Jumping exercises with only a few jumps

I board at a dressage barn, so it isn't surprising there aren't fields of cross country jumps to school or a variety of show jumps to arrange and rearrange. The barn has two sets of barrels, two sets of standards, and a few ground poles. I've built myself four sets of standards, purchased jump cups, and provided half a dozen or so ground poles. 

I'm welcome to set my jumps up in the outdoor arena- in fact, they're often reset to tiny crossrails when I'm finished so that kids and horses can get some variety in their training. Since I'm the only one that jumps seriously, I'm also the only person who sets and breaks down courses. Because I'm essentially a lazy person, I don't do a lot of jump moving. It's time consuming, and I'd rather get straight to riding!

I'm always looking to do more with less, so over the weekend, I spent some time visualizing different jumping exercises before I tacked up Gina. 

You can see three of the four jumps that I had set- the fourth is a vertical off to the right. The barrels are set on a bending line from the unseen jump to the right. The other verticals are set about two strides apart. The verticals are all between 2'6 and 2'9; the barrels are only about 2'3. 

Jump setup

Here are my basic tenets of working with a limited amount of jumps:

• Verticals are your friend. They can be jumped either direction and I find they're excellent tools overcome fear or nervousness about height. They look much scarier and larger when they're airy- without filler. 
• Clustering jumps is beneficial. I don't scatter jumps around the arena, as it's easier to practice the twists and turns necessary in the show jumping arena when the jumps are close together. I set my jumps in the middle of the arena so if I need to make a wide turn, I can do so without feeling like I'm running into the fence.
• Related distances are key. You can practice counting your strides between fences. You can practice adjusting your horse's stride. You can practice leg yields by jumping a single element (always the second one- no one wants to teach run outs!). I usually have a 2 or 3 stride set, because the arena isn't huge. Related distances really give you a lot of bang for your buck!

Onto the exercises.

Figure 1

This is a very easy, straightforward exercise that I use for warm up. It can be ridden either direction (all of these courses can). It's essentially a big oval and it's great for feeling a pace and establishing a rhythm.

Figure 2

This exercise gets a little more technical. After the first jump, I have to really get Gina's attention to execute a good turn to the left. I don't have a lot of space to cut in the line, so this is where all that dressaging comes in handy. I leg yield a little left to get straight for the jump, then carry on. It doesn't always go as planned- sometimes that second jump is crooked and ugly, but that's why we practice!

Figure 3

This course begins by jumping across the first vertical. Gina thought I'd lost my mind and tried to wiggle herself straight, but I firmly applied leg and hand, and we sailed over. (I'm certain she did the horse equivalent of rolling her eyes.) This aligns you nicely for the next jump, which I had set about 4 strides away. That jump is followed by a tight rollback turn, which is great practice.

Figure 4

This course looks harder than it is, I promise. The turns are all fairly easy, except for the last one- like the second course, it requires you to leg yield your horse to get straight to the second element of the combination. This is probably my favorite exercise!

These exercises can easily be stacked on one another to form complete courses- additionally, it's easy to incorporate another jump somewhere or turn a vertical into a square oxer. 

What kind of jump setup do y'all like? 

Gina overcomes

Three years ago when I bought Gina, it was under the assumption that she jumped. I made this assumption because her previous owners provided pictures like this:

This is not a carousel horse; this is a Gina.

Also Gina.

When I made the decision to buy Gina, I had been riding her on the flat for about a month. Why didn't I jump her? It was winter time and I was confined to an extremely small indoor arena used for therapeutic riding lessons. As you may have guessed, the therapeutic riding center was not a place where people jumped.

I just assumed that a horse who lived at a hunter barn and had a lifetime USEF registration with records of competing in over fences classes was a perfectly fine jumper.

I was very, very wrong. 

For many months (years?) I struggled to get Gina to jump anything that remotely resembled a stadium jump. There was one memorable ride where I set up a course of ground poles and my beautiful former hunter reared up at the sight of them. I didn't even have standards out. I don't know what happened to make Gina so upset at the idea of jumping.

I finally stopped trying to force my horse to do something she obviously hated. I focused on dressage; my riding improved, Gina improved, our relationship improved. But y'all, I am not a dressage enthusiast. I am a dressage tolerater appreciator.  I understand its value and don't mind working on it. I enjoy it sometimes. But I really, really like jumping.

So over the last few months, I've carefully reintroduced Gina to the idea of jumping. First over natural obstacles that had never upset her, then over tiny, tiny crossrails. Then tiny, tiny verticals. Then over slightly larger verticals.

One of my monthly goals is to jump Gina weekly. I don't want to overdo it- I mean, she's 17 and I don't want to injure her or burn her out. Sunday, I set up a few jumps in the arena: a 2' vertical to warm up over, a 2-stride line composed of a 2'6 vertical and 2'9 vertical, and some barrels. Now, the barrels are probably only 3' or 3'3, but they're metal, painted black and yellow, and look kind of intimidating.

Of course I put run-out rails on there. I'm not stupid!

I figured if we were having a good day, we'd give 'em a shot. If we weren't having a great day, who cares?

"You want me to jump what now?!"

We were having a pretty good day, although the arena was a lot more slippery than I'd originally assessed. Despite having a couple of slip 'n slide moments, Gina was going beautifully, getting pretty decent distances and not acting like a fruitcake. 

I pointed her at the barrels and she slammed on the brakes, like "Are you serious, lady?!" I was serious, so I very calmly backed her away and represented. It took a couple of times (and a couple of taps with my bat), but Gina gave it the ole college try and cleared it by what seemed like five feet.

