Ruth Baxter Show Jumping Clinic

I had my first lesson from Ruth Baxter today, Ruth is a BHS II and really knows her stuff! The lesson was good, and I really improved throughout the whole lesson. Ruth wanted to see me go over a fence first, just to see what I needed to work on. Lucky she did! Shadow was a little bit excited because she loves jumping and

being a bit exuberant, she took a huge leap at the first jump, (about 3 strides out!) and I ended up dangling around her neck hanging on for dear life! She cantered round the school with me still barely clinging on, but Shadow was a good girl and didn't put her head down, and stopped when I was able to tell her to! After seeing this, Ruth instructed me to sit up and take control. She must have thought it was going to be an interesting lesson.

At the beginning we worked on collecting and lengthening the canter, to improve me being able to see and change my stride coming up to a fence. Ruth adjusted my leg, showing me where it had to be, and by the end, (after a few near misses) we went over the jump perfectly to Ruths satisfaction and I felt like I could make more difference in how Shadow goes to a fence. Shadow? She just enjoyed herself!

Thanks to Ruth Baxter for taking the time to teach me, you really helped!