Cob Jockey

This week, my trainer jumped Connor, and miracle of miracles, I actually jumped myself in my lesson on Thursday.  She's been focusing on helping him balance at the canter and keep his chest up the last several strides before the jump so that we're doing less of this;

This is really the quintessential "What does it feel like to ride Connor over fences?" photo.

And more of this:

Jumping normally across fences like a normal horse.

I won't say the whole lesson was a complete 180, but there were two verticals in particular that little miracles occurred at:

1. I felt him, entirely of his own accord, pick his chest up two strides out and the resulting jump was so normal.  So easy to sit, both before and after the fence, no diving down before or after.  I felt like a freakin' equitation rider.

Banished to the far crossties because the teenage girls were cleaning sheaths all over the place in  the main area.  This is how Connor feels about that.

2. We took a vertical on the centerline off the left, it was okay, then we came at it again, basically on a 20m circle.  At the top of the circle away from the fence, she said "He's getting strung out."  I put leg on, then closed my hand, and something actually happened!

He compressed instead of breaking to the trot, and I really got the sensation of riding his hind legs to the fences rather than coming in fast and flat.  Again, the resulting fence was awesome.

Sniffing all the "strange" horses he never gets to see.

 And getting to jump in this thing for the first time in forever didn't hurt either:

So much love.