My trainer has been bugging me about not lunging Cupid. It's true, neither he nor I enjoy it much so we haven't done it in a while! But today I decided to lunge him at the start of my lesson, and it was a lot of work getting Cupid to go. Using the lunge whip feels mean, and I think Cupid just wonders why that crazy lady is chasing him around instead of giving him carrots. My trainer said I should not accept a trot less than Cupid stepping his hind feet into his front feets' tracks.
I was happy when the lunging portion was over and I got on to ride. We worked on adjusting the stride at a canter. We also cantered across the diagonal, not changing leads (simple change) until reaching the opposite corner. I am suppose to not trot more than 3 strides, which we managed to do.
Then we started out with a pole in the middle of the arena going over it in a figure-8. Then the pole became a little crossrail. I tried to look the direction I was going and open that rein a little to get Cupid to land on the correct lead. Sometimes it works and sometimes not - again if we land on the incorrect lead then simple change within 3 strides. Apparently I got 6 once, oops, but overall it went well.
Next we did a 2 stride combo, and around to a special jump my trainer set up involving a mounting block and 2 wheelbarrows! He was nice enough to put wings up, which helps me a lot. Cupid hit the 2 strides perfectly the first time. I was trying really hard not the think about the unusual jump, just keep Cupid forward and NOT LOOK DOWN!! Trainer said don't think about it and Cupid won't care. Well he was right, Cupid went right over. :) We tried it from different approaches and added a few other jumps for a little course. Then our trainer took the mounting block out leaving just the wheelbarrows, making it narrow but still with the wings. It gave me confidence to know Cupid wasn't bothered by the unusual jumps.
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Wheelbarrow jump |