sonjafoers
Well-Known Member
Today I went xc schooling with one of my horses. She has been difficult in the past but we have come on slowly with the help of a great instructor & are at the point where we are jumping roughly 3 ft during xc schooling & I am feeling really confident jumping her.
She has been bought on gradually & has weekly lessons, with probably one of these a month being at a xc course, and I have never cross country schooled her without my instructor being there.
Today I very stupidly went schooling on my own. A local course was open for the day so I thought I would take her along & just let her see the water & some of the smaller jumps. It is not a course I normally use so I thought it would be a good experience for her to go somewhere different & jump some small jumps without feeling overfaced in a strange place.
When I got there I was very disappointed, the jumps were in poor condition and the whole site was on a hill, I don't think there was one jump on flat ground at all. The jumps were either about a foot high (literally) or 3 foot & the water complex had no water in it, it was just boggy ground.
We didn't get off to a good start when she slipped on the steep ground & completely lost her back end before we had even jumped anything, & although I kept things very calm & tried to do everything right she would hardly jump a thing. I fell off at one point when she did a late refusal, and she refused most of the jumps I tried, jumping them at 2nd or 3rd attempt.
I am not sure if she was unhappy because the ground was slippery & on a camber, or if it was because the jumps were so small she didn't really understand they were jumps. I only presented her to the small ones & didn't attempt any of the larger ones at all.
I am now worried I have undone all the work that's been put in & whether this has now put her back in terms of her training. I am booked onto a xc clinic on 17th July with Andrew Lovell & I felt she was ready to go & do this but now I am very worried about taking her as I won't be able to do any xc with my normal instructor beforehand, although she will be having her usual lessons in the school.
What do you think I should do? Should I cancel the clinic & have a few quiet xc lessons with my instructor to get our confidence back, or do you think it would be ok to go to the clinic after today's performance?
I don't want to lose my nerve with her as she really has been difficult in the past & it is so great to now feel we trust each other. I just wish I hadn't gone but now I need to do the right thing to get us back on track.
Sorry it's long but all advice appreciated.
She has been bought on gradually & has weekly lessons, with probably one of these a month being at a xc course, and I have never cross country schooled her without my instructor being there.
Today I very stupidly went schooling on my own. A local course was open for the day so I thought I would take her along & just let her see the water & some of the smaller jumps. It is not a course I normally use so I thought it would be a good experience for her to go somewhere different & jump some small jumps without feeling overfaced in a strange place.
When I got there I was very disappointed, the jumps were in poor condition and the whole site was on a hill, I don't think there was one jump on flat ground at all. The jumps were either about a foot high (literally) or 3 foot & the water complex had no water in it, it was just boggy ground.
We didn't get off to a good start when she slipped on the steep ground & completely lost her back end before we had even jumped anything, & although I kept things very calm & tried to do everything right she would hardly jump a thing. I fell off at one point when she did a late refusal, and she refused most of the jumps I tried, jumping them at 2nd or 3rd attempt.
I am not sure if she was unhappy because the ground was slippery & on a camber, or if it was because the jumps were so small she didn't really understand they were jumps. I only presented her to the small ones & didn't attempt any of the larger ones at all.
I am now worried I have undone all the work that's been put in & whether this has now put her back in terms of her training. I am booked onto a xc clinic on 17th July with Andrew Lovell & I felt she was ready to go & do this but now I am very worried about taking her as I won't be able to do any xc with my normal instructor beforehand, although she will be having her usual lessons in the school.
What do you think I should do? Should I cancel the clinic & have a few quiet xc lessons with my instructor to get our confidence back, or do you think it would be ok to go to the clinic after today's performance?
I don't want to lose my nerve with her as she really has been difficult in the past & it is so great to now feel we trust each other. I just wish I hadn't gone but now I need to do the right thing to get us back on track.
Sorry it's long but all advice appreciated.
