Jumping, Anyone?

I would like to start out by saying that recently I have been getting some really encouraging comments from all kinds of people on my blog posts. It is really great to see that this blog is truly helping and inspiring people to be better for their horses. That is the purpose of this blog, and I am really beginning to see God's hand in using this to help others. So, thank you to all who have written me comments and I am so happy it is helping you.
Ok, now about Sunday's session...
Terrie came out to trim and give me a lesson. She trimmed all 3 of them, and noticed that Charlotte was having some trouble holding her right front up. The day before Mom had been warming up Charlotte on the circle, and she saw a slight off-ness of her left front, but I watched as well and it seemed to disappear. Mom trotted her around on a circle a bit and the slight lameness cropped up again. Terrie inspected her hoof and came to the conclusion that the lameness was probably muscle/tendon related because her hoof was fine. We have been running the McLaren Photonic Torch on her leg from her shoulder down and it has been seeming to have at least some kind of effect.
I tacked up Woody once he was done being trimmed and Terrie saw our new saddle and noted that it seemed to fit him perfectly. I wanted to work on our jumping a bit because 1) our regular/basic riding seems to have improved and be strong enough to work on more refined/specific work and 2) we had had issues the days before with him jumping comfortably. I started by leading him over it at a trot on the ground and he jumped fine. Then, I sent him several times over it and he quickly adjusted his jump to make it smooth and comfortable. She said all looked well, so hop on. I trotted him around some and got him warmed up, then got a fast trot and headed toward it. He stopped in front of it. We did this a couple more times and tried to work on feeling him hesitate and getting him confident at that point, which helped some, but his hesitation just seemed to move closer and closer to the jump rather than dissapearing. I worked on fixing his hesitation going past the turn without jumping it (trotting next to it and urging him on when I felt it). This again helped some, but when he did manage to jump it, he would overjump HUGE to the point I was on his neck.
We decided to set a jump up on a more straight-away so he could have more time to get straight and then focus on speed (the previous jump was set up on a turn). He would get a really nice trot and even a few strides of the canter before the jump, and hesitate right AT the jump and stop. Terrie suggested I put him on the 22' rope and jump him farther away from me because she suspected that he would hesitate then, too. Then we would be able to persist at that moment and fix it on the ground. I put him on the 22 and had him jump it several times. She was right, he did have some hesitation in the beginning, but when I began to see it, I was able to fix it at that moment and he gave me some nice jumps. Once that was going well, I suggested she keep playing with him on the 22 over the barrels, but I would be in the saddle to ride him over it. So, she sent him off and got him eventually jumping really well on the rope. Then I took up the reins and directed him over it a couple times (still attached to the rope, though) and that was better, even though he still did hesitate just a little bit. I was released from the rope, and this way I was able to jump it and keep going straight (we weren't on a circle anymore) which helped with the other "problem" he had of thinking he was finished after the jump (I had to keep him going and thinking ahead afterwards. It was good lesson and Terrie told me to just keep working on getting him comfortable without any hesitation on the 22', then when riding making sure I focus OVER the jump, don't "throw him away" a couple strides before the jump (she said I had a habit of riding well up until 2 strides from the jump, then I would put my hands on his withers and not keep him focused and connected over the jump), and make sure I keep him going after the jump. Good stuff to work on. Also, she told me that our backup needs work and I need to start being particular about snappiness and straightness. But she did mention that my rope handling skills have improved a LOT, which is always good to hear :).
Today I woke up early so I could play with the horses before work, but it was raining so I didn't do much. I went out, fed, and "fly-masked" everyone. Then, I haltered the pony and decided to take him for a walk. He did really well. He was lagging a bit at first on the feel on the lead rope, but we fixed it pretty quickly and had a good walk. I began to teach him some Stick to Me stuff, and he even did a long range version really well! He trotted when I did, walked with me, and stopped with me. Good stuff! I brought him back after about 20 minutes because it started raining harder, but he did well with the time we had. After work, I went out to the barn to get the pitch fork to clean up some poop off the driveway the pony had left, and Woody came up to me and looked ready to do something. I decided to take him with me, so he also got a walk this afternoon. He led really well, and cantered some with me, too. I felt like he was really ok and content with everything barely tried to eat at all. Talk about improvement. I brought him back to the barn, brushed him down a bit, and scratched lots of itchies for him. Mom was there "torching" (using the photonic light) Charlotte who was practically in a trance (you can't tell me that tool doesn't work) and I played with Woody's mouth a bit and worked on maintaining leadership when I am with both him and Teddy (he wandered up, he just couldn't STAND not knowing what's up). Woody often bites him when he comes up into his space when I'm there. I allowed Teddy to come up, and everytime I saw Woody put his nose over to him, I chanegd his thought and told him, as Harry would say, "that doesn't have to be." Also, whenever I saw the pony try to mess with Woody I would correct him as well. Pretty soon they were standing side by side taking naps. These past days have definitely been positive and progressive!
~Eden