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| The course as viewed from the upstairs window of the house |
When I moved the horses home, I had a dream of incorporating a series of XC jumps somewhere on the property. My hope was that Grif and I could practice without having to devote an entire day or weekend toward the effort. The closest XC facility to me is a 3-hour one-way haul, which equates to a full day's adventure that includes a fair bit of planning.
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| My "goal" jump. A skinny chevron. |
My jumps are all pretty rudimentary, but they work for my purposes. The course is currently comprised of a hanging log vertical, a lofty oxer, a stacked log skinny, a chevron skinny (goal jump!), and my cavaletti.
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| Hanging "log" vertical. |
The cavaletti are 18" and the other jumps are 2'7". Admittedly, having them at this precise BN height wasn't planned, but it works out well because I don't anticipate pursuing anything much higher. Even in my wildest childhood fantasies, I never envisioned XC-style jumps much higher than 3'.
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| Stacked log skinny |
I plan to add a faux ditch in the near future, and I plan to include my jump standards to augment the course However, the standards are in dire need of a paint glow-up, and I've been lazy about getting that completed.
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| Cavaletti and lofty oxer. Skinny stacked logs in background to the right and poles/posts stacked for storage in background on left. |
I am excited to have a small course at home to practice with and enjoy. While competition is fun, I'm honestly more driven to simply improve mine and my horse's skillset on my own time at home than I am to compete. I am finding that with age, I am much more intrinsically driven in my horse pursuits. This little course and it's many options will serve me very well in my journey to improve.
oooh!!!! they are so beautiful and so perfectly old school cross country!! i love them!! esp for the bigger ones, adding a log as a ground line set fairly generously out from the base (and maybe even some mulch in after the log) will really help give them that "gallopy" feeling vs show jumping. so exciting to have those at home - nice work!!
ReplyDeleteThey look awesome, so nice to have that at home!
ReplyDeleteThat looks so awesome! How nice to be able to incorporate them on your own property for more regular practice.
ReplyDeleteThey're awesome!! That's fantastic you can now have some XC jumps so close to you without that really long haul. I think you'll be jumping over that chevron in no time!
ReplyDeleteThose are so gorgeous! So exciting to have them in your own field. If I may though - I worry a little bit about how open that corner is? It might be smart to fill it in as you're starting to learn to jump it.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I'll be taking lots of precautions!
DeleteSo nice to have those at home! Lovely!
ReplyDeleteAwesome!!! Those look like a lot of fun though too tall and airy for my wimpy butt. You two will be kicking ass over them in short order. I've been wanting to create a mound at home to work on even without any jumps on it. No clue how to do it safely though so unlikely to happen.
ReplyDeleteHow fun!
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