Lucas

[horseperson]

Hey Jasmine, Was just reading your last few updates... it sounds like you and Lucas are doing really great. I just feel like I have to say, I really enjoyed watching you guys together at the shows last year, and I'm looking forward to watching you this year. Keep up the fantastic work! You are definitely a natural rider - I wish I had caught on to it as quickly as you have, when I was your age!
~ Marsha (and Boone!)

[happilyeverafter]

Jasmine... you and Lucas are just fantastic.

Can't say it enough- I wish I was a Hindy!

[Jasmine]

Thanks guys! Marsha that is one of the nicest compliments I've ever gotten

I had a jumping lesson today. It was definitely a lot better than my last jumping lesson lol. We worked mainly on rollbacks. It was really hard! I have a tendency to tense up well doing the tight turns and I would start fiddling with the reins. This would shut-down Lucas's hind him causing him either to a) break to trot or b) loose his balance and slip. So I had to sit still and stop sucking Lucas back. I'm getting better at that and by the end of the lesson I could do a successful tight rollback.

I have a video of the course I jumped. I didn't get my good round on tape.. oh well. I was having trouble getting Lucas to pick up his lead after the first fence, that's what the big open rein is for. It obviously didn't work lol.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6ENllh94rg

[Andrea]

happilyeverafter said:

Can't say it enough- I wish I was a Hindy!

Haha, I agree.

[Jasmine]

I think three horse obsessed girls is enough for one family lol

I went out to the barn this evening. I schooled the same little course I did in my last jumping lesson. My rollbacks are getting a lot better. I'm getting better at softening my hand while turning and balancing more with my seat. The only thing is I'm having a hard time getting Lucas to land on his right lead. Since he will not do flyings on cue I have to land on the correct lead or I'm not going to make the tight turn to the next fence... at least not in canter. Lucas did do a flying once, if only he would do that all the time

[Jasmine]

Had a couple of really good rides the past couple of days.

On Thursday night my dad and I went out to the barn. My dad set up a mini course while I tacked up. The course rode fairly well, I had problems with Lucas picking up his leads. I think I was jumping ahead of him or something and throwing him off balance. Then my dad set up a single fence that was 3'. So I jumped that and then I wanted to try jumping 3'3 (before then I had never jumped that high). So we put the fence up to 3'3 and Lucas jumped it beautifully with room to spare! It was really fun, a little nerve racking but I loved it.

Today I had my lesson. Liz set up another mini course. It was made up of 4 jumps: a 4 stride line, a diagonal plank and then on the opposite diagonal there was a vertical (I called it the xmas tree jump because it had a xmas tree as a ground line). First I practiced jumping the two diagonal jumps. I would jump the plank diagonal and loop around and jump the xmas tree vertical. I nearly fell off the first time I jumped the xmas tree vertical. Lucas took a good look at it before he went over it and left behind the motion a lot. Lost my stirrup and everything lol.

I did the pattern until I could ride it smoothly. Then I jumped a mini course. It went like this: the diagonal plank to the 4 stride line, rollback to the xmas tree vertical then I would go straight to the first jump of the 4 stride, kind of like a bending line but I would end up jumping the second fence on an angle . It was good lesson

[Jasmine]

Sometime last week (I think Sunday) Liz was schooling another horse at clovelly so I rode with her. We worked on a simple hunter course (diagonal to diagonal to a line) and that went really well. Lucas was great that day. I had had a beautiful round where I had gotten all good distances and had stayed on the right lead the entire course. Well anyways a video of the course:www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rKsAELlNwQ

On Wednesday I had a flat lesson up in Sarah's arena. Lucas was really tense and distracted so I had a hard time getting him to relax and stretch down. We attempted to do a bit of shoulder-fore on a circle and did some other trot work. That went ok, could have been better or worse. Hopefully in my next lesson I'll have a better ride

[Jasmine]

Had my lesson today. We started off schooling flat work. For the last few lessons we've been working on getting Lucas to come up more into the bridal and to start to round. It's a challenge since I'm just learning how to ask a horse to do it and Lucas isn't the type of horse who goes on the bit as soon as you pick up the contact. I wish he was . Anyways Liz had me do a figure 8, getting me to practice switching Lucas bend each direction. I had to use a bit of indirect rein at first because Lucas would just tilt his nose in instead of flexing in the jaw. Occasionally I'd get a few steps from Lucas where he was nice and light so we're getting better at this whole rounding thing

Then Liz set up a jump on a circle. I would canter on the circle and start to count down 4,3,2,1 strides until take off. Liz made me count out loud. Surprisingly I was good at it . I was able to count down up to 6 strides away from when Lucas was going to take off.

