Last night I had my stadium jumping lesson with Steph. We worked on riding a course along with my continuing to correct my position by waiting for Smash to jump along with still keeping my leg on and looking ahead/counting strides about 8 strides out versus when I'd normally start looking 5 strides away. Right now I can't seem to find my take off point until 3 strides away and this is something I should be able to see 5 strides away or more so I can adjust if I need do. Steph explained the basic foundation for seeing the take off point though is a steady and rhythmic stride. Something you need to set up from the beginning and just continue to keep steady and continually get around the course after each jump.
A jumping course is approx. 80 seconds long and only 10 are in the air over a jump. 70 seconds or the majority of the time is spent doing flat work. So the more you work on getting a steady rhythm and that good canter the better your approach and jumps will be.
We worked on keeping my leg on for the approach, too. I noticed I was only tending to put my leg on if I felt Smash suck back or if I saw a take off spot I wanted her to take and instead I need to just put my leg on about 8 strides out for support and to keep my rhythm steady. This will also help me through my turns so I'm not slowing down or adjusting my rhythm drastically and then hurrying to get my good canter again 2-3 strides away.
What I loved about my lesson was as I rode I did notice I was starting to recognize the things Steph was talking about. And I noticed I'm not as scared any more of jumping or nearly as tentative/worried - I'm feeling comfortable and confident and trusting Smash will jump 99% of the time as long as I sit up and give her a good ride. Wednesday we will go practice cross country again and then next week we'll switch things up. Monday we will go XC and Wednesday I'm going to do a practice show! Waredaca is doing an evening schooling show that you can ride dressage and do stadium rounds (as many of either or both as you want) on the 20th for CHEAP! My Mom will be participating in a dressage clinic that same evening (unrelated) and so after she's done I'm going to hop on Smash and do a couple jump rounds and pretend it's the show that will take place that following Sunday. I LOVE that Waredaca has this opportunity! And I just can't wait to spend $25 on a few jump rounds with a nice BN course to prep me for the show! :D Can we say awesome??
Lastly, I did test out the Helmet cam last night. I need to make a couple modifications and it was a little annoying because I could feel it tugging on me (I think I need a snugger helmet for this to work better honestly) but it did work and I did get some cool footage! I cut down the video from 30min to 35 seconds for viewing pleasure:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQk8Sniv8Qc&feature=plcp
I muted the video since the camera was hitting my helmet or something and made this clicking noise the entire time. But I'm pretty stoked it worked and I can't wait to try it out tomorrow for XC!
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