rachk89
Well-Known Member
Hey, so it was my horses first attempt at working hunter this weekend. It wasnt a show, it was just a clinic, and I have to stress I was not the one riding him. There's no way I could manage this just yet, so a friend rode him instead, a much more talented and confident person than I am.
The horse took to it way better than we both thought. We figured 'he's green, he's young, he's got no experience with hunter fences/scary fences, or experience of riding in a field with other horses, and he's an idiot'. Upon seeing the fences (included 2 skinnies, a straw bale, scary barrels, plastic sheep, a gate and a green grassy kind of jump, and I have to say he has never been over any of these kind of fences before), I was wondering if the rider would be safe.
Needn't have worried. The boy took to it with ease. He had a slight scare at the skinny arrowhead fence, and tried to refuse then took a massive leap over when he realised the rider wasnt going to let him off with that. Took him back round again and being the arrogant horse that he is, he wanted to charge over it at top speed because he now of course knows everything and needs no help.
The only other jump he had issues with was a vertical that had a half blue barrel underneath it, which the horse again spooked at. He had stopped and then decided 'actually its not so bad', so jumped and ended up in the barrel. How he didnt spook and scare himself I dont know, but the rider took him round two more times and he was totally fine both times. The instructor/YO thinks he is too daft to know how to spook himself, I'm inclined to agree now.
Either way, very proud of the horse and the rider. Both did so well and extremely happy that he had a positive experience yesterday with this. Picture posted below, picture is just of the horse with his pretty lemieux boots on to show off his colour-coordination (is it obvious I like blue?). Video to come (its still uploading and taking forever).
The horse took to it way better than we both thought. We figured 'he's green, he's young, he's got no experience with hunter fences/scary fences, or experience of riding in a field with other horses, and he's an idiot'. Upon seeing the fences (included 2 skinnies, a straw bale, scary barrels, plastic sheep, a gate and a green grassy kind of jump, and I have to say he has never been over any of these kind of fences before), I was wondering if the rider would be safe.
Needn't have worried. The boy took to it with ease. He had a slight scare at the skinny arrowhead fence, and tried to refuse then took a massive leap over when he realised the rider wasnt going to let him off with that. Took him back round again and being the arrogant horse that he is, he wanted to charge over it at top speed because he now of course knows everything and needs no help.
The only other jump he had issues with was a vertical that had a half blue barrel underneath it, which the horse again spooked at. He had stopped and then decided 'actually its not so bad', so jumped and ended up in the barrel. How he didnt spook and scare himself I dont know, but the rider took him round two more times and he was totally fine both times. The instructor/YO thinks he is too daft to know how to spook himself, I'm inclined to agree now.
Either way, very proud of the horse and the rider. Both did so well and extremely happy that he had a positive experience yesterday with this. Picture posted below, picture is just of the horse with his pretty lemieux boots on to show off his colour-coordination (is it obvious I like blue?). Video to come (its still uploading and taking forever).
