**all media in this post compliments of MY PHONE!, no, seriously, the camera in this thing - and the microphone - are seriously wow-ing me!**
I'm pretty certain I've stated before how Stan dislikes ring work greatly...unless jumps are involved. Thursday evening was only our second ride in a long while and he proved his point to me again! [Only after being the spookiest horse EVER about every tiny thing prior to ring work; well, the first spook was warranted - a newspaper blowing down the street...a big one - but the other spooks, to noises and things he'd seen before were silly, he was just all amped up from the newspaper still. Silly boy. I told him how silly he was, too, so he knows.]
After opening the gate to the ring from his back (because he's a very good boy) I lugged out things sitting in the little announcers booth to create a lame-o jump. Its the best I could do though! I then figured before mounting I'd walk him through it so he could see it was okay, since in the past he's had a tendency to balk or slam to a halt.
He absolutely would not budge and would not walk over it. I tried three times and then told him, "Fine, we'll do it how we always have done things, just get on and go for it." And we did. At a walk. I walked him towards the X, about 7 inches, and he stopped at it for a second, then did a standing jump over it. Hmm, I thought, well cool. Did it at a trot a few times. Excellent. Time to move it up.
This was jump height #2. About 18 inches (~0.45 m) - yes, metric conversions for those readers who have a real measuring system, unlike the US who demands to be difficult; can you sense my ire with our system? Walked again to it for the first go. Same response, a standing hippity hop over. Excellent! Good boy! Trotted this jump 3 or 4 times and then decided to get real crazy and turned it into an oxer that came to about 20-22 inches (~0.5 - 0.55 m). Trotted the oxer from the get-go. No issues there either! Good boy, Stan!
I even got super crazy and decided to take a video! I apologize for the poor lighting, but hey, its a video of me riding, NOT something that happens EVER. Perhaps I should ask for a small camcorder for Christmas....hmmm....
Constructive criticism is much appreciated for my riding. I've not had but two jumping lessons and am mostly self-taught for everything else as I've not had a formal riding lesson for 9 - 10 years!
Seriously loving this horse more than ever. He's such a good boy and is doing so well at all I'm asking him that is new and different from before. Seriously thinking hard on a good place to build jumps to practice more of this - its SO FUN.
I'm pretty certain I've stated before how Stan dislikes ring work greatly...unless jumps are involved. Thursday evening was only our second ride in a long while and he proved his point to me again! [Only after being the spookiest horse EVER about every tiny thing prior to ring work; well, the first spook was warranted - a newspaper blowing down the street...a big one - but the other spooks, to noises and things he'd seen before were silly, he was just all amped up from the newspaper still. Silly boy. I told him how silly he was, too, so he knows.]
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| I need to make these stirrups shorter...but lack the tool to do so currently. |
After opening the gate to the ring from his back (because he's a very good boy) I lugged out things sitting in the little announcers booth to create a lame-o jump. Its the best I could do though! I then figured before mounting I'd walk him through it so he could see it was okay, since in the past he's had a tendency to balk or slam to a halt.
He absolutely would not budge and would not walk over it. I tried three times and then told him, "Fine, we'll do it how we always have done things, just get on and go for it." And we did. At a walk. I walked him towards the X, about 7 inches, and he stopped at it for a second, then did a standing jump over it. Hmm, I thought, well cool. Did it at a trot a few times. Excellent. Time to move it up.
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Alas, the disarray and sadness of this riding facility - the only outdoor
one around here is even more awful looking on film.
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This was jump height #2. About 18 inches (~0.45 m) - yes, metric conversions for those readers who have a real measuring system, unlike the US who demands to be difficult; can you sense my ire with our system? Walked again to it for the first go. Same response, a standing hippity hop over. Excellent! Good boy! Trotted this jump 3 or 4 times and then decided to get real crazy and turned it into an oxer that came to about 20-22 inches (~0.5 - 0.55 m). Trotted the oxer from the get-go. No issues there either! Good boy, Stan!
I even got super crazy and decided to take a video! I apologize for the poor lighting, but hey, its a video of me riding, NOT something that happens EVER. Perhaps I should ask for a small camcorder for Christmas....hmmm....
Constructive criticism is much appreciated for my riding. I've not had but two jumping lessons and am mostly self-taught for everything else as I've not had a formal riding lesson for 9 - 10 years!
Seriously loving this horse more than ever. He's such a good boy and is doing so well at all I'm asking him that is new and different from before. Seriously thinking hard on a good place to build jumps to practice more of this - its SO FUN.
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| I can't BELIEVE this turned out so well from a CAMERA PHONE! |
You guys looked great. I have only had one lesson and self-taught myself the rest. My farrier says some of the best riders are the self taught ones.
ReplyDeleteStan looks like such a cutie.
I love the sounds of the hoof beats! Is this taken with an iPhone? I'm seriously debating an upgrade to a smart phone. . .
ReplyDelete