Jumping pony!

The pony and I need to get our stuff together and get jumping again! I didnt mind giving him the winter off jumping, he is young and we were focusing on getting our 2nd level moves. But with Inavale fast approaching we need to get jumping (will most likely stick to once a week for now) and conditioning if we want to be ready for our first 3 day in June!

So today I pulled out a few fences. Since September of last year he has jumped only a handful of times yet he picks up right where we left off each and every time. I.Love.It. He is such a straight forward and easy ride over fences once you get his butt in gear and going forward. I just had 3 fences set. A line set as a 3 stride for a big horse and 4 for him along with a diagonal fence that we could make into a bending line. We kept the fences small with one cross rail, one 2'3" vertical, and one 2'3" oxer. As long as I rode him nicely to the fences we got good distances. He tends to suck back a little right before the fence, I think just do to him not knowing how to gauge his own distances as well yet and not knowing if he should go long or short, but as long as I keep my leg on it really helps him know when to go. I 'dressed' the fences up with some orange cones under them and besides a little twist and peek mid jump he wasnt fazed at all and never questioned me asking him to go over them. I cannot tell you how encouraging that is!!

He even took his Auntie Alanna for a spin!

First jumper show is next month out at Inavale. As of now I am planning on doing a 2'-2'3" class as a warm up then doing two 2'3"-2'6" classes. He really has limited stadium jumping experience compared to XC so I want to start with a small confidence building height first. Im super excited to see how he takes it all in but he seems to really love it :)