After our little shoe incident at the last show (9/22), Banner got some time off. The first day because obviously he didn't have a shoe, the next few days because I was waiting for a brewing abscess (which fortunately never came), and then he had a scheduled vet appointment last week (10/1) for us to do his dental & then I ended up having some chiro done on him too because of the weird shoe thing.
All of these things together made for a bunch of time off. I managed to fit in a couple short lunges over the weekend and one ride on Monday, before we headed to our regularly scheduled lesson on Tuesday. I didn't have high hopes for this lesson considering he had basically 2 weeks off and a chiro session in the middle. You might think mentioning the chiro seems weird, but he always gets super... spunky after chiro. The last 2 times, we have had to spend half of our lesson reminding him he doesn't have to show us exactly how athletic he can be with his hind end over every fence. It always makes me laugh, but doesn't change the fact that bucking over half the fences doesn't make for the most productive lessons.
There is another rider, newer to this barn, that wanted to join our lesson! I happily said of course! I really like saving the $10 in semi-private lessons & my horse appreciates not having all the focus on him. We arrived to a nice little grid set up in the big ring. 2 trot poles to a crossrail, short one stride to a vertical, bigger one stride to another vertical, 2 strides to an oxer, and then one stride to either a single vertical or a pair of crossrail bounces.
We started off with just the crossrail and slowly built the jumps as we went. The first few times, Banner got forward and flat, just running through the poles that were placeholding where the jumps would soon be. I tried to help him a bit but then we got some awkward striding through. By about the 6th pass through, he remembered that he doesn't have to racehorse through the grid and began sitting down.
The second jump got put up and it was just a little 2'/2'3"ish vertical. No big deal. Then Trainer put up the 3rd fence. The cups were already set at 3', and our horses were warmed up, so she just set the pole in there. A little moment of anxiety and stress snuck up on me. We hadn't jumped in over two weeks and I didn't know how Banner would feel about jumping right back in to the big fences.
I pointed him down the grid, took a deep breath and tried to remember to take it one jump at a time. Wouldn't you know it, Banner could not have cared one little bit. He popped right through that grid like an old pro.
I couldn't help but take a moment and remember that just around this time last year, how intimidated he would be by immediately going up to a jump in the 3' range. Now, he didn't even bat an eye (even if his chicken rider panicked just a little bit).
A few more passes through that, and then went up the next jump. It began as a 3' vertical. Easy peasy. My nerves subsided and I felt confident about us crushing this grid. Then the back side of that fence came up, making it a 3'3" oxer. Oops, butterflies back for a minute. Banner was feeling super confident and bold, and now getting more thoughtful and careful through the grid. Deep breath again, turn to go in the grid and B stopped right at the first little fence. What? He seemed spooked. I looked around slightly perplexed and realized there were some kids playing behind us outside the arena. Weird, but surprised Banner cared. Then one of the other riders in the ring informed me that the kids were playing with a large lunge whip. OH, that makes more sense. Thankful that B is such a level-headed guy and stopped to tell me he was concerned, instead of bolting through the grid or being stupid.
Children gotten back under control, whip safely stored where it is supposed to, and we went for another pass at the grid. B ate that sucker up. Jumping boldly, carefully and straight. Man he was feeling good.
Finally the last fence of the grid was put up, as a 2'9"ish vertical. A few passes through, and I had to remember to not back off on the backside and follow through with him to the very end. Super proud of him and his bold jumping!
To remind Mr. Banner that he does have to shorten up even after big fences, we did do 2 more passes, changing the 2'9" vertical at the end to 2 small xrails set up as a bounce. First try, Banner took one look at those two bounces and stopped before the oxer. He knew our tricks (after all last year of grids, he knows the idea). Trainer reminded me to not. change. anything. I have a tendency to end up drastically overriding him unnecessarily. Another pass through the grid, and I felt his hesitation at the oxer. I gently squeezed with my legs and did nothing else. Wouldn't you know it? B jumped the snot out of that fence and jumped through the bounces like a rockstar.
All in all, a very rewarding lesson, and I'm a very happy horse mom to have Banner sound, happy and feeling so good again! I can't believe how educated and fun he has become. Next week's lesson is out on XC, and then we have our last HT of the year next weekend.
All of these things together made for a bunch of time off. I managed to fit in a couple short lunges over the weekend and one ride on Monday, before we headed to our regularly scheduled lesson on Tuesday. I didn't have high hopes for this lesson considering he had basically 2 weeks off and a chiro session in the middle. You might think mentioning the chiro seems weird, but he always gets super... spunky after chiro. The last 2 times, we have had to spend half of our lesson reminding him he doesn't have to show us exactly how athletic he can be with his hind end over every fence. It always makes me laugh, but doesn't change the fact that bucking over half the fences doesn't make for the most productive lessons.
There is another rider, newer to this barn, that wanted to join our lesson! I happily said of course! I really like saving the $10 in semi-private lessons & my horse appreciates not having all the focus on him. We arrived to a nice little grid set up in the big ring. 2 trot poles to a crossrail, short one stride to a vertical, bigger one stride to another vertical, 2 strides to an oxer, and then one stride to either a single vertical or a pair of crossrail bounces.
We started off with just the crossrail and slowly built the jumps as we went. The first few times, Banner got forward and flat, just running through the poles that were placeholding where the jumps would soon be. I tried to help him a bit but then we got some awkward striding through. By about the 6th pass through, he remembered that he doesn't have to racehorse through the grid and began sitting down.
The second jump got put up and it was just a little 2'/2'3"ish vertical. No big deal. Then Trainer put up the 3rd fence. The cups were already set at 3', and our horses were warmed up, so she just set the pole in there. A little moment of anxiety and stress snuck up on me. We hadn't jumped in over two weeks and I didn't know how Banner would feel about jumping right back in to the big fences.
I pointed him down the grid, took a deep breath and tried to remember to take it one jump at a time. Wouldn't you know it, Banner could not have cared one little bit. He popped right through that grid like an old pro.
I couldn't help but take a moment and remember that just around this time last year, how intimidated he would be by immediately going up to a jump in the 3' range. Now, he didn't even bat an eye (even if his chicken rider panicked just a little bit).
A few more passes through that, and then went up the next jump. It began as a 3' vertical. Easy peasy. My nerves subsided and I felt confident about us crushing this grid. Then the back side of that fence came up, making it a 3'3" oxer. Oops, butterflies back for a minute. Banner was feeling super confident and bold, and now getting more thoughtful and careful through the grid. Deep breath again, turn to go in the grid and B stopped right at the first little fence. What? He seemed spooked. I looked around slightly perplexed and realized there were some kids playing behind us outside the arena. Weird, but surprised Banner cared. Then one of the other riders in the ring informed me that the kids were playing with a large lunge whip. OH, that makes more sense. Thankful that B is such a level-headed guy and stopped to tell me he was concerned, instead of bolting through the grid or being stupid.
Children gotten back under control, whip safely stored where it is supposed to, and we went for another pass at the grid. B ate that sucker up. Jumping boldly, carefully and straight. Man he was feeling good.
Finally the last fence of the grid was put up, as a 2'9"ish vertical. A few passes through, and I had to remember to not back off on the backside and follow through with him to the very end. Super proud of him and his bold jumping!
To remind Mr. Banner that he does have to shorten up even after big fences, we did do 2 more passes, changing the 2'9" vertical at the end to 2 small xrails set up as a bounce. First try, Banner took one look at those two bounces and stopped before the oxer. He knew our tricks (after all last year of grids, he knows the idea). Trainer reminded me to not. change. anything. I have a tendency to end up drastically overriding him unnecessarily. Another pass through the grid, and I felt his hesitation at the oxer. I gently squeezed with my legs and did nothing else. Wouldn't you know it? B jumped the snot out of that fence and jumped through the bounces like a rockstar.
All in all, a very rewarding lesson, and I'm a very happy horse mom to have Banner sound, happy and feeling so good again! I can't believe how educated and fun he has become. Next week's lesson is out on XC, and then we have our last HT of the year next weekend.
Comments
Post a Comment