First x-c school of the year
Finally, the moment I've been waiting for—getting out on course and attacking some x-c fences!
My trainer took Mattie for her first school and coached me and Clover over some of the UNH fences. After unloading, tacking up, and hitting the course, we trotted to the start box, and my body was flooded with adrenaline. I was so excited I was practically panting for breath the whole time.
We headed out of the start box at the canter, to the first Novice fence, Heaven's Gate (no relation to the weird suicide cult from a few years ago). It's kind of a tricky first fence, as it goes from the light field to the darker woods, and the fence is situated right on the dark side of the light/dark line. Clover sucked back a little, but I widened the reins to channel Clover to the base of the jump, then threw both reins in my left hand and bopped her on the flank with the whip in my right hand.
Fence 2 was a log stack, I rode a straight line to the fence and we hopped over no prob. Our steering felt great, so I didn't worry about that at all.
Fence 3—the Reservoir View, an airy fence on the crest of a small hill. Not only do you loose impulsion going up the short, steep hill, but the fence is scary for a green horse (we had suck back issues with the lamb creep at Senator Bell last fall—a similar airy fence). Needless to say, Clover refused the first time, I crammed her over the second time, and the third and fourth times over she got it and was jumping in fine form—attacking the fence.
We continued over the bridge, and jumped an in and out combination made of a small suspended log-2 stride-to a barn-shaped coop. No probs there and we took a brief walk break.
Next we schooled a skinny prelim log (part of a combination jump, so on its own it wasn't anything spectacular). I cantered Clover in a circle around it to the left, so the landing side was on a slight downhill. I needed to sit back more on the landing but stay off her back as well, and then regain pace after landing, on the getaway. Clover didn't hesitate or try to run out at all, and we cantered over it several times in that direction, then several times in the opposite direction. Riding in the opposite direction made the approach a slight uphill, so I had to ride more forward.
We cantered down the Training ABC steps, which went fine, except we could have been more forward and pushed off each step better—less risk of dragging the backs of hind legs on the corners of the steps. Over a little streamlet, and into the small field, where we cantered HUGE over the Training ditch. Clover took it right out of stride, she had NO idea it was a ditch!
The second time, though, she saw the ditch and sucked back a bit—but went over with a smack of the whip. Same thing the next 2 times over, a bit of hesitation, but no loss of forward motion. Being a greenie, Clover was overjumping many of the obstacles, and it was great to feel her rounding up so hugely underneath me.
Next stop (ok, poor choice of words!)—The Plunge. This is a log jump situated on top of a small hill—the approach is a nearly 90 degree turn to the left, over the fence, and the landing … hoo doggie … it's called the plunge for a reason! Over the jump, sit back, but off of your horse's back, make a right turn towards the water complex, avoid random trees enroute. Clover made this jump well, but, being out of shape, I had a hard time staying in good position. I'd sit back in the saddle too quickly, before Clover was over the fence, and both times over I could hear her hind legs rub the log. Damn.
We waded into the water, then started jumping in and out the Novice section. After negotiating that, with reminders to let the reins go as Clover jumped out, we attempted the Training jump into the water. No dice. I know Clover sensed my hesitation—really, neither one of us were ready to try it. We swung around the other side of the complex to try the log jump into the water, but the same hesitation there, too. Finally, to maintain confidence, we dropped into the water to the left of the log, a bit more of a drop than the Novice side, and it took Clover a few minutes to feel comfortable dropping in. We rode through several times at the canter, either turning out at the wade in, or out the Novice side.
Another walk break, and we went up to the Saw Mill. Only, to our surprise, the logs had been replaced by coops. We ran a short course, over the Saw Mill coops, through the water and out the Novice end, open up stride and rollback over the Training ditch. We did the sequence fairly well, pretty good flow and pace. We quit at that point, we'd been schooling for an hour, and got to the obstacles I wanted Clover to see, especially the airy Reservoir View, a ditch, and the water, along with other straightforward questions presented by the Novice fences. And now I can say that we've schooled some Training obstacles!
I gave Clover a cool hosing off and rubbed down her legs with liniment when we got back to the farm. Today I'm achy in all sorts of new places, it's not a good idea to be so out of shape for event season!