Of course, because nothing is ever good enough for me, I pointed her at it again, and she stopped a couple more times. Then she gave up trying to convince me she couldn't possibly do it again; she sighed and heaved herself over it. I immediately patted her and hopped off and hand-walked her to cool her out.

I'm pretty proud of The G. It's been a process, but she's finally jumping (mostly) well. I'm feeling very positively about next year's show season. 

This weekend is the hunter pace (rain forced it to be rescheduled) and I'm eager to get in some XC schooling!

Freddie the jumper

I flatted Freddie in a dressage saddle last Friday morning. This particular saddle is a Wintec that's on loan from Richal's sister. It's a nice enough saddle, but way too slippery and way too small. However, it does help me keep my legs and seat in a more appropriate place for dressage, so in that way, it's a vast improvement over doing dressage in my cross-country saddle. The only notable thing about Friday's ride was that Freddie cantered an entire lap around the indoor arena without bucking. Y'all, I just about fell off, I was so excited.

dressage wut

Since the Fred and I have been dressagin' exclusively on our early-morning rides, I thought we could both use a little change in routine over the weekend. Johnny came to the barn and we set up four little crossrails in the outdoor arena. Johnny also assisted in grooming Fred; he brushed her mane and tail and commented that she looked like a big dork because her super-thick mane parts down the middle.

Johnny is the best.

Freddie was super riled-up and raring to go. She spent a few minutes jigging around the indoor before we went outside, where she walked pretty calmly for most of one lap before jigging some more. I just about had to stand on her head to get her to stop.

I mean, she is basically Will Smith at this point.

I settled her onto a big circle and got her to walk quietly in both directions for a few minutes before asking for a trot. Surprisingly, she trotted beautifully all around the arena, circling and changing directions like she was an old pro. 

I trotted her over all the crossrails several times and was impressed by how well she behaved. She was initially a little hesitant, but with some leg and a cluck for encouragement, she hopped over all the jumps without a problem. She improved as she went- she felt far more confident by the end of our ride. Johnny dutifully reset the few rails we knocked; I was pleased that Freddie didn't scare herself knocking them down, or get spooked by Johnny resetting them. (Gina could learn something here...) 

And, get this y'all: little baby Freddie cantered away from 90% of the jumps without bucking! Hooray! Toward the end of the ride, she bucked a couple of times coming off a jump. It felt like she just had so much momentum going that she didn't quite know what to do with it all upon landing. I am very optimistic that as she becomes stronger and more balanced, she will stop bucking. 

Face of a champion.

Maybe baby Fred and I really will have a good show next month!

A week of firsts for Carson

First, thank you to everyone who's chimed in with advice and opinions on the wedding posts! It's helpful to have so many perspectives!

Onto the fun stuff:

Tuesday, I was itching for something to do, so I headed out to Richal's barn and immediately set up $900 Facebook Pony's zigzag jumping exercise. I set the two end jumps as small crossrails, the middle two jumps as ~2'3 verticals, and had some barrels as standalone jumps off to the sides of the zigzag.

I tacked up Carson, who was much more motivated to move forward in the outdoor arena. He's a big, heavy boned, warmblood-type Thoroughbred and is a much different ride from nimble, speedy Moe or dainty Gina. Carson feels powerful. His turning radius is approximately equivalent to that of a Mack truck, so the rollbacks were difficult for us. However, he was very eager and willing to go- that's never a bad quality!

I convinced his owner to get on him and pop him over some fences- she is a dressage rider for sure, but she's a good sport (and good rider) and put Carson through the exercise with very little trouble. After she'd gotten him through a few times, I raised one of the verticals to a solid 3'. I told her if she kept her leg on and kept him straight, he'd sail over it without a problem. On the first approach, Carson ducked out to the left, but his owner admitted she hadn't been very committed to going over. On her next approach, she was much more confident in where she was going, and he stepped over it like an old pro!

Just jumping like a good event horse should.

I was absolutely tickled that he had zero qualms about going over, as he'd never been asked to jump anything bigger than about 2' until a month ago.

Yesterday, Richal invited me to go on a trail ride at a nearby lake with her, Carson's owner, and a couple of her eventing friends. We arrived at the lake just after noon, ate a quick lunch, and headed out on the trail around 1 PM.

I was on Carson, who'd never been on a trail in his life. He was curious without being spooky and fearlessly led the way for the first half mile or so. I was relaxed and had him on a loose rein while I turned around and chatted with one of the eventers about foxhunting. All of a sudden, he gave a mighty snort, leaped straight up, and somehow teleported sideways. I fell off in total surprise while Carson trotted down the trail. He was eventually chased down (apparently, he just kept trotting along as if he had some destination in mind), but not before he destroyed his reins. One of the eventers offered her curb rein, so I was back in action before long. 

The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful- Carson got belly-deep in the lake (on his first time encountering water!), he didn't mind when the other horses crowded around him, he was content to trot along the trail when everyone else was trotting, and he plodded over rocks, fallen trees, and plowed through branches, sticks, and vines.

Bringing up the rear on the road.

Riding along the lakeshore.

Playing in the water with his pals Diamante and Andy.

Left to right: new friends Linda & Rio, me & Carson, Richal & Diamante,
Audrey (Carson's owner) & Andy

Map of the ride from the GPS tracker app.

It was definitely a fun time and I was happy to meet some more eventers! (I was beginning to think they didn't exist here.) I'm proud of Carson- from jumping big jumps to handling the trail, he was a superstar this week. Onto cross country next week (hopefully)!

Dispatches from "Modern Showjumping"

A few weeks ago, I picked up a copy of a book titled Modern Showjumping by one Count Ilias Toptani.

