8/1/10 Cross Country Schooling at Greenwood 
I waffled a bit on this one, with the heat, and my nerves.
I decided the day before, that we'd go, and I'd stay on, even if he was prancing and eager.
There was some sideways trotting to the warm up area, but with direction from the ground,
we got through the warm up ok. I think I was pretty solid in the tack,
but I wasn't so good about giving as much as I needed to up to and over the fences.
He had fun most of the time, and I was gasping for air less as the ride went on.

He was good at the trailer.

Heading to the warm up.

I noticed I was making concentration faces. He was obedient, but not in a frame of mind to soften and bend. He knew there were jumps coming up.

Some resistance and pulling, but that's why I had a trainer on the ground.

I can't think of a time that he spooked or shied all day. He did want to go, though.

Using the hill to get him working and thinking.

Me getting used to all the horses running and jumping around. If he got excited, we went to dressage-ing with trot circles and flexing. Then back to the walk, which he would then appreciate.

First jump of the day. We stayed small. We didn't want any fights that I couldn't finish.

After 3 jumps and an adrenaline dump, I was already tired.

We felt comfortable warming up over the types of jumps we saw at the jumper show a few weeks ago. The coop on the left in the background was our nemesis.

All our warm up jumps were around the size we planned on jumping out on course.

We went back to the log when I got a refusal at the coop. He showed that he didn't care at all about the log, and the coop was just him thumbing his nose at us. After the rest of the course, we went back, and using the work-dressage-unless-you-go-over-the-jump method, we left saying that we jumped everything I pointed him at. No battle, just made him realize doing what I wanted was more fun than not.

He did take the baby coop, but the height wasn't the issue. Oh, my trainer was yelling at me for hands down, all day.

Difficult to know how much rein to give. He can land and take off playing, which keeps me a bit shorter in the rein than he'd like (which is probably partly why he sometimes fusses after the fence).

When we had a second jump to focus on, there was less playing after a fence. A big open field, was always a bit of an invitation to go.

Still, jump in the middle of a field, and he jumped nicely and calmly cantered away.

I was very pleased with that jump. Silly horse could jump a coop.

 

He was very snorty at the ditch complex, so we took a break and my niece gave him a snack of grass for getting close.

He's always aware, but so brave and eager. He was willing to stand still and watch others, better than I expected. No neighing, even though he was frequently on his own as we went around the course.

Took a log jump, trotted over to the water, and without a thought, he trotted right through.

This one he didn't like, but he jumped up it a couple of times. I'm curious now how the 'make him work or do something fun' will translate in our training sessions. We didn't use it here, and pushing tends to make him suck back more.

Besides everything else, the day was worth it for this shot. We cantered on, and then circled back around to another jump and an almost gallop. Oh, and while the jumps were low, he never considered hitting anything. Too much fun for him to put in an effort.

And cantering away, but we slowed to a trot for the downhill.

This was the biggest jump we took. Both times I wasn't in sync and got left behind. I have to get used to the effort he likes to use. He didn't rush it, but a stride or two out, there was a huge gathering and reaching for the jump. I know it's not fair that I caught him in the mouth and didn't give more with my hands. Luckily he didn't hold it against me on this jump.

Almost a gallop. Even without a gallop, we were covering ground.

Happy jump and canter through the field.

Doing it again, and letting him pick up a canter before the jump. Again, I can see that I'm pulling before we land, but I didn't trust that he wasn't using the jump as an excuse to take rein and go. Instead there was a leap or two with his head between his legs right before we kicked on into our canter. One or two I can take. I was actually laughing a bit afterwards. Mostly glad he listened and went on. We went and finished up over the two coops he'd refused earlier in the woods. In the end, he probably told the other horses it was his idea to go over them. Either way, I got what I wanted.