XC clinic report

alexomahony

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12 January 2015
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Hi guys

So after a winter holiday, I've been getting back into the swing of things with Sky with arena hire with and without fences and as it was all going so well I thought I'd be a nice treat for us both to do something a bit more fun so went to a local yard for a XC clinic!

We hired a very local XC field a few weeks ago but I wanted to get in some water and play around with steps and ditches as, call me odd, but those my preferred XC elements! I love technical lines, going up and down hill and steps, water and combinations but not galloping over big solid fences!

Sky was feeling top of his game warming up - I always warm up away from the other horses as he is naturally clingy and nappy so I find if I start as I mean to go on it helps and gets him focused on the job and not his new friends quicker.

The instructor was very knowledgeable and good - very much concentrating on praise and reward and never punishment, he's funny and sarcastic which helps us laugh and break the ice a bit :) Always wanting the horse to be moving freely forward into soft hands and a light seat.

I'm quite a steady rider and it's taken a fair while for Sky and I to find our happy medium (he is speedy!) - but I'd rather him have time to figure something out and jump confidently rather than skip over it without actually noticing what's there because he's just going too fast to stop himself! Maybe why I prefer playing with the combinations over galloping. After taking the mick and calling us 'pensioners', the instructor agreed that although we are slow, we are also accurate and that time faults are better than run outs, or a fall!

We jumped lots of different and challenging jumps - trakehner, jumping into and out of water, steps, log-ditch-log, big drop down-ditch-big bank up.

All in all a really nice fun day out and a bit of a break from the norm - well worth it, plenty learnt and we both came away tired and happy! What more could I ask for? See vids below :)

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alexomahony

Well-Known Member
Joined
12 January 2015
Messages
760
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sounds like a great outing :D where are you off to next?

It was so much fun! Got a show cross this weekend at a yard I used to work at so it's a bit like going home for me <3 I always support them when they hold events :)

Next will be Epworth eventing camp with Sophie Brown on the first week of September - VERY excited for that one!

xx
 
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