Great Ride

This Sunday, I participated in the usual group jumping lesson that we do on weekends at my barn. For the most part, it went really well. Apache didn’t poop out on me like he often does after we’ve been out there a while. He was also really listening, taking the distances I asked for, coming back or lengthening his stride on cue, etc. There was one line our trainer had set up that was an easy 3 for the larger horses if they trotted in. For Apache and another horse, Penny, who are smaller and who move such that trotting fences is hard for them (in Apache’s case because his intermediate gaits don’t provide much spring), we were supposed to canter the line. However, at a canter, it was a snug three, so we really had to ask them to collect down the line. As we worked different exercises, our trainer added jumps each time through, building up to a full course. At some point, she asked us to start trying to get the line in 2 strides, which for our smaller horses would mean really pushing them up to get the length. Apache and I had tried it twice and both times, we ended up not getting the distance and having to put in a tight 3rd stride to get to the fence.

We were finally up for our last pass on the course before the group lesson was over and I was determined we were going to get it in 2. We had a longer line to complete first before we went around to that one though. According to my trainer, he was approaching the line too fast, but I didn’t realize it at the time. I felt we were just picking up our step. After the jump, he decided to really “run with it”. He threw his head up, yanking the reins down so they were loose, and took off galloping, in his goofy way where his legs are going all over the place and he’s taking precarious steps with each stride. The end of the line was actually just poles, but he decided to sail over those anyway. Since I was distracted with trying to slow him down and regain control and wasn’t really expecting him to jump the poles, certainly not to that degree, it took me by surprise. Thus, I didn’t really go over with him properly and I think I probably jammed him in the back when he landed. At that point, he decided he was going to buck, which wouldn’t have been a big deal. He always bucks when he gets excited or annoyed and he never bucks big. However, since he was running at the same time and not paying attention to where he was putting his feet, when he lowered his head to buck, he caught a toe and tripped hard instead.

All the sudden there was no horse underneath me and there was no way I could have stayed on. There was nothing there to stay on! I sort of rolled sideways down the front of his shoulder / chest and, as I was falling, I realized I was going to land in front of him and had time to think, “Crap, he’s running, I’m about to have a hoof in my face.” Fortunately, after the trip, he just stopped dead, probably because I fell off. He looked down to see if I was okay. I was, so I stood up and he looked me over to make sure. Then he spun around and took off running and bucking right through the group of other horses in the lesson who were standing waiting for me to finish the course. Then he stopped at a jump and my trainer grabbed him while I got back on. It was a really harmless fall. I didn’t have a mark on me and it didn’t hurt at all. However, I was really bummed since it broke my three year streak of not coming off my horse.

My trainer had us finish that line that had resulted in the mishap just to end on a good note and then we were done. I was pretty disappointed that I never got to get that shorter line in a 2. However, when I showed up for my lesson tonight, she said she thought we should do some jumping. She still had the same course set up, but had us work it a little differently. Part of the course was a small X on the diagonal. She had us basically do a figure 8 over that jump a few times, jumping up the line on a left lead, then swapping leads and coming back at it on a right lead. The turn to get to the jump from the rail on the right lead was pretty tight, which was interesting, because it meant you really had to ride that turn, making sure you kept some horse to ride, but still finishing a good corner to set up properly for the jump. It also meant that Apache didn’t have any time really to look at the jump but was basically coming out of a turn and there it was. He had to go over based on trusting me, not based on having had time to think about it himself. We actually did really well on that part of the exercise. He was jumping great tonight. Also, considering that we were doing jumping in my individual lesson, so he was not getting breaks while other people did the exercise like in the group lesson, he held his energy level amazingly well.

Finally, she decided we were going to add that small line again, but she told me that she had moved it out some for a larger horse, so it should be a really comfortable three, even without collecting him. We did that line a few times and the third time, he was carrying his stride and jumped in so well that it ended up being kind of tight. She adjusted the line to be a little longer to compensate and told me to ride it exactly the same to see if it rode better. Well that time, when I asked for the distance at the first jump, he added in another step instead. He jumped the second jump okay, but she asked us to do it again and to pop him with my crop and get after him if he didn’t give me the distance I asked for. She also said to move him up a little as I rode around the rail to the jump, to get a feel for what I had to ride. He was moving up for me nicely as I approached the jump. When I got there and asked for the distance, he did give it to me, but he kind of stalled out over the jump and ended up trotting out of the line.

At this point, my trainer said she wanted to see it one more time and to pop him with the crop and really squeeze as I asked for the distance and to move him up after we landed as well. Well, we came around that time and as we came up to the jump, I asked him to move up and he really started carrying a big step. I popped him with the crop in addition to giving him leg when we hit the distance and he sailed over the jump. I squeezed again when we landed and he got his huge stride right back as he hit the ground. The next thing I knew, we had only gone 2 strides and we were at the second jump. The distance was a bit long, but there was no room for a third stride, so I asked for it and he reached huge and sailed over it. It felt awesome! My trainer was so psyched. He wasn’t able to get this line in 2 when it was shorter and now that we had moved it out to be a really comfortable three even when carrying some step, he suddenly gets it in 2! What a rush! I am really loving jumping and so is he. I can’t wait until we get to jump at a show.