XC @ Brookleigh
Sunday was HOT and XC training was at 2, luckily there was a breeze and we are fairly fit because we aren't used to the heat yet.
Brookleigh is a new venue for Henry so I took the oppourtunity to practice my competition warm up I told Henry before I hopped on it was too hot for shenanigans and he agreed and got right to work. Jonna wanted us to be decisive about what we wanted to do so we weren't hanging around too much in the heat and so our horses didn't have to do too much.
We started in the front paddock that has a heap of transportables and a bank. I decided to jump some of the things that looked a bit different that Henry might spook at in a comp. Henry trotted right over though and so we did the bigger jump too and trotted up and down the bank. It was so easy we progressed to the second paddock, where we started with the water.
Henry has never seen this water and it's quite scary as it's in the shade so quite dark. I trotted Henry straight through and he hesitated a little but the second time we maintained the pace I set. Jonna then told me to let him climb out a bank. Henry was a good boy and figured it out and then scrambled back down again. Second time he jumped in like a pro before we jumped down a more straight forward bank which he also nailed.
From there we moved onto the bank complex, and Henry showed everyone how it was done. First we just went down and up, then we went down and up 2 banks before turning around and popping back down. Since that was so easy we dropped the big drop with the log on top and then down the other 2, one after the other. Henry didn't seem to notice it was hard!
We paid a visit to the mound and Henry was the only pony that got to play there. We trotted up and over the log on top, then back down it before popping off the ski jump. That all went well so we went back down over the log and attempted to jump a log at the bottom.
Henry wasn't so on board with this and our right drift and distraction meant it took us a few goes to get over the second log. We got two passable attempts before moving on to a larger log and bigger drop which Henry nailed both times.
To finish we put a course together. Henry went right into a lovely gallop and jumped a few fences he hadn't seen before coming to the water. The water approach was slightly different to what we had already done, a log 2 strides before the jump in. We got slightly long and Henry was a little backed of into the water. He jumped right in though, but we came around through that line again. This time we got deep to the log and nailed the water and we were done.
This was such a good session, for so many reasons. For the first time, Henry felt really established and really truely confident. I also felt confident and we were able to tackle some more technical aspects of cross country. Henry was the most established horse there and all our training showed and I was so proud of us!
Brookleigh is a new venue for Henry so I took the oppourtunity to practice my competition warm up I told Henry before I hopped on it was too hot for shenanigans and he agreed and got right to work. Jonna wanted us to be decisive about what we wanted to do so we weren't hanging around too much in the heat and so our horses didn't have to do too much.
We started in the front paddock that has a heap of transportables and a bank. I decided to jump some of the things that looked a bit different that Henry might spook at in a comp. Henry trotted right over though and so we did the bigger jump too and trotted up and down the bank. It was so easy we progressed to the second paddock, where we started with the water.
Henry has never seen this water and it's quite scary as it's in the shade so quite dark. I trotted Henry straight through and he hesitated a little but the second time we maintained the pace I set. Jonna then told me to let him climb out a bank. Henry was a good boy and figured it out and then scrambled back down again. Second time he jumped in like a pro before we jumped down a more straight forward bank which he also nailed.
From there we moved onto the bank complex, and Henry showed everyone how it was done. First we just went down and up, then we went down and up 2 banks before turning around and popping back down. Since that was so easy we dropped the big drop with the log on top and then down the other 2, one after the other. Henry didn't seem to notice it was hard!
We paid a visit to the mound and Henry was the only pony that got to play there. We trotted up and over the log on top, then back down it before popping off the ski jump. That all went well so we went back down over the log and attempted to jump a log at the bottom.
Henry wasn't so on board with this and our right drift and distraction meant it took us a few goes to get over the second log. We got two passable attempts before moving on to a larger log and bigger drop which Henry nailed both times.
To finish we put a course together. Henry went right into a lovely gallop and jumped a few fences he hadn't seen before coming to the water. The water approach was slightly different to what we had already done, a log 2 strides before the jump in. We got slightly long and Henry was a little backed of into the water. He jumped right in though, but we came around through that line again. This time we got deep to the log and nailed the water and we were done.
This was such a good session, for so many reasons. For the first time, Henry felt really established and really truely confident. I also felt confident and we were able to tackle some more technical aspects of cross country. Henry was the most established horse there and all our training showed and I was so proud of us!
yay for a great cross country day he looks so professional now! :) YAY
ReplyDeleteHe feels it too, he's a proper horse now!
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