Then Liz had me circle around on the left rein, jump the jump, circle around again on the left rein, jump the jump and then change direction and circle around on the right rein. A mini diagram of the exercise:



At first I had a bit of trouble getting Lucas to switch his lead. Turns out I would look down to see if Lucas would switch his lead over the jump. Doing this would cause Lucas to be unbalanced and not switch his lead. To fix it all I had to do was look up. Once I started to look up and where I was going Lucas would get his lead. That's all I did in my lesson today. it was really fun but hopefully next lesson I'll get to jump more

[SoLaNgE(L)]

wow Lucas sounds like he has the same problems as Whisper
Whisper is the same about his leads and his rounding

[Jasmine]

I went out and rode Lucas tonight. I lunged him side-reins before I got on. Once I was on I went on a circle and started putting Lucas together (asking him to give in the jaw and come up to the contact). It took a half-hour but Lucas finally stopped resisting and started to give. He wasn't "round" but he had his head lowered, he was going at an even forward pace, he wasn`t on the forehand and he wasn`t pulling on me. That's pretty good for Lucas

When I could get Lucas to stay like that off a circle I practiced some of the figures in the training level tests. I practiced some center lines, 20m circles, free walk and a couple other figures that I can't remember. Then a put a few figures together and rode a mini dressage test. My printer would't print the actual training level tests so I just had to make one up . Then I cooled out, brought Lucas back into the barn and gave him a groom

[happilyeverafter]

Sounds like you guys are doing awesome... woo hoo for dressage! Good luck in the schooling show!

[sharon]

I agree that you seem such a natural rider, lovely form over your jumps. You and Lucas make a great team!

[Jasmine]

Thanks guys Dressage is slowly growing on me Gill. But hunter/jumper is still my favorite ;D

I rode Lucas again tonight. Like last night I lunged before I rode and then went on a circle and started putting Lucas together. It only took around 10 minutes to get him to give in his jaw so that was a big improvement. I rode several figures from the training level tests again then I made up a couple mini dressage tests. I really need to fix my printer so I can get the actual tests . Then I cooled out and took Lucas into the barn.

[Jasmine]

Today I went out to the barn and jumped Lucas. I set up a serpentine of jumps (one jump as between P-V and the other jump was between S and R). I set the jumps to only 2'3 to warm. Lucas being excellent, he would switch his lead over the fence every time. So after a couple of goes at that height I put the fences up to 2'9.

The first couple of times I jumped the fences Lucas took deep spots, probably because I took my leg off right before the fence.. whoops. Once I figured out why he was taking deep spots I fixed the problem and he was fine. He was jumping beautifully too! Rounding over the jumps and I could feel him switching his lead in the air.

Then I made a bad turn and took a crappy line to one of the jumps and I didn't jump the the center of the fence. My foot knocked against the standard and made the entire fence fall down. I think it gave Lucas a bit of a fright because he speed up a bit and then refused my next fence. It gave me a bit of a fright too so I probably didn't ride as well to the next jump. So I got off and lowered the fences to 2'3 then jumped the serpentine and ended on a high note. I feel really bad about knocking the fence down, I hope it doesn't effect Lucas's confidence too much. That would really be a shame because he's been doing so well lately

[Jasmine]

I went out and rode Lucas today. First when I was walking around I tried to get Lucas to give in the jaw and drop his head. That wasn't too hard, getting Lucas to round in walk is easy. Then when he was warmed up I tired to do the same in trot. It took a few minutes and lots of figures but I finally was able to get him to give a little bit. I can only get Lucas to stay round for a few strides at a time. On a positive note I'm finally starting to figure this whole "rounding" thing out lol.

I then cantered Lucas for a bit. I worked on getting Lucas to keep an even tempo. The first time he cantered today he was a bit of a live wire and just wanted to race around fast and flat. So I did a lot of figures to get him to relax and start to slow down a bit. On days when Lucas is like this if you just numb your brain and relax he'll eventually work himself out of being a speed demon lol.

My dad had set up a 2 stride line and another little jump of the opposite side of the arena. I went over the single fence a couple of times both directions then I tried the two stride. Once I was warmed up o/f I put the jumps up to 2'9. Lucas was jumping beautifully today! We got the striding on the line right just about every time and he was rounding over the fences. I had a really good ride