Getting a Kick

There is nothing more exciting than planning and plotting and worrying, formulating a strict plan and 15minutes after finally taking the plunge and putting into action, seeing results.

Well, maybe it wasn’t quite so dramatic as that. I have been encouraging Dylan to stretch and extend into his jumping for months, but it does seem a little bit co-incidental that after 4 runs through a grid pattern he suddenly remember how to actually use his legs. It really was as dramatic as that.

First grid went well, although it didn’t go to plan. I had a grid on a 3-4-4-5-6 basis, and Dyl shortened fine for the first 3, and then bailed on the second two. First time I’ve ever seen Dylan bail on a jump of his own accord, and it made me very happy. It told me two things; one, Dyl did not know how to extend into the second two jumps, and two, he is confident enough to bail rather than smashing onwards in an effort to please.

He’d sorted it out the next three times, really working it nicely with a bounce action until the last one, where he threw in a small single stride between. (Though I do have to say that Kim also did this exercise, and she bounced every single section comfortably). I don’t think I had the final spacing quite right for Dyl, but I’ll adjust for that next time.

We then did some straightforward flick-flack sequences, and wheee, lovely extension! Dyl was twisting and working his lanky little self all over those jumps. He was better with more room from me, and oddly (?) with less movement from me. Flicking him away from me over obstacles seemed to produce his best jumping, although anything where I was practically motionless seemed to encourage better jumping. Which suggests the the problem is me! Options then …

• Dylan is paying too much attention to me (anticipating cues?) so the jumps are coming up too quickly for him to sort himself out – he can’t do two things at once.
• Dyl is trying to focus on the jumps but is getting distracted by me running. (Opposite of the above, but same results)
• I am confusing Dylan somehow – am I not being clear and consistent enough with my cues?

The only really obvious issue was one of the last sequences we did, which was a very widely spaced three jump right-angle pinwheel style thing. Dyl stuttered into the first jump, was tight into the second and then only really relaxed into the third. So much for my theory of corners being better! Whilst I wasn’t moving a whole lot on this section, I had to keep moving to be able to handle the turn to the weaves 2 jumps later. So theory above still holds up, sadly.

I got such a kick every time I saw his back pads flicking over those jumps. I hope we can continue to make progress on this, and get it fluent and consistent every time around. I’m almost looking forward to doing some more work on this!