Craig Barrett Clinic - Cross Country

Sunday arvo we had cross country with Craig. It was a rather large group of varying levels from 65 to the star grades so Coolie and I were right in the middle.

We warmed up over some smaller fences and then jumped right in to stringing bigger fences together. Coolie felt good, and was happy to be out there but I over thought the first big fence and jumped ahead of Coolie, and it was very ungraceful. That made me pull my finger out and ride properly!

Coolie was super buzzed again and so we just worked on calming him down and taking it one fence at a time, the same as in show jumping. We added terrain and turns in and it felt quite easy if a little enthusiastic.

After we warmed up we headed out to the main XC paddock, starting with the ski jump mound. Coolie and I started on the small ski jump, then went around to a log on top of the mound 2 strides down hill to a second log. We cantered around and jumped a hanging log landing down hill, but I had a terrible approach so we did it a second time. Finally we dropped down over the biggest ski jump. we had to do it a second time because I didn't maintain my position but we nailed it a second time.

Next was 3 oxers ranging from 80 to 105. Craig told me to go jump them all, and to maintain the rhythm between the fences. I was slightly concerned about the biggest one but I just made sure we had the right canter and had my leg firmly on. We were going if I liked it or not! Coolie leapt over it, he didn't get what the big deal was!

Next we jumped a small log, cantered around to a new ski jump then over a large apex. Coolie drifted a little at the apex so we went around and did it again, making sure we had a better approach. Our rhythm was really good, and again it felt quite easy.

Finally we went to the water jump. We all walked through it together, then Coolie and I went through and jumped out, came back round and jumped into the wter off a small bank and then again off a bigger bank.

It all felt very easy, and we definitly found our rhythm faster. Craig said I have to ignore everything Coolie does excpet for making sure we have stop, go and turn. The rest will just happen by itself. I was very pleased with how great Coolie felt, and how up for everything he was!