to recede and now I am much more focused on improving mine and Sam’s technique. This was perfectly illustrated in my lesson last week (where all the photos come from) where it turned out that the jump at the end of the grid was the largest Lucy has had us jump (3ft3) and I didn’t even notice!
The areas that are our biggest challenges and which I am therefore every focused on improving (this is the positive talk I warned you about …) are:
Sam - is getting much braver and keener to jump everything and not run out. He is very fast still going into the fences but this is partly his own natural stride i.e. bloody quick and so I need to learn to work with it. Sam just needs more and more practice so that he makes a better shape over the fences and doesn’t dangle his little legs at the front (very green – bless him :) I also need to work on making the canter bouncier and more contained as we come into the fence. This will of course help him with greater propulsion to get us over the fences.
Sam dangling his little legs (over the big fence)
Janey illustrating the size of the fence (slight poetic licence involved …)
Sam illustrating how much he likes jumping & how fast we go
Me - I also have my challenges that I am going to be working on. As you can imagine, after not jumping regularly since I was a teenager, I am a little rusty and my position leaves a lot to be desired. Using the combined minds of the H&H forum I have come up with a list of areas that I am going to focus on in our next lesson and going forwards. I will provide updates to let you know how we are getting on with the various improvements!
Focus areas to achieve the perfect(ish) jumping position
posted by SMelville @ 2:27 pm
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