Today was a FUN day!! The Horsemasters were invited to attend this months Willowbrook Pony Club mounted meeting which was a x-country schooling day at Rainbow Meadows Farm and lessons taught by a local event trainer.
The day started with beautiful blue skies and the promise of mid 60's temps. Yippee! Spring is on its way!!!
Deuce loads up pretty well now, he still tests me, but only half heartedly, about getting in the trailer. He will step in casually after one or two attempts and a swing of the lead rope.
We traveled north about an hour and a half and continued to stay in blue skies. Once we had arrived and figured out where we needed to be, I saddled up and rode out to meet the group in the field. Deuce was wide eyed and in awe of all the jumps and horses around the field, but he was content to walk around and just take it all in. He was being quite attentive to me, a very good start for the day.
We started out the lesson with a general warm up on the falt with trot and canter transitions. I worked on keeping both gaits compressed and not so strung out.
Once warmed up and our attention focused, we hopped over a tiny little post into the next field and went over a series of low logs in a large circle. I was prepared for Deuce to be squirrely and want to take a look at these logs as it had been awhile since we had jumped anything outside and natural looking. We set out at a trot and I sat tall and kept my leg on and over it we hopped and landed with a lovely forward and balanced canter. So I looked up and around for the next log at a curve to the left his ears locked on it and he carried us to it beautifully. The next 2 logs road just as well. We took a little break while the other rider in our lesson took a turn at the mini course and then road it one more time before moving on. It became clear that Deuce was very comfortable with the course and was ready to take charge and show us all how well he knew what to do by running to the log when I pointed him at it. I sat up and gave a half halt and got his attention before each jump, but we obviously did not need to work on that set of logs anymore.
We moved to the next area where there were a series of larger logs. Again, Deuce set off at a nice forward trot, and as we approached this larger log (around 2' 3") he started to veer just a bit from center and I did not feel him "lock on" so I squeezed firmly with both legs for reassurance and forward he went, though a little crooked but still up and over, landing and cantering on. I looked right and made the turn to next log; both legs on, chin up and elbows soft, ah there was that "locked on" feeling from him and over we went again. The next log was about 8 strides away and right in front of us. That was good since this log was flat in the middle and the sides were bent up. It was still about the same size, it just looked a little different than the others that were flat on the ground. Deuce had landed again in a nice forward canter so I sat up again and keep my leg on, knowing he would look at this odd looking bent log. He figured out where we were going about 6 strides out and maintained his forward canter.
I kept my leg on and eyes up and then about 3 strides out his breaks came on and he planted both front feet to take a hard look at the funny looking log. I bumped bumped with my leg and he bounded forward, "locked on" and lept over the log as if he never skipped a beat! Pats and praises as we regrouped and cantered on, looking around the corner for the next log. Deuce was game and knew his job, he locked on carried us to it and over he went without even thinking twice. We went around the course again to iron out the sticky spot and he took me to each log without hesitation, and again, it was clear that it was time to move on.
So the next exercise was up a little hill to a small log then land and go down a hill, and back up a little hill to a log stack then down again. All in 4 strides. It was sort of like a roller coaster ride and looked really fun!! Deuce was down to business with the jumping. I pointed him right to it and he locked on, jumped, down the hill, lock on to the stack, up the hill and then huge leap over the log stack! Weeee! Land and canter on. We came back to do it again and he realized he did not need to be quite so zealous on the log stack and we road it
much smoother. Then it was on to the bank complex. We were given a nice little exercise to build on that utilized elements of the bank. Up the little ramp to the platform and make a u turn back down and around the corner to a log then turn back to another log, then back to the bank complex and up the ramp on another side then down the bank heading back. I sat up, kept my leg on and eyes up and Deuce ran it like he had done it before! Every stride was even and he waited for me to direct him where to go next. Instead of riding the same course again, we rode the whole thing backwards, which meant jumping up the 2' bank... which he did! and then turning right to go down the ramp... well.. we jumped up on the bank complex with great gusto and he was so ready for more he wanted to keep going forward and off the other side (which was more like a 3' drop and way bigger that I want to do) So I looked right opened my rein and kept my outside leg on and he rocked back at the last minute and came back around to get back down the ramp and still looking for his next jump. We rounded out the course again in fine fashion again. Our next exercise was a beginner novice tire stack then a nice long straight gallop to a hanging log. Anne stressed the importance of keeping our chins up for the hanging log.... I made a big circle and Deuce bounced into his nice forward canter and was looking for his next jump. When I pointed him at the tires he locked on, and over we went. I praised greatly and re balanced and cantered on to the hanging log. The canter was beautiful, he was completely together and straight under my legs and responsive to my seat. He saw where we were going and locked on about 5 strides out. I sat up and took it for granted that he was going.... My big mistake!!! Leg came off chin was not up and at the last stride he stopped... and I did not. I shot forward and if he had not dropped his head to look at the log, I might have been able to scramble and stay on. I went sailing over his shoulder, bumped my head on the log (hooray for my skull cap!!!) on the way over and down and also caught it with my knee as I tumbled over and landed with a thump on the other side of the log. (double hooray for safety vest!!) Anne was standing close by and quickly grabbed reins of a very surprised to be riderless Deuce while I reassured her I was okay as I sat up and took a moment to do a quick check of limbs. Everything was okay short of a hole in the right knee of my riding pants and the sting of some scrapes on my knee cap. I am sure there will be bruises and aches later but darn it, I was going to get back on and get over that jump!! Deuce was more shook up than I was about the spill; he danced around and snorted a bit as Anne walked him around and showed him both sides of the fence. I climbed back in the saddle and he settled down once I was on board again. I walked him over to the scary hanging log (with a ditch underneath) and let him take a look at it again and told him we were going to go over it. He seemed to understand because he took another step up to it, stood over the top of it, nosed it and looked out past it as if to say, "yep, got it." We decided to do a few confidence builder jumps then go back to the hanging log so we did the two up and down hill logs (which he jumped big again, but still stayed forward and yeah, I kept my leg on and eyes up!!) Then we circled back around and aimed to the hanging log and went forward. I kept both legs on this time and looked way up at the trees across the road with my chin up and he locked on and over we went!!! Huge praise and pats and neck scratches for the smart boy!! Then we road the course one more time for good measure. We had it!! He was looking for the next jump, but we decided to end on that. We had a good day and and were both looking for more. It was a good place to end.
Lessons learned: Eye up, leg on. He is brave and clever and really enjoys jumping but he has limited cross country experience (only 1 real schooling other than today!) He needs my reassurance. He is a smart and clever fella. It does not take much to teach him what we are doing and we need to keep things interesting and fresh to keep his attention. I need to give him some credit. I have to admit I was a little worried how he would behave out on course. (Would he be a nervous nilly to be in a new place, would he dive out of every fence? could I stay with any antics he might try?) He has always been responsive and willing on all of our outings, I really had no grounds to have such big worries! I need to learn to trust him and know that when I say go, he will go. It was evident today that he is a very honest horse and he already trusts me...
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