XC schooling

JennBags

HHOSS Wonder Woman
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After a good session last week at Coombelands where I feel very comfortable, we took G to Rackham on Tuesday night - I've never ridden there before, so it was taking me out of my comfort zone, and we don't think G has been there before either.

Started off very well with some small logs and palisades, then S sent me off over a pheasant feeder which is usually in the 90. We chipped a stride in, but on the next go round, I pushed him to take a longer stride and we flew it. Came round to a chair and he almost stopped but I pushed him on and he clonked it. Came round again, he ducked out; so approached it for a third time and the little git did a sharp duck and I went flying out of the side door :rolleyes3: :o

Shouted at my instructor to put her bloody hat on after we'd checked that I hadn't wrenched my (bad) knee, and she got him over it with a little encouragement, then she made me get back on and do the pheasant feeder again but my confidence for doing the chair had taken a big hit so we left it and moved onto the steps.

Jumping downhill and steps are one of my big fears, so I was chuffed to bits to do these quite well, then a house was thrown in and we ground to a halt! I just hadn't got myself organised enough after the steps, and if there's a tiny window of opportunity G will take it; we came back and cleared it no problem, then did the steps/house combo.

My friend went off into and out of the woods but I felt the jumps were just a little too challenging for me, so next was the sunken road. Did this well, including a roll top afterwards, then headed off to the water. We came through the water and heading for the house after it, but as we got to it I realised how big it was...and pulled G away. Then got my instructor to get on him to instil some confidence in him as it was just a little too large for me, and I have so little confidence, we try to preserve it. I'd already done much bigger fences than I'd imagined.

Video of our exploits here:

[video=youtube_share;gVgSxIAwpGc]https://youtu.be/gVgSxIAwpGc[/video]
 
Well done Jen, some nice jumping there. Looks like a nice course for training as well. Sounds like it was a confidence building day despite the blip.
 
Looks like a lovely course and you looked like you were doing a great job and apart from the little blip you looked like you had a blast!
 
Well done Jen, some nice jumping there. Looks like a nice course for training as well. Sounds like it was a confidence building day despite the blip.

Thanks, yes it was, I jumped much bigger fences than I'd anticipated and was really chuffed with the steps and sunken road :)

Looks like a lovely course and you looked like you were doing a great job and apart from the little blip you looked like you had a blast!

I did, thanks! It is a nice course but the fences are either really tiny or (to me anyway) huge. There aren't many 80-90 fences, there are a few tiny logs, then they are a lot of good solid 90+ ones.
 
Well done, well done :) The shot you get to that fence at 1 min 18 is great, it looks full of confidence :)
Also, for someone who is nervous about steps I think you look really confident down them, I'm the opposite to you, I hate jumping up steps!

I have a lot of empathy with you. 5 or 6 years ago I would have thought those fences look small and now they look enormous to me! I ride past a 2ft3 cross pole and it looks big! Confidence is a pain in the bum!
 
Thanks LC. Interesting you pick out that one at 1:18 - that was my favourite one. G loves to take a long one but I'm not confident with them, so he's learnt to chip in - we got to that stride and I knew it was the right one, so I said "go" and he did, and it rode beautifully.
 
Looks like you had a good session. Confidence can be so fickle, so getting back on is always a bonus - and then you went on to tackle my worry area - cantering through water (I've had too many ducklings not to worry).

<<doffs hat in awe>>
 
LOL I took new pony (Jensen) XC schooling at Sapey last weekend, he is such a poppet even though he is very green, and he knows when he 'knows' something - so we had incredibly bold jumps into and out of water via the BE100 steps, I was convinced I was going to fall off! Fortunately he was deemed too green to canter through water :D :D
 
Cheers View and Lév!!

Hahaha, water is usually our forte, he's pretty cool through the water. We get to the water and he started ducking away and spooking, so I slapped him down his shoulder and told him to get on with it! Little git.
 
Cheers View and Lév!!

Hahaha, water is usually our forte, he's pretty cool through the water. We get to the water and he started ducking away and spooking, so I slapped him down his shoulder and told him to get on with it! Little git.

o Assert your authority :) Like I was persuaded to do... no video evidence (luckily?) survives for our attempt - well done :) :)
 
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