“I CAN’T JUMP THAT” jumping confidence…

Hello!

I had another lesson with Maz today, and although I finished with a smile, I definitely faced a few challenges along the way!

The first thing I did was catch Maz from the big paddock, and I was really pleased with how nicely he walked beside me on the lead. I gave him some pats at the stable and showed him the whip I got. 🙂 He gave me this “Oh my gosh, Stella, seriously?” look, ha ha. He did NOT look impressed. 😅

Then I got out my grooming bag and brushed his coat, before combing through his mane and tail. Sophie showed me a trick for trimming horses’ tails: you wrap the tail under and around one leg, then cut it where it lines up with the hock and chestnuts. Maz’s tail was quite long, so I had the honour of trimming it myself! I even tucked some of his hair into a pocket of my bag. 😁

His hooves were already pretty clean, but I picked out his back feet before choosing a beautiful blue saddle pad. I actually found the matching ear bonnet, too, and SCREAAAAAMMM! He looked SOOO CUTE, like he’d just stepped out of a LeMieux photoshoot! And that was before I blackened his hooves. Sophie has some hoof blackener that they use on show ponies to give their hooves that shiny, jet-black finish. When I first applied it, it was actually a dark navy blue, but it dried black, and he looked GORGEOUS. I finished getting him ready by putting on his jumping boots, doing up his girth (which was substantially easier because he has the biggest girth length!), and popping his bridle on over the ear bonnet.

Once we were ready, I took him over to the mounting block and hopped on. He was feeling quite forward today, but a little rushed. Maybe that’s normal, but I’m used to his slower paces, so it took me a bit of adjusting.

Sophie then talked me through the difference between collected trot and extended trot. Extended trot is all about impulsion, with the horse reaching further forward with each stride. I had to rise and sit more heavily while giving Maz his head and encouraging him to push forward.

That last part was surprisingly challenging. I couldn’t just kick him on, because he’d rush, and I didn’t want more speed so much as more impulsion. I had to learn to drive him forward with my legs without letting him get too quick. I did manage it, though, and it was pretty cool! I could actually feel him flinging his legs forward underneath me. Then, when I collected him again, his trot stayed at roughly the same speed, but his legs weren’t reaching out as far. It was fascinating to feel the difference between the two.

After that, we tackled an obstacle course Sophie had set up. We wound our way around barrels, jumped cones, navigated some wooden pallets, and popped over a little jump. We also did some cantering on both the left and right reins before practising throwing the polo-crosse ball. Then we cantered after Sophie while she carried the rackets.

It was SOOO fun! Although I’m absolutely terrible at catching and throwing the ball, I love cantering after Zion because I’m so focused on trying to steal the ball that I barely have time to get nervous about cantering. 😂

After all that, we headed back to the arena for some jumping practice.

We started with the smaller jumps, and I think Maz and I cantered over those really well! Then Sophie raised the jump another hole, bringing it to around 60 centimetres, perhaps? I jumped it a few times, and although I wasn’t exactly graceful, we cleared it every time without any refusals.

Then, on about the fourth attempt, something changed a little bit, maybe just for me as the rider. Maz’s canter suddenly became HUGE, and his strides felt really disjointed. I didn’t feel quite right about it, so I steered him away from the jump.

I immediately felt bad about turning him away, because I didn’t want him to learn that he could get out of jumping simply by making me nervous. But even though I’d literally jumped around 65 cm just minutes earlier, and had done it at my previous lesson, my confidence had suddenly vanished.

I turned him away again, and things got a bit messy. He staggered beneath me, and I was bouncing around in the saddle. Then, when we nearly crashed into the jump stand, I was flung forward over his neck. If he’d put his head down, I would have fallen off FOR SURE! Luckily, he kept his head up, and I managed to stay on. Whew! 😮‍💨

After that little scare, I was definitely NOT ready to tackle the bigger jump again.

I asked Sophie if she could lower it into a crossbar, and she was super kind and did just that. Even with the crossbar, I was still nervous about jumping it, but I did it anyway! Some of the jumps felt lovely, while others were a little dodgy, but at least I kept going.

Once we’d finished jumping, I unsaddled Maz and put all his gear away. I also helped Sophie pack up the obstacle course before putting Maz and Zion back in the paddock with Max and Ellie.

So, although the lesson had its ups and downs, I did finish on a half-decent jump!

Next lesson, I’m hoping to work on my confidence and commit to the jump rather than turning away when I get nervous. But that’s okay. Not every ride is going to be perfect, and some days I’ll feel confident jumping while other days I’ll struggle a little more. I’m still glad I tried again after that scary moment, even if I was nervous. Hopefully, next lesson I’ll feel a little more confident and be able to tackle those bigger jumps with a clearer head. 💙🐴

Sophie actually videoed some of my lesson for me (thank you so much!!) and she caught the almost-fall for me! As you can see, some of the jumps were great, and some were a bit confidence-crumbly. Maz was great to ride today, and to lead too! Thanks for reading, bye!

(I’m riding again this week, hopefully 🤞, so maybe there’ll be another riding post, hopefully this time the title won’t be ‘I can’t do this!’)