Weekend jumping

Man, what a drag of a weekend. Saturday it was cold and intermittently raining so I didn't go out to the barn. Instead I played, "Do all the shit around the house that no one ever, ever wants to do." What does that entail?

Things like picking up dog poop from the yard (far more offense than horse poop), weeding the flower bed (where Pig the professional snake killer flung a snake she'd bitten to death two inches in front of my face to celebrate her victory. Thanks, Pig.), and vacuuming spider webs from the rafters of the basement so our furnace man doesn't get eaten alive by death from above (Can you say WORST JOB EVER?!).

We also did loads of canning which basically involved me wandering in and out of the kitchen while Hubby did his thing (How many people does it really take to can apple cider?) and alternately playing with my kitties.

kitties in canning jar boxes. don't you want to smush them??

But! I did get out to the barn Sunday morning, and Hubby agreed to come out with me. I didn't want to do too much; I mostly just wanted a pair of eyes on the ground to get some feedback on if the minor changes I've made to my jumping style are actually for the better.

After a w/t/c warm up with several successful flying changes that happen oh-so-easily when your horse is off his forehand, I warmed up over the little tire pile and the diagonal line. I'd set the verticals up to 2'6", left the striped oxer at 2'6", and raised the other oxer to 3'.

Right off the bat Bobby gave me a pretty great canter. I think I'm starting to find that happy medium between letting him stretch out and cover ground while still keeping him compact enough that he's not just dragging his giant body around.

With the good canter still rolling along, we changed direction and came off the left to the striped oxer. I don't know why this thing has foiled me. I just could not get a good distance to it to save my life. It's small enough that Bobby still easily popped over it no matter where we ended up, but it just wasn't coming out of stride. Well, I finally got it somehow.

my half chaps are rubbed so thin they're smooth as silk...which doesn't make for
the stickiest of surfaces to help your already unstable leg stay in place.

We moved on to the other oxer to get a bit of forward momentum rebuilt after bumbling through that jump several times. Bobby was on fire, and while he might have been a little quick, the speed actually kept us out of trouble. Leg on and jumps are easier? Say whaaaat?

We did that jump probably five or six times in a row by itself just because it was fun, and the distances were right there every time. That doesn't happen often. I have to celebrate it when I can.

I finally finished with a little course. We only did it once because I was happy with it, and I don't want to jump my poor horse's legs off any more than I already have the past week.

Note the cross cantering. Someone is wanting a chiro visit again I think. Don't worry, Bobby. I totally have disposable cash. I'll get that right in. And by get it right in, I mean I'll put it on the bill list and you'll probably get bumped down to the next paycheck to make way for the first oil delivery. Boo, fuck you, cold weather!

Today was a brief but good dressage school after I spent an hour watching a new farrier work on a boarder's horse. He was awesome to watch and listen to, and he even took a look at Bobby because BM kept flaunting my trimming skills. I was like, "Oh, dear god. He's going to beat with his rasp when he sees this horse." But he didn't have too much to say--mostly just to make sure I take next to no callous off because Bobby's probably never going to grow much more than he has, and he gave me some tips on dealing with some funk he's got going on in the toe of his RF. Too bad I didn't know about him before NF got ahold of Bobby's feet!