Jumping/flatwork critique?

I know there are a LOT of things wrong, so here we go.

I'm on the appaloosa. In the trotting clip, I was riding him without spurs and he is incredibly dead to the leg. He was also in a bit of an "OMG OUTSIDE!" state of mind.

For the jumping clips, we did have a lot of refusals. Some were my fault (GR I leaned again, thought I was broken of that habit) and some were him just...stopping. This is a huge improvement because this time last year I could barely get him over a single 2' fence, and in this lesson I jumped him 2'6" as part of a course (the confetti jump). I do ride REALLY defensively on him, partially because he made me lose all confidence I had with the refusing and such and I still get a little bit of that old fear when I'm on him.

Oh - and we didn't completely get the one lead change...I couldn't tell. I knew it felt wrong, and you can see me looking down to see hhahaha. But his canter always feels a little wonky after riding Brooke for any period of time and my instructor for the day (normal one's at a show) didn't mention it, so I let it go.

Video:

Pictures (just a critique on my position - has my massive chair seat gotten any better?):








For comparison on the chair seat...here was my position a few weeks ago:
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...wbrookie-1.jpg

The only thing I noticed was that you sit down a bit early over the jumps. I know you're riding defensively but once the horse jumps, you can reward him by giving him a good release and not banging down on his back when he lands. After a while that will also help with the refusing—he may be refusing because it's uncomfortable for him to jump. Really cute horse though! And you guys look great at the canter :)

First part of the video, around the 0:39 mark - steady those hands. He can feel every move you make in his mouth no matter how gentle the bit.
0:42 - toes in. You can get as good an effect squeezing with your calves most time as you can engaging your heel.
0:45 - you JUST had him engaged, but lost it kind of quickly. Try to flex him a little to the inside, his neck looks a little stiff to me. Flex, hold one two, let go. Stride, stride, stride, stride, flex, hold one two, let go. Great exercise!
First bit of jumping video - heavy on the forehand, thump thump thump. That's why he made it so easy to refuse that first jump. You haven't engaged his hind end and given him lots of motion to capture and move forward with. I'm not saying he should be running. I'm saying his hind end should be his engine - right now, it's not, it's following his front end which is dragging him through this course.
Your form over the first fence was behind the motion which tells me one big thing - now you anticipate a refusal. You know that rule, don't anticipate the jump? Don't anticipate the refusal either, or you're going to get left behind, as you did.
Shoulders up in the corners. Help your boy balance, don't hinder him.
Second refusal, you need to GET INTO HIM. Make him move forward off his hind end, don't allow him to canter and pick up all the slack.
I don't have time to dissect any more of the video, but I hope you know I didn't do this whole critique to say you're a bad rider, because you're not, I think you're wonderful (though I do think you are ill-matched to the horse.. you both look frustrated) and I think your jumping will definitely progress.
That said well done and happy trails (and jumps)!

hah for whatever reason I was sitting back REALLY early on the green (first) fence. I could feel it, and I don't think I was doing it as badly on the other jumps...hmm I dunno. I know I've got issues (when I first started jumping, my trainer at the time just pointed me at them on a semi crazy mare and told me to go. Didn't even learn how to release officially until last summer). I'll definitely try to keep that in mind though, the next time I ride.

Not on this horse. I swear, he is DEAD to the leg. Probably cause he gets ridden in lessons all week by all sorts of riders (he's not mine, I think I forgot to mention it but I only ride him 1x a week), but you have to KICK him to get him to react. Or wear spurs.

hehe he was actually coughing But yeah I know, he's pretty stiff. -_- Unfortunately, not much I can fix in one lesson.

I know he's kinda just bulldozing around...but is that something I can really fix in the span of 1 lesson?

Yep, you got that right. Ever since I started riding him, he's been refusing things [was quite disastrous in the beginning and almost made me quit riding last summer], and so now every time we ride up to a jump I have that moment of Oh my god is he going to go over?! At least I've progressed to riding defensively, whereas before I used to just stop riding all together and just kinda lean at the jump.

Yes, a little ill-matched haha. We don't like each other. Never have, never will. -_- I only ride him when Brooke is at a show or being ridden by someone else (you can see her in the trotting clip).

Just curious...do I sit back too early/get left behind in these clips? They're me on the horse I usually ride (and, imo, do much better on)

Thank you both so much!

LOLLL after watching that second video it's pretty clear you definitely don't get along with that horse!
I was correct that you anticipate refusals but I'm pretty sure it's probably just on that horse, since you look very comfortable and ride beautifully on the second.
Pawn that appy off on some other sucker

^-^ Unfortunately he's the only other horse I can ride if Brooke is unavailable. -_- And my trainer decides what horses I get to ride, haha. But would you believe me if I told you that video of Leo and I was a huge improvement?

Thank you! I feel much more comfortable on Brooke - she's my buddy. We get along quite well (in fact, I'm the only person who can consistently get flying changes out of her without spurs)

I'm trying to convince the girl who rides after me that she wants to lease Leo, cause then I'd never ever have to ride him hahaha. It's not going too well.

When you have a refusal, don’t spend so much time getting back to the jump. These are tiny wee jumps… you don’t need a huge wind up. Get after him straight away and get right back to the jump. Don’t let him walk and take a rest and think about his refusal while you take a tour of the ring… just go straight back to the jump. :)

I generally take the shortest path I can...the one time I was walking after it was because my instructor was telling me something (don't remember exactly what). Otherwise, I have to circle in order to get him moving and get myself all reorganized. I know there was one time that we took a big circle, cause I was having issues getting the reins sorted out (i very rarely ride with the double reins and I'm horrible at bridging them but I had to in order to smack him sooo...)

Thank you!