I had a really fun grid work lesson a week or so ago on the worlds best pony! As you all know, we’ve been focusing on flat work quite a lot recently and haven’t done much jumping in the last couple of months, but Roger is just the greatest confidence giver over grids and we built up to what it’s actually quite a decent size spread for me! It was so nice to jump a bit bigger again as I’d quite honestly forgotten how much I enjoy it. (Totally aware this isn’t big in the slightest for a lot of people, but it is for a once-a-week riding school wimp like me!!). You’ll notice I also had a little swap onto another pony called Phoenix in the middle of the lesson, which was to rev him up a bit for another rider as he was struggling to make the distances between jumps (something he should find easy, but was making us both work hard for!). I clearly rode him like a potato - nothing a little bit of rein slipping can’t solve! - but it did the job and he managed to make the distance to the final fence.
After Roger and I had jumped down the final line successfully, the instructor decided we should try it without reins... The last time I jumped without reins was about two years ago, over a single 75cm upright, so maybe it was a tiny bit ambitious to try the entire grid with no hands, including the 90cm spread at the end 🤣 As there was no annoying interference on the reins from me, Roger pinged it a bit more than I was expecting and I totally lost my balance over the spread and thought I was going straight out of the back/side/every door imaginable, but Roger was an absolute legend and managed to manoeuvre himself back underneath me so I could regain my balance round the turn! A few years ago he probably would have got scared by the sudden weight/balance change, dropped a shoulder and helped me on my way, but he was feeling extra kind this lesson and I’m very grateful for it!!! It really makes you realise how much you rely on the weight change from your shoulders/arms being forward when you’re jumping normally!
We had a final pop over the grid (with reins firmly back in place...!) and finished on a really good note. It was a fab way to start the year and really nice to get back into the swing of jumping again!
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QOTD: Do you love or hate grid work?!
Ponies/horses:
Roger - 14hh piebald gelding
Helmet Cam: GoPro Hero 6
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