I'd never heard of Count Toptani, so I did a little reading on him before starting the book. He was a member of the Albanian royal family who competed as an international showjumper in the 1940s & 1950s. He also coached South American showjumping teams to success in the same era. He was frustrated with the typical design of English saddles, which he felt were too bulky and placed the rider in a terrible position to jump. So Count Toptani redesigned the English saddle: a lightweight (9 lbs), narrow-waisted saddle with the stirrup bars recessed inside the saddle tree. His influence in saddle design is still seen in today's close contact saddles and the Count Toptani MkII and MkV are still in production. You can find the saddles, and the whole fascinating story of the man's saddle crusade on this website.

Modern Showjumping was originally published in 1954 and revised in 1972. I have a copy of the revised edition, printed in 1973. 

The contents of the book are fascinating, and I feel Toptani's advice is sound. Here are some highlights:

"Every young horse needs to be taught respect for man. Respect it can get only if correctly treated- with kindness when good and with a little harshness when spiteful. Young colts are just as spiteful and mischievous as young boys and quite as nasty- if they can get away with it." (p. 39)

"We must always bear in mind that neither young nor old horses love man. It is a popular fallacy that horses often love their masters- only dogs will do that and no other animal I know of. The horse just about 'tolerates' man, if trained correctly and broken in with patience. The horse truly loves only three things: to eat, to sleep and to roll happily on a dunghill after careful grooming!" (p. 39)

"I observed earlier that the horse does not need to be a perfect haute ecole horse before starting to learn to jump, but like the rider, it must have elementary dressage training before being taught anything else." (p. 45)

"This, in a nutshell, is the whole theory of modern show jumping:

(1) Remember that you are only a passenger, so be as little of a burden as possible.

(2) It is the horse that is jumping, not you, so let it jump freely at the speed it requires.

(3) Let the horse decide when it has to take its forelegs off the ground and jump. Never try to show it when to jump- the horse knows better than you do." (p. 50)

"The best thing is to ride, ride boldly and with decision, give the horse encouragement and the necessary speed to get over the obstacle and not bother about when or how the horse is going to do it. Remember, horses have horse-sense and four strong legs of their own." (p. 55)

"The worst thing a rider can possibly do is to slow down his horse." (p. 95)

"I admit that at first it was most difficult to make the riders see my point when I introduced this new saddle. Practically all insisted that any old saddle was good enough for a good rider and that a good rider did not need such a 'sissy' contraption to win an event! This attitude was naturally too stupid to bother with..." (p. 133)

"The indicated bit for a show jumper is the snaffle with a drop noseband. Personally, I prefer a soft flexible rubber snaffle to an ordinary one." (p. 145)

"To my mind the moment a horse needs a standing martingale to get its nose down it no longer has any business in a show ring. It should either be in the manege or in a vegetable cart!" (p. 147)

"Moreover, if the horse needs a standing martingale, it is entirely your fault and the horse is being penalized by your mistakes. My advice is: if the horse is not entirely ruined, take this terrible contraption off and throw it away; take your horse back into the manege and start working it properly by sitting correctly and using your legs as they should be used." (p. 148)

"If you want to enjoy riding and jumping it is essential to remember the following points:

Never rush the training of your horse.

Never brutalise your horse.

Never try to teach your horse something you don't know yourself.

Never lose your patience- a horse does not reason like you but like a horse!

Never rely on luck and hope for the best.

Never try to place your horse at a jump.

NEVER try to overcome the efforts of your wrong seat and lack of training by short cuts. Take your horse back into the manege and start again. It will pay in the end." (p. 150)

Count Toptani also has advice for training the aspiring rider, which includes a great deal of flat work before tackling fences. Count Toptani would like riders to be able to perform an "around the world" movement (you know, where you sit on the horse and turn 360 degrees) at the canter before they even think about jumping, along with a variety of other exercises designed to develop an independent seat, hand, and leg.

He also has advice on training horses to jump and conditioning them. He recommends an hour of slow walking, trotting, and cantering every day in a small arena (or manege, as he calls it) with no reins. As for jumping? As long as you don't make a big deal of it and reward the horse generously, you will eventually have a lovely show jumper.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly, and would definitely recommend it to anyone with an interest in jumping. While I'm not sure that I'll succeed at performing around the world while cantering, Count Toptani has inspired me to try!

Three fence course

Still from the video; we are possible a little far to the right!

Yesterday, I dragged all three of my jumps out and set up a course for Gina. There was one 18" crossrail and two 2'6 verticals. (I like to be able to jump fences in either direction, which is why I stick with verticals. And I also only have 3 sets of standards.)

Blue arrows/lines are the first half; green are the second.

Gina warmed up beautifully, walking, trotting, and cantering quietly on a long rein. This is a far cry from a year or two ago when she'd freak out at the sight of ground poles! We trotted over the crossrail a couple of times with no refusals! Is this thing on? Gina jumped without hesitation or refusal! I almost called it quits right there, but I'd spent a solid 15 minutes lugging jumps around, so we continued on.

The verticals were a breeze; we had mostly good distances and I managed not to duck as hideously as I do with Moe. There was one very long spot to a vertical that made me grateful I remembered how to slip my reins and not catch my horse in the mouth! (Thanks, Moe!)

Since we were totally in the zone, I perched my phone on a barrel that was doing double-duty as a support for a standard that's missing a foot. I managed to get some video proof of The G jumping stuff like it isn't even a big deal. I'll spare y'all the whole video, as it's 4+ minutes of me fiddling with the camera, walking Gina, and swearing when we hit a nasty spot and I almost went off to the side.

I knew you could do it, Gina! That's why I bought you in the first place, you wretched creature!

Now, here's the question: Take Gina to the event derby at The Woodlands on June 15, or take her to the Sport of Kings Challenge for dressage and jumper classes at Remington Park June 22? Both are about 2 hours away; they'll also cost about the same. I feel like Gina is equally reliable (or unreliable) for either show. I'm kind of leaning toward the event derby, as I know Gina enjoys cross-country and it won't require me to braid. (And who am I kidding? I like cross-country better, too!)

Moe the jumping machine

Both horses had their regularly schedule trims today. The farrier discovered a small bruise on Gina's right hind heel; it's nearly healed, but he recommended I give her a few days off anyway. So I embarked on a jumping adventure with Moe.

The part of the property I typically use as a jumping area is being used for a wedding next weekend. Setup starts Wednesday, so I figured I'd get in a jump school before I hauled my jumps elsewhere.

The jumps were set up nearly identically to the way they were when I last schooled Gina over a small course, except instead of a 4 stride line, it was a 2 stride line. I had the isolated vertical set as a crossrail with a pole on top at about 2'7. One of the jumps on the line was at 3', the other at 2'9.

"JUMPZ, DERP, I WAS MEANT TO STEEPLECHASE"

Moe was acting totally bonkers while we warmed up; he refused to trot and would only walk and canter. "Canter" is a term I'm using loosely, as it was a hand gallop at its slowest point and a nearly-out-of-control "I just came off the track yesterday" gallop at its fastest.

While Fruitcake got his willies out, I attempted to use the neckstrap I'd finally remembered to affix to my horse. I have a terrible habit of over-releasing. I like to think this is a better alternative than constantly hitting my horse in the mouth by not releasing, but it makes a lot of things difficult. Turning in the air. Turning rapidly after a jump. You get the idea. The neckstrap is an old belt; I practiced reaching forward and grabbing it while we were zooming round at Mach 10. It went okay.

I took him over the isolated vertical a few times before recruiting the farrier's wife to take a video of us jumping and running around like the maniacs we are. One of my favorite things about Moe is that I never worry about if he's going to go over a jump. He's very reliable. So over the vertical, I concentrated on staying out of his way, grabbing the neckstrap, and finding a distance. It went pretty well; we had good distances every time. Twice, they were spot-on. Once, we were long, but I saw it, took it, and things were fine.

Now, of course, as soon as someone was recording our ride, I forgot how to ride. Moe forgot he knew any speeds other than light-speed.

"WHEE JUMPING WHEE!"

We took the vertical nicely, took a very long turn to the line, and promptly had the ugliest distance ever to the first jump. He pulled it with his hind legs; whether that is from our hideous approach or because I did something like sit on him in the air, I don't know. I'll have to watch the video again. We squeezed a very awkward two strides into the line, Moe wrenched around like a hooked fish over the second jump, and we landed without incident.

I sent him on to the vertical again. He enthusiastically galloped around, ignoring my requests for a turn, until he belatedly realized "Oh, what? OH! Pulling on the right rein means turn right!" We took a decent distance to it and managed to slow down to a walk within half a mile of landing. Success?

I've apparently forgot how to jump. At least the horse remembers.

I didn't want to keep the farrier's wife waiting around taking videos while I attempted to get a few less ugly jumps in, so I thanked her profusely, stuck my phone in my boot, and took Moe around a couple more times. We improved on the line and made better turns before we called it quits. 

I think Moe would have happily jumped a dozen more times, but yours truly was sweating bullets and desperately needed to use the ladies' room/stall. He cooled out quickly, got brushed, smothered in fly ointment, and kicked out in the pasture. 

Sometimes it's hard to believe that fearless jumping horse is 19. Shouldn't the arthritis be kicking in now? 

Courses with Gina

Late Tuesday morning, I headed to the barn with the intent to reconfigure and raise my jumps. I was feeling triumphant after Gina's success over the grid on Friday and wanted to push her just a little more.

There's a lone vertical and a related distance (set at about 66' apart, or about 4 strides). I also appropriated the footrests from nearby Adirondack chairs and set a warm-up fence. It's about a foot tall. The verticals range from 2'3-2'6. 

Gina was definitely up; she was restless at the walk and trot, but settled into a brisk canter nicely. I approached the warmup fence, and she stopped. Not a nasty stop- more of a pretending-to-be-freaked-out stop. I tapped her with my crop and made her walk over it. (It's a FOOT TALL, come on Gina!) On subsequent returns to the little fence, she popped over it appropriately without any trouble.

I took her over the lone vertical with no issues. She got stronger and stronger as we went on. She also got kind of fussy about turns. The area where the jumps are is enormous. I set the jumps so there was plenty of room for big, looping turns and long approaches. I didn't want Gina to feel crowded, and I like having plenty of space to make adjustments. I figure there's always time to work on things like rollbacks; that time is not now.

Inevitably, every time we'd make a turn to approach a jump, Gina would try to pop her outside shoulder out, do a step or two of sidepassing, shake her head, and suck back behind my leg. I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt and chalking it up to middle age and decreased flexibility. Once we'd get around the turns, she'd surge forward again and eagerly head toward the fences. I've been reluctantly pricing joint supplements; plain old MSM worked very well for Moe when he had some stiffness last year. I'll get some for Gina and see if it helps.

At any rate, my eye was better and Gina and I took perfect distances to many of our fences. The four-stride line rode very well most of the time. I concentrated on seeing a distance at all, and as a result, even our long distances were ridden smoothly; I saw the long spot, told Gina to take it, and she did. 

Gina was hauling around like a freight train for most of the ride, but I'll take forward and willing over reluctance any day. Since all of the jumps were verticals, we made a course out of them very easily: start with the lone vertical, turn right to the line, turn right to the vertical, turn left to the line, turn left to the vertical. She landed most of her changes and was happy to do a flying change for any we missed.

I'm so pleased with her attitude lately that I'm considering doing something really dumb and taking her to a show that includes jumps later this year. Johnny's against the idea, because he's convinced she's up to some greater plot. (I reminded him she's just a horse.)

Thanks for all the well-wishes for Moe's recovery- the eye is looking good and while he's still grumpy about being stalled during the day, he's taking his meds well and being fed more treats than is probably healthy.

Gina the jumping machine

I headed to the barn late Friday afternoon and set up a grid for Gina. After she'd been so good over the log pile a couple of weeks ago, I figured there was no reason not to address The Show Jumping Issue. Except, you know, a general interest in not breaking my other arm/dying.

Gina's such a good poser. Moe is a ham.

I have two sets of standards I made last year. (Once I figure out how to keep their feet from continually falling off, I'll post instructions.) The barn has a set. I bought eight landscape timbers at my local hardware store and thought about what to set up on my drive to the barn.

This is designed to trot in. It's approximately 18' from the first crossrail to the second. From the second jump to the third, it's about 24'. The crossrails are about a foot tall at their center; the vertical is about 2' tall. There are no trot poles leading to the first crossrail. I set my extra ground poles along the sides of the grid to encourage Gina not to run out.

Gina noticed the jumps right away, but stayed pretty relaxed throughout our warmup. When I pointed her toward the grid, she hesitated. Instead of putting my leg on, I let her stop and eye the jump. I am obviously an expert rider.

I set her to it again and felt her start to wiggle. This time I applied some leg and said, "Come ON, you can walk over this!" Lo and behold, she trotted through the whole thing.

Let me repeat that: Gina trotted through a gymnastic. No fuss, no antics, no nothing. She acted like she did this every day. I actually said "HOLY SHIT" out loud when she took off cantering afterwards.

I was completely flabbergasted, so I sent her through it three more times. The distances got increasingly awkward, so I called it a day while she was still super zealous.

Who is this horse??

Throwback Thursday

Moe and I competing at Brownland Farm during the show jumping phase of the Middle Tennessee Pony Club Horse Trial, October 2003. Photo captured by one of my parents. 

Let's not talk about how short my reins are.

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 10- Five of Your Favorite Jumping Exercises

Day 10- Five of Your Favorite Jumping Exercises

I love gymnastics and grid work. I think they're invaluable for sharpening a horse's skills, building confidence, and improving a rider's position. That said, I don't know that I have specific favorite exercises that I return to time and time again. I'm more of an improviser. So, here are five exercises I think are very good!

1. Gymnastic #2 from Jim Wofford's Modern Gymnastics (also found in May 2012 Practical Horseman, and online here). It's four ground poles, a jump, and a one-stride to another fence. This is a great confidence builder; I jumped Colter through it today. The trot poles really help establish a good rhythm and set the horse up for success over the two fences. I did a crossrail for the first fence, and eventually ended with a 2' oxer. It rides well; I increased the distances a little bit to compensate for Colter's very long stride. (Note: I think you can also find this gymnastic in Wofford's Training The Three Day Event Horse and Rider.)

2. Exercise 7 from this PDF from the Alberta County 4-H. This sheet has several good exercises, but I love exercise 7- two bounces to a one stride. I particularly like bounces because they make horses that rush (like Moe) sit up and sit back on their haunches. 

3. "The Y" from this Horse Illustrated article on grids. This exercise is a two or three stride followed by a three stride bending line. I think when trainers and riders think "gymnastic", they think "straight line"; however, it's important for horses to learn to turn while jumping. This exercise is effective and something different for horses to think about.

4. An Australian publication, The Horse Magazine, featured this exercise from Colleen Brook. It's simply two jumps set nearly parallel to one another on a slight angle. (You just have to go look at it, I think.) As the graphic on the article illustrates, there are about a dozen different ways to utilize just two jumps; that's great news for people like me who own four sets of standards!

5. Horse Channel featured the "wagon wheel" exercise way back in 2007 as a way to help riders with rollback turns. It's four crossrails set up on a large circle (width of your arena). The goal is to ride through three or four times while keeping a steady, even pace and jumping in the middle of each crossrail. I'm excited to try this with Colter soon!

30 Day Blogging Challenge: Day 4- Create A Fun Jump Course

Day 4- Create A Fun Jump Course

This was a tough one for me, as I am not especially creative. My jump courses at home tend to either be gymnastics or a very easy sort of two-fences-on-each-side-of-the-arena-and-one-in-the-middle type.

But when I really thought about the type of course I'd like to school my horse over, or compete over, I came up with something that would be just the right amount of challenging for a greenie like Colter. Voilà!

MS Paint Rulz

Easy, confidence building, with a couple of twisty loops. And one combination, probably a three-stride. 

Jumping Colt

It was a luxurious, cool 90 degrees this weekend, so before I headed off to the track on Saturday, I went out to ride. On Friday, Levi and I went riding; he rode Moe (who was kind of a brat) and I rode Gina. I opted to ride Colt on Saturday morning while Anne worked Atut (and offered me kind advice, like "SIT UP").

I was really impressed with Colt's behavior in the barn. Last time I rode him, he had a nervous breakdown when Kyla took Cal out of the barn and Colt was left alone. On Saturday, he was a little distressed when Atut went out, but settled down fairly quickly and only whinnied a couple of times.

Once we were out in the arena, Colt was totally unimpressed with the jump standards. To my knowledge, it's the first time he's seen jump standards of any kind. He walked around them, through them, and over a ground pole in between them without batting an eye.

