Okay, maybe Scarlet Hill is the place to be!!!

This is an aside from the original reason for the post, but I've got to say...EVERY TIME I go to Scarlet Hill Farm for a lesson I always either meet really COOL people OR I reconnect with really COOL people from the past! Today was no different. I ran in to Tori from UNH, circa 1999 (?!). We used to board our horses together up there, and while we had different majors and really never saw eachother, we did see eachother enough to know eachother 10 years later....And THEN there was Lesli, who I did Kingsbury Hill Adult Camp with in 2000....Both of them have horses at Scarlet Hill, and I met up with them again. It is so funny to see old faces - I love it!

So anyways, back on track. Shannon and I had another jumping (stadium) lesson with Meