2022 Riding Journey

#18 Jumping Twister

(Note:  Apparently I wrote this chapter but literally forgot to publish it.  So, here it is now, a bit late.)  

So, somewhat to my surprise, it was Twister who I got to ride for this lesson.  I haven't ridden him since January, and the last time I did, it wasn't pretty if you'll remember.

Since then it's been Riggs and Cordell, but mostly Mariah.  Part of the reason being that Twister is used for the younger kids, although I believe my trainer makes sure he maintains / makes progress on his higher training.  

But yeah, my trainer assigned me Twister to ride, and I wasn't sure how it would go.  I was pretty sure it would go better than it did last time, because my head was more 'in the game', but other than that...

I was supposed to be having this lesson with Anna, (remember her from the last lesson), but she was either late in arriving or I was early in finishing tacking up.  Whatever the reason, I was mounted before she had even arrived, so my trainer told me to go to the outdoor to warm up, and that she'd be there when Anna was ready to ride. 

This was exactly what I wanted.  It gave me time to work with Twister in my own way and get used to him before the real lesson started.  

One thing I kept at the forefront of my mind was to make sure he didn't talk me out of things.  Mariah will flat out resist if she doesn't want to something, but Twister will try doing something else to make you forget what you wanted him to do in the first place.  For example, if you're trying to get him to trot, he'll suddenly try to pull away from the fence or go crooked on you.  You'll try to correct him, and before you know it, you'll be arguing about straightness with him instead of trotting.  

So, I'd have to be firm with him, especially when it came to going forward.  I also knew that I would have to try to make sure he kept up a faster walk, instead of just lazing along that both he and I like to do.  

Now remember, I've been riding Mariah consistently for the last couple of months. Compared to her, Twister feels big, gangly, and unresponsive XD. His trot was what threw me off the most. His strides were so much longer, and in a way, more powerful than Mariah's. It took some practice to get used to that.

After a bit of a tussle, he figured out that I wasn't going to let him get away with being crooked and not trotting when I asked. After that, I didn't have hardly any trouble with the transitions, and I'm glad I got that cleared up.  

When my trainer came out with Anna, she said my warm up looked good and asked if I'd cantered yet.  I said no, so she told me to go have a canter around. 

It was pretty easy to get him into the canter, and the canter itself was nice.  He doesn't toss his head against the reins as much now, and if he does, it's probably because of your hands.  

After that, it was time to do some jumping.  My trainer had me jump the pile of telephone poles on him, and that was all that we jumped the whole time. 

Honestly, the first time we went to the jump felt so weird.  I was just ready in case he tried to go to the left or the right, like I would be on Mariah.  I felt like I had to / should be doing something, but there was nothing for me to do, he was taking me to the jump.  He didn't break into canter, but he never hesitated. 

My trainer told me that I was riding him as if he was Mariah, and that I could just let him go.  What I really needed to be thinking about was which way I was going after the jump.

After two or three times coming into trotting, she had me ask for canter and come into it canter.  The first round was good, I think, but I forgot to think about which way I was going.  Plus, I kinda confused Twister with my jump route, because I was going between some other jump stuff.  The second time was better.

We took a break, and then started jumping it coming in from the left.  This is my harder side to turn, and also Twister's.  The first three-ish jumps, we kept falling in just a little bit more, so that the line to the jump was getting smaller.  Plus, he had his head tilted to the right.  

On the (third?) jump, where our line was short, my trainer was like, "Don't do that again."  XD  

She wanted me to use my left rein and leg to get him to bend the correct way, plus stick to the fence longer before turning for the jump.  I was not to let him get away with that falling in stuff, we were not going to do that.

We'd started out trotting, but after one or two times, my trainer had us cantering.  After my trainer had me stop, and told me what I had to do to make him straight,  the next three or four jumps were messy, but they worked.

It took me a little bit to realize that not only could I be more aggressive with my aids than I could on Mariah, I had to be with Twister.  But once I realized that, I was like, "No Twister, we're not doing this".  And it took persistence each time, but our jumps had a good line.  

The second to last jump probably would have been our last one, but I made one mistake.  I 'leaped' ahead of him with my shoulders, that is, I 'jumped' in my two point before he did.  This threw him off balance and he tapped / stumbled because of the poles.  

So, that wasn't our last jump, we went around again, and this time it was pretty much perfect.  We went in cantering, I kept him from falling in, we got a good line, and I stayed up in my two point like I should've before.

It was pretty nice to have a horse that just takes you to the jump, but it was also weird.

During walk breaks and at the end of the ride, I was able to coax Twister down into a stretch.  It was so amazing to feel his back come up!  

Actual lesson 6/14/2022