Cross country schooling at Ledyard
Well, I'm certainly not ready to go to Athens in 2004 … Schooling at Ledyard was a mixed bag. I rode everything I wanted to school, the ditch, water, bank/drop and even stairs, but it was one of those semi-suck-back-I-wanna-go-back-to-the-trailer days for Clover. When she wasn't blasting her way over ditches and stairs and helsinkis, that is.
The first jump was a small oxer, and I could tell it was going to be one of those rides because Clover threw herself around during the approach. It felt like she was using being “looky” as an excuse for being lazy/wanting to go back to the herd, rather than any fear of the fence. And that feeling carried over several of the fences, til we started jumping the bank/stairs complex. I have to remember to keep my hands down when descending stairs or a drop, so I don't cause Clover to jump hollow. Things picked up and we even jumped a Training height stone wall with a log across the top (“it looked like it was Novice height …”)
No problem with the Novice ditch, either—canter over, turn around, cruise back over again. I couldn't have made Clover stop at it even if I wanted to! Near the ditch complex I rode a stone wall, made a left angle turn to a max height stone wall with log on top. It rode fine, but I was not riding my best at all this day … butt-sucking because Clover was behind the leg, jumping ahead because Clover felt behind the leg—NOT good answers to the problem. It only got compounded when I had to ride over a Training height skinny barrel on an uphill approach. Three runouts to the left—my very special weakness cropping up again—and I finally got her over. I patted her and we trotted off to the water complex.
The water presented its own problems—my confidence shaken and Clover still sucking back, plus GREEN WATER PLANTS and REFLECTIONS on the water surface made Clover want to go really slow and take a good look at everything before stepping forward through the water. We waded around, then jumped out over the lower bank. Several times—the second time I growled at her to stop being so pokey and WAKE UP!! We jumped in over a cross rail set at the wade-in part, circled around, and jumped out the bank.
We took a nice, cooling hack through the woods, on the galloping track, which had mpm (meters per minute) marked off, up to 690 mpm—steeplechase speed. Wo. As we hacked, we looked for more smaller obstacles to jump—there was not a lot there for Beginner Novice to Novice horses to school. Margaret and Matti jumped several of the smaller oxers and stone walls again, to shore up her confidence and confirm obedience in Matti, and I cooled Clover out by walking along, and finally dismounted, loosened up her noseband and girth, and walked back to the trailer, about a 1/2 mile back.
I just wasn't riding, I was out of my head … Clover, bless her heart, despite being somewhat sulky, did her best to get me around. We did have some good moments, and we did successfully school the elements I had wanted to get to. Definitely a learning experience, all the way around.
The first jump was a small oxer, and I could tell it was going to be one of those rides because Clover threw herself around during the approach. It felt like she was using being “looky” as an excuse for being lazy/wanting to go back to the herd, rather than any fear of the fence. And that feeling carried over several of the fences, til we started jumping the bank/stairs complex. I have to remember to keep my hands down when descending stairs or a drop, so I don't cause Clover to jump hollow. Things picked up and we even jumped a Training height stone wall with a log across the top (“it looked like it was Novice height …”)
No problem with the Novice ditch, either—canter over, turn around, cruise back over again. I couldn't have made Clover stop at it even if I wanted to! Near the ditch complex I rode a stone wall, made a left angle turn to a max height stone wall with log on top. It rode fine, but I was not riding my best at all this day … butt-sucking because Clover was behind the leg, jumping ahead because Clover felt behind the leg—NOT good answers to the problem. It only got compounded when I had to ride over a Training height skinny barrel on an uphill approach. Three runouts to the left—my very special weakness cropping up again—and I finally got her over. I patted her and we trotted off to the water complex.
The water presented its own problems—my confidence shaken and Clover still sucking back, plus GREEN WATER PLANTS and REFLECTIONS on the water surface made Clover want to go really slow and take a good look at everything before stepping forward through the water. We waded around, then jumped out over the lower bank. Several times—the second time I growled at her to stop being so pokey and WAKE UP!! We jumped in over a cross rail set at the wade-in part, circled around, and jumped out the bank.
We took a nice, cooling hack through the woods, on the galloping track, which had mpm (meters per minute) marked off, up to 690 mpm—steeplechase speed. Wo. As we hacked, we looked for more smaller obstacles to jump—there was not a lot there for Beginner Novice to Novice horses to school. Margaret and Matti jumped several of the smaller oxers and stone walls again, to shore up her confidence and confirm obedience in Matti, and I cooled Clover out by walking along, and finally dismounted, loosened up her noseband and girth, and walked back to the trailer, about a 1/2 mile back.
I just wasn't riding, I was out of my head … Clover, bless her heart, despite being somewhat sulky, did her best to get me around. We did have some good moments, and we did successfully school the elements I had wanted to get to. Definitely a learning experience, all the way around.
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