My little Kindergardener

Dee and I had another very good jump school today. She jumped a grid with three elements, and just attacked it like a pro. She was focused, quiet and balanced, but most of all, she felt CONFIDENT. Then, my very long span of NOT jumping caught up with me a bit. We turned one of the little blue boxes into a little x-rail oxer (around the box). Well, that freaked her out a little, and she made a HUGE, deer-style leap over top of it. I totally lost my leg and ended up in a heap on her neck, which only served to freak her out MORE. Of coarse, being that this mare has a heart of gold, she gamely jumped it again, even though mom was a disaster the time before. It's just very frustrating to me, because my position used to be SO much better. Now, I can FEEL myself sucking, but the fix-it tools seem to have fallen out of my tool box. With nancy there to yell at me to take a deep breath, sink my weight into my leg and keep my upper body back, we managed to have a few nice go's over it, but it doesn't change the fact that I let her down the first few times, and I'm pretty upset with myself for it. I mean, this mare is truly amazing. I don't want to mess her up. I guess I'll just have to spend lots more hours in the tack to get my form back where it used to be.

Nancy and I were chatting about young horses today, and she told me something that I really liked, and therefore have to share:
When you start taking the youngsters to competitions, you sort of need to think of them like a kid in Kindergarden - the experience is not as much about the competition as it is about singing and holding hands. I just love that, and it's completely true. Just as Kindergarden teaches the child the student role, the first few competitions of a young horse's career teaches her the role of competition horse. It lays the groundwork for the rest of the horse's career. Sure, right now Dee is still in pre-k, where we play in the sand box and try to avoid eating the paste, but I'm sure she'll graduate soon, and I can't wait to start singing and holding hands with her in the fall.