Jumping

  Phoenix and I went full English today!  It was fun to just mess around and ride in breeches and tall boots.  I let Phoenix out and tacked her up in the arena.  She stood great and let me put her polo wraps on too.  First, we worked on flat work for 15 minutes in the arena.  She trotted consistently and switched nicely.  Phoenix and I still have to work on that left lead though.  We got it, but it still took us longer than need be.  After flatwork, we headed out to the mini cross country course in the back and did some minor jumping.
  Phoenix was still in heat considering that she kept stopping to tease the stallion again.  We walked over short logs and eventually started trotting and jumping.  She spooked a few times at nothing (possibly her own shadow) and it made me a little nervous, but I knew neither one of us would get better until we worked through our fears.  I decided to take the hay bales and I was a little nervous, but feeling confident in Phoenix since we had no problem last time.  Well she was a little more excited today and she easily cleared it and then bucked big when she landed, tossing me onto her neck and then over her head.
  The fall didn't hurt, but Phoenix ran off and got her left foreleg stuck in her reins.  Luckily, she was calm when I walked up to her and I was able to lift up her hoof and pull the reins out before she injured herself.  A little shaken up, I remounted and we jumped some more.  I started with some lower logs to ease my nerves and after another small buck, Phoenix started calming down.  We went over the larger logs and I let her canter a little bit.  She is still pulling excitedly on the bit, but I am able to stop her with a circle.  Phoenix still needs to work on giving a little though so I can more safely control her over jumps.

  I had my dad record us over the jumps a few more times so we could see what we needed to work on.  Our jumping isn't terrible, but I need to work on my leg position and my two point (which is very inconsistent and causing me to sometimes lose my balance on the landing).  Phoenix and I also need to work with not jumping early, which throws us both off.  Overall, it wasn't too bad, but don't judge too hard because I know we have a lot to work on.