My trainer took Mattie for her first school and coached me and Clover over some of the UNH fences. After unloading, tacking up, and hitting the course, we trotted to the start box, and my body was flooded with adrenaline. I was so excited I was practically panting for breath the whole time.
We headed out of the start box at the canter, to the first Novice fence, Heaven's Gate (no relation to the weird suicide cult from a few years ago). It's kind of a tricky first fence, as it goes from the light field to the darker woods, and the fence is situated right on the dark side of the light/dark line. Clover sucked back a little, but I widened the reins to channel Clover to the base of the jump, then threw both reins in my left hand and bopped her on the flank with the whip in my right hand.
Fence 2 was a log stack, I rode a straight line to the fence and we hopped over no prob. Our steering felt great, so I didn't worry about that at all.
Fence 3—the Reservoir View, an airy fence on the crest of a small hill. Not only do you loose impulsion going up the short, steep hill, but the fence is scary for a green horse (we had suck back issues with the lamb creep at Senator Bell last fall—a similar airy fence). Needless to say, Clover refused the first time, I crammed her over the second time, and the third and fourth times over she got it and was jumping in fine form—attacking the fence.
We continued over the bridge, and jumped an in and out combination made of a small suspended log-2 stride-to a barn-shaped coop. No probs there and we took a brief walk break.
Next we schooled a skinny prelim log (part of a combination jump, so on its own it wasn't anything spectacular). I cantered Clover in a circle around it to the left, so the landing side was on a slight downhill. I needed to sit back more on the landing but stay off her back as well, and then regain pace after landing, on the getaway. Clover didn't hesitate or try to run out at all, and we cantered over it several times in that direction, then several times in the opposite direction. Riding in the opposite direction made the approach a slight uphill, so I had to ride more forward.
We cantered down the Training ABC steps, which went fine, except we could have been more forward and pushed off each step better—less risk of dragging the backs of hind legs on the corners of the steps. Over a little streamlet, and into the small field, where we cantered HUGE over the Training ditch. Clover took it right out of stride, she had NO idea it was a ditch!
The second time, though, she saw the ditch and sucked back a bit—but went over with a smack of the whip. Same thing the next 2 times over, a bit of hesitation, but no loss of forward motion. Being a greenie, Clover was overjumping many of the obstacles, and it was great to feel her rounding up so hugely underneath me.
Next stop (ok, poor choice of words!)—The Plunge. This is a log jump situated on top of a small hill—the approach is a nearly 90 degree turn to the left, over the fence, and the landing … hoo doggie … it's called the plunge for a reason! Over the jump, sit back, but off of your horse's back, make a right turn towards the water complex, avoid random trees enroute. Clover made this jump well, but, being out of shape, I had a hard time staying in good position. I'd sit back in the saddle too quickly, before Clover was over the fence, and both times over I could hear her hind legs rub the log. Damn.
We waded into the water, then started jumping in and out the Novice section. After negotiating that, with reminders to let the reins go as Clover jumped out, we attempted the Training jump into the water. No dice. I know Clover sensed my hesitation—really, neither one of us were ready to try it. We swung around the other side of the complex to try the log jump into the water, but the same hesitation there, too. Finally, to maintain confidence, we dropped into the water to the left of the log, a bit more of a drop than the Novice side, and it took Clover a few minutes to feel comfortable dropping in. We rode through several times at the canter, either turning out at the wade in, or out the Novice side.
Another walk break, and we went up to the Saw Mill. Only, to our surprise, the logs had been replaced by coops. We ran a short course, over the Saw Mill coops, through the water and out the Novice end, open up stride and rollback over the Training ditch. We did the sequence fairly well, pretty good flow and pace. We quit at that point, we'd been schooling for an hour, and got to the obstacles I wanted Clover to see, especially the airy Reservoir View, a ditch, and the water, along with other straightforward questions presented by the Novice fences. And now I can say that we've schooled some Training obstacles!
I gave Clover a cool hosing off and rubbed down her legs with liniment when we got back to the farm. Today I'm achy in all sorts of new places, it's not a good idea to be so out of shape for event season!
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