A Promise Fulfilled

A while ago I promised Cupid if he scored a 65 or higher, our next lesson would be jumping.  I jump him a few times a month, both for some variety and so it remains not a big deal, but we haven't had a jump lesson in over a year (aside from the near-disastrous Bernie clinic).  The truth of the matter is I'm a lot less nervous if no one is watching me, and I can pick my own jumps (which usually means no combinations!) or trot them if I want or change my mind about the course etc.  Even though we've had several good jump sessions recently, I was still a little nervous doing it in front of my trainer!  Which I know is silly, she is there to help me.  

Excuse the poor quality, got this through text message

Anyways I told her I wanted to do a little work on my two-point, and getting the kind of canter I can jump from, and then just have same fun with little jumps.  We start just cantering over a cavaletti, and focused on getting a straight approach and touching my seat to the saddle to avoid Cupid's tendency to go long.  We went through a little bounce a few times, but I think it made me a bit nervous thinking it would get Cupid a bit revved up so my trainer said we don't have to do that today.  Then we did a little course a few times.

It was super fun!  My trainer said my position was a lot more secure, and I could feel I recover after the jump a lot quicker than I used to, probably since I wasn't jumping ahead as much.  My trainer said Cupid has nice form even over tiny jumps, and if we worked on tightening his knees a bit he would be a pretty cute hunter.  Which I agree with, but I just don't think I can get my act together to be able to show over jumps.  At least not any time soon, I'm just now finally starting to not curl up into a ball at dressage shows!