He managed to keep it pretty much together when Atut left the arena- I could feel him get tense, but we just kept walking and he eventually relaxed. Anne returned unmounted and we got to work.

I didn't do much work with Colt before putting him to the ground poles. I wanted the whole ride to be positive, and poor Colter seems to inevitably have some mishap as the ride goes on. I trotted him for a few minutes in big loopy circles and serpentines, and put him to the jumps. The poles were arranged in a one-stride, and he trotted over them without a fuss. I had Anne put the back jump up to a crossrail. Colt trotted in, took a delicate canter stride, and jumped over the crossrail. He cantered away (on the correct lead!) and managed to repeat this feat another two times. Anne put the back jump up to a vertical that was about 16" tall. We trotted in, cantered out beautifully.

 Then Colter got a little cocky. I could tell he was thinking, Jumps? Ha! I know how to jump! I got this figured out! I best jumper in whole entire universe! So I took him to it again. He cantered in, totally mangled the distance, awkwardly hopped over the jump, and the pole crashed down. Anne swore he looked slightly ashamed.

With green horses, I like to let them sort most things out for themselves. I try to set them up for success, by putting them to fences that are a low height, at an appropriate pace, and then I try to stay out of their faces and off their backs. I find they build a lot of confidence this way and are able to think for themselves (and later take care of me if I give them a less-than-stellar ride to a fence). They always make mistakes, and Colter is no different (even if he does have a fancy pedigree and beautiful movement).

Anne put the jump back up and I put Colt to it again. This time, he was extra careful, took it slowly, and cleared it perfectly. He cantered away on the correct lead, and I gave him a big pat on the neck. I don't know the last time I was so pleased with a horse.

As I was discussing our success with Anne, Colter propped up his hind leg and dozed off in the sun- but not before giving everyone in the arena the equivalent of a big horsey smile of pride. (Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about.)

Next on our agenda? Both jumps up!

Dressage Over Fences

I spent part of my day off yesterday riding Moe with Anne and Atut. Moe was in his usual high spirits, and Anne suggested taking him through some small gymnastics. She set up a one stride to a two stride, with the jumps about 18" high.

Gymnastics are not a strong point for Moe and me. In my younger days, I didn't practice them often. I didn't like them, they were a pain to set up, and I much preferred to zoom around over various cross-country obstacles set up in the pasture. Any time we were forced into doing them (like at Pony Club camp), Moe rushed through them, turning one-strides into bounces and taking fearsome distances on two and three stride lines. At shows, I always sort of let Moe pick his own pace and distances- it seemed easier than trying to rate him, even if it meant we sometimes knocked rails.

Anne is a dressage person and a stickler for accuracy and straightness. So when we approached the line and Moe (somewhat surprisingly) ducked out of the second fence, Anne chided me for not approaching the first fence straight. I tried it again and Moe threw a veritable fit, dancing sideways and attempting to charge around. He felt frustrated and confused. I had never really asked him to do a line my way and he didn't see the point in starting now.

We ended up taking the three jumps down and just having poles on the ground. For the most part, Moe walked and trotted quietly over them. Once I corrected my riding, he was straight as an arrow. Funny how dressage and its concepts carry over into every other part of three-day eventing.

While Moe had some ugly moments of confusion and disobedience, he was generally willing to do what I asked, once he'd figured it out. If I can keep my riding precise, I feel confident we'll have little trouble with gymnastics and pulled rails in the future!

Riding Colt

Rainbow reins FTW!

See that adorable chestnut face? That's Colt. I finally replaced the memory card in my phone, so no more MS Paint art. (I know everyone is very disappointed.) I snapped this picture of him a couple of weeks ago after a ride. 

Rides on any of the horses have been few and far between, thanks to Oklahoma's bizarre weather (snowing, then 70, then raining, then 40 with 20 mph winds) and increased responsibilities at work. While I'm glad for a fairly mild winter and more money, I haven't been pleased with how infrequently I've been able to ride. I'm doing well to get out once a week and hack one of the horses for half an hour. 

I did make it out to the barn on Sunday and elected to ride Colt simply because he was the first of the ponies to come looking for treats. I've been really impressed with how far his ground manners have come over the last month or so. Before, he was difficult to catch and refused to stand still when tied. He swung his giant butt around, constantly grunted and whinnied for his friends, and danced when anyone tried to handle his hooves. These days, he stands quietly, only looking at me with mild interest when he feels there may be treats involved. He also makes this face:

This is his "durrrr" face.

Sunday was a nice, sunny day and the arena's footing wasn't too slippery. I figured I might as well see how Colt felt about jumping. I've been taking him over trot poles every time I've ridden him and even trotted him over a couple of crossrails about a month ago. He took those things in stride, tripping over the trot poles and gamely lifting his legs in Saddlebred fashion over the crossrails. I set the square up the same way it had been set for Gina two-ish weeks ago.

This is what Gina was freaking out about. 18" verticals.

After some warmup, I trotted Colt into the exercise. He jumped in, jumped out, and cantered away nicely. I gave him a big pat on the neck and nearly fell off from excitement. I put him to it again. He jumped in, jumped out, and cantered away nicely. So I kept going. I made a right turn and took him over the perpendicular bounce. He jumped in, knocked over the pole, and jumped out. I was so pleased with him, I didn't even mind he knocked over the pole. It's hard to see in the picture, but footing in front of the two green buckets is kind of weird. I chalk up the pole knocking to Colt's general clumsiness and the weird footing.

Colt seemed to have a great time! I'm really pleased with how well he's doing and have some exciting news on that front. But that's a post for another day.

A New Personal Best

I'm certain I set a personal record for "Most Times Fallen Off In An Hour" with TWO falls in yesterday's jumping lesson. As you can imagine, I'm not very thrilled about the achievement. I am starting to think I should film all of my rides on Gina and eventually string together some sort of blooper reel. I've fallen off this horse more in a year than I have in seven years of riding Moe.

I'm sure you're all wondering how I could have accomplished such a feat. I'm still wondering myself.

It started with Anne and her son George (the best jump crew around) setting up two bounces perpendicular to one another, like this:

I still haven't replaced the memory card in my phone, so no real pics.

These were just ground poles. We didn't want to put them up to crazy crossrails before we knew Gina would be a good girl. I try not to freak the horse out too much. 

Anne moved a fairly large wooden fence post that had been standing in as a jump/extra large ground pole to the end of the cavaletti we had set up. The plan was to trot quietly over the cavaletti, then perform a cloverleaf pattern over the bounces (which were really ground poles). 

G warmed up about like I expected her to- head in the air, very forward, one eye on the scary poles, the other on curious Heidi, who was watching from outside the arena. I walked her over the cavaletti a couple of times, and then asked her for a trot. I managed to get her to pay attention and put in some decent trot work  before Anne said, "Take her over the cavaletti." I trotted up, feet home in the stirrups, heels down, eyes up, expecting Gina to really stride over the poles.

 Instead, Gina stopped mid-exercise to stare at the new, terrifying fence post (which was there both times she walked over it). I gave her a sharp squeeze with my legs. She leaped into the air, forward and sideways at the same time. I lost a stirrup. I yelled "Shit! Shit! SHIT!" before Gina took a sharp right and I fell to the left, breaking my fall with my head. (Good thing I was wearing my helmet.) Anne was convinced Gina was going to step on me and shouted "STAY DOWN! STAY DOWN!" When I rolled over and sat up, I saw Gina galloping around the arena. Colt, who probably thought Gina was going to leap the arena fence and rejoin him, started whinnying and galloping around his paddock. G screeched to a halt right before the arena fence and Anne grabbed her. 

I climbed aboard and Anne proceeded to lead me over all of the ground poles in the arena. She muttered obscenities at the horse while I apologized for yelling obscenities in the presence of her 10 year old child. Gina took the whole thing in stride, calmly walking over the poles as if she did it every day of her life. 

When Anne released me, I took Gina back over the ground poles (which she did  fairly quietly). I then set her to work on the bounces. The plan was to trot in, canter out, turn ninety degrees, canter through. Miss Mare wasn't having any of that turning garbage. Instead, she popped her outside shoulder out, attempted to bounce to a halt, and flung her head in the air. I stayed aboard and made the best I could of the situation. I managed to get her around once somewhat nicely and decided to call it a day.

I gave G a loose rein and talked with Anne. Around the time I was highlighting the positives of the day (Gina didn't actually refuse anything- a vast improvement over previous jumping lessons), Princess Pony violently spooked to the left (at a shadow? Who knows...) and I fell to the right, landing flat on my back. G trotted off. Anne caught her and I remounted, walked her around the arena twice, and dismounted before I fell off again.

I think George summed up the day, commenting, "Gina is being a really bad horse," after my second fall. Gina is being a really bad horse, indeed.

Riding Big Red

I was able to leave work early on Friday and spent the afternoon riding Colt (affectionately known as Big Red) with Kyla and Cal for company. Colt has improved about a hundred times over since he arrived- he's easier to catch, behaves better in the barn, and seems more relaxed while being ridden. He's turning into a real treat to work with. 

Before we got on, Kyla and I set the second set of ground poles on the diagonal line to a crossrail. I was excited to take Colt over a jump, however small. I wasn't sure if he'd ever been presented with jumps before, but I was certain it wouldn't give him any trouble. He warmed up beautifully, staying loose and pleasant at the walk and trot. His canter is a bit of an uncoordinated mess, but he managed to keep an even, rhythmic pace through two large circles. I took him up the ground poles (set 5' apart) to the first crossrail and he handed it well. He took an extra large trot step and didn't do anything silly. After Cal successfully went through the line, I took Colt around again. He went right through. I went ahead and turned him toward the diagonal line. He tripped over the first ground pole, but steadied himself in time to give a small hop over the second! Woohoo! I was so proud of Big Red- he's a willing and game horse. I was even prouder of Cal, who quietly trotted over all of the jumps, even when I raised them to small verticals for him. 

Today, I'm headed out to ride G. Anne wants to set up a couple of bounces perpendicular to one another (think ground poles arranged in a square). If Gina handles those well, we're going to move them up to crossrails and possibly verticals. I'm looking forward to seeing what Miss Mare does today.

Jumping Lesson

Yesterday was the best jumping lesson I've ever had on The G. 

Anne set up four trot poles leading to a very small crossrail and a couple of ground poles about three strides apart on a diagonal. Gina warmed up well. She was totally unfazed by Linda using the tractor to put out round bales, Colt whinnying like an idiot, and flocks of birds settling and flying up from the arena. Her trot work was beautiful- all stretchy and relaxed and springy. We did a bit of canter work, but G started to get wound up. I couldn't tell if she was irritated or excited. I decided to assume 'excited', because it was a gorgeous day and she felt great.

Gina trotted over the poles quickly, with big, bouncy steps. (Anne's comment was "You look like a Saddlebred!") She showed no hesitation or anxiety, which was definitely a nice change from previous jumping attempts. She was more than happy to bound over the tiny crossrail from a pleasant canter and even more willing to ease back to a working walk after jumping. She easily trotted over the poles on the diagonal. As we kept working, she seemed to develop a certain swagger- like she was saying This is too easy! Bring on some better stuff, lady!

