XC Schooling

 There is a private barn about 15 minutes from me whose owner does a lot with Mustangs and is friends with my trainer.  She is slowly building out a full LL XC course and currently has a mix of jumps from intro - BN, a bank complex, a baby ditch, and a full working equitation course. All of this alongside trails, and an all-weather outdoor arena!!!  Sunday was the second time we have gone out there this year, and I got to say - it is great!!!  

Such a good boy

This weekend I was actually early - SHOCKING!!!  So I took my time getting Uno ready.  I got some Le Mieux ankle boots (for FREE!!!!!) that we are trying in the back, along side a pair of small pull-on bell boots that are the very flexible gum kind.  Uno is barefoot, and we don't jump big, so his leg protection needs are minimal.  However, since we did our Adaquan round he has really been reaching with his hind legs and has bruised his heels a few times.  He is also close behind and I noticed the hair looking ruffled after our last jump school.  So we will try this set up and see if it helps anything.

I am trying to be better about not frying my skin this year

We warmed up and cooled down playing with the Working Equitation stuff, and that is going to have to be it's own post because there is a LOT there.  TLDR: We can now drag 'dead bodies,' go through pool noodle waterfalls, navigate police tape, and carry both flags and tarps - you know, basic apocolypse-horse skills.  Then we went and popped over some of the jumps in the outdoor for a few minutes.  I put Paul's trail bit (a plain D- ring snaffle) on Uno because he has been SPICY this week, but he warmed up mellow and happy to just pick jumps up out of canter, so off we went to XC.

GUYS!!!  We jumped all the jumps, INCLUDING  a BN ramp, a BN trakehner, and the full starter course, including the ditch.   AND IT WAS ALL EASY! We did a mix of canter and trot with the idea of keeping the gaits BIG but not fast, and if I felt like rushing, then we needed to trot to re-establish our balance so I could ride forward at the jump.  Even if I 'missed' to a few of the jumps, we were balanced and landed softly and cantered away calmly.

This thing terrified me the first time we came here..

Look at hims knees

Please enjoy us popping over our first trakehner all chill and calm. Just no big deal!