Sunday Lesson

I'm taking my Sunday lesson with our new-ish assistant trainer- Brook. She's taken over a full time position now that Alison is living in Oregon and I'm excited to have her!

Naturally, given my delight at trotting crossrails, I put my poor trainers through the wringer. Rule of thumb- don't ask Emily what she'd like to do for her lesson. But what I enjoy so much about Brook is that her lessons don't focus on just getting over some jumps. She really identifies problem areas and then spends the lesson focusing in on tools that I can use on my own to help fix.

Case in point. I struggled with Ellie and her flying changes on Thursday. I don't have the innate feel that cues me into the perfect time to ask for the change. In our lesson today we worked at both a walk and trot on pushing her haunch over and haunches in exercises over poles.

It's a good reminder that there's a lot more to riding than just cantering a fence. Sometimes I get into the mindset of- I'll just let the trainers do it and enjoy the auto-changes later. But it is really gratifying when I come away with tools, even just superficial tools (and by that I just mean that my haunches in won't be nearly as organized or clearly defined as a trainer's version), that I can use to help in her training. It makes me a better rider for sure.

Thanks to friend, Lexi, for letting me catch a few rides on Jinx while she was out of town for the weekend!

Jinx is playing model for Claire and I while we showcase our new WEG Australia jackets!