We finally got to the point where we'd trot in to the crossrail, canter away, trot to the first of the diagonal, and canter through the second. Anne even used the mounting block to prop up one side of the second ground pole, and Gina sailed over it like a champ. I couldn't be more pleased with her performance! Her negative, anxious attitude was totally replaced by an eager, happy one! 

Personally, I think the hunter pace gave G a much-needed confidence boost. She successfully navigated a long and strenuous course filled with obstacles- and she made it! If she was feeling nervous about something at the hunter pace, her buddy Cal was right there to happily plow ahead and show her the way. I think getting out in the open, being allowed to gallop on, and feeling that her rider was at least going to give her a kind, decent ride did her a world of good. 

Next week's lesson is going to include a course of poles/crossrails (depending on how many spare buckets we can find)- I'm excited to see what happens!  

Big Red, Little Red, and Bay Mare

The week after Christmas was extremely busy. I was at the barn every morning to feed, as Kyla was spending most of the week in New York. (We normally divvy up the days.) I got a lot of good riding in on nearly all of the horses.

On Tuesday, Gina was being an absolute beast. She was galloping back and forth along the fence line, whinnying as if she was a wild stallion. (If you've heard Gina's whinny, you'll know this isn't an exaggeration. She really does sound like a stallion.) Kyla had assured me it was fine if I rode Cal while she was out of town, so I caught him and hopped aboard. I like Cal; he's a very green 8 year old OTTB gelding. He's a real sweetheart and very levelheaded and game. Anne and her teenage daughter were out riding Atut (who was being very obstinate), but Anne offered me some pointers and soon Cal was going along nicely, accepting the bit and happily bending through circles and serpentines at a walk and trot. Anne was so impressed with him she even rode him for a bit. Here they are, looking very nice:

Anne and Cal.

On Wednesday, Colt arrived. Colt (or Big Red as I like to call him) is an extremely large (we're talking 17+hh) 6 year old Oldenburg gelding. He was bred by Linda (my boss/the barn owner) and is owned by her son. Colt's dam (the TB broodmare Cherry Ice) and half-sister (the pinto Oldenburg Xeta) live at the barn. His sire is the great Oldenburg Wradar (who also happens to be all of Gina's foals' sire). Over Christmas, my boss and I convinced Colt's owner Zach to bring him to the farm so I could ride him. Zach is an attorney with three young children who would like to ride but doesn't have a lot of time. He hadn't been able to pay as much attention to Colt as he would have liked upon Colt's return from the trainer. As a result, Colt had become very pushy to both humans and other horses. Zach explained Colt wasn't a bad horse; he just seemed to know he was much bigger than everyone else and could get away with bad habits.

Colt made his arrival known by clambering out of the trailer snorting and blowing. He half-dragged Zach as he pranced toward the pasture with Gina and Cal. Zach turned him loose in their field and we watched as he danced up to the two horses. He and Gina sniffed one another, at which point Gina wheeled around, pinned her ears, and kicked Colt on the side. Cal looked mildly interested at the fuss, but every time he attempted to sniff Colt, Gina charged between them, herding Cal away. Zach seemed pleased; I think he was glad to know that Colt wouldn't be top dog.

By Thursday morning, Colt had been designated middle horse: definitely below Gina, but slightly above the good-natured Cal.

Little Red (Cal, left) and Big Red (Colt, right)

At first glance, the two horses don't look too different in the picture above, but check out their backs! Colt is nearly two full hands taller than Cal! I longed Colt in the round pen on Thursday. I only wish I'd been able to take a video- his movement is absolutely gorgeous. His longeing is good- he definitely knows the drill. His ground manners are another story. He's difficult to catch, and a pain to bridle. However, he stands tied quietly, stands quietly for mounting, and has a pleasant attitude under saddle. He has a very solid foundation and simply needs to be ridden. 

I've had a couple lessons on Colt with Anne, and she really helps me get good results. On Monday, Zach came out to watch, then ride, and Colt was a doll for him. The only issue plaguing us right now is a bit. Colt's enormous mouth is too wide for even Atut's 6" loose ring. I've measured all the bits in the barn as well as all the extra bits at work, and none are wider than 6". I found a 7" online, and since it's only $20, it might find its way to Colt's mouth. We'll see.

On Wednesday, Kyla and I left work a smidge early to try and get a ride in before the sun set. When we arrived at the barn, Cal was down and looking colicky. We quickly scrapped our riding plans and got Cal up and walking. After a Banamine injection, Cal perked up and looked much happier. He was eager for breakfast the next morning and has been totally fine since.

Friday was a beautiful day, so we called it a day around 4:30 PM and headed to ride. I hopped on Colt and Kyla on Cal, and we set off for some flat work. The horses were good, even after we switched halfway through our ride. 

Kyla and I had a lesson with Anne today, she on Cal and I on Gina. It was a jumping (I use the term loosely) lesson. After chasing the horses around their pasture for the better part of half an hour, we finally caught them and got to work. Anne had me work on getting Gina to focus on me; while I didn't have any major disobedience from Gina, I never felt like she was fully invested in what I was doing. She seemed to have one ear and eye on everyone else and one on me. (All of the horses were acting crazy today; even the elderly broodmares were galloping around.) Despite her inattention, the G did pretty well. She trotted over ground poles without being too tense and gave me very little trouble over a crossrail. I hope this is a sign of things to come and that one day we'll be over our stadium issues. Kyla and Cal had a very good lesson; Cal is totally unfazed by crossrails and ground poles and other horses carrying on like idiots. 

It's been a busy week, but I'm excited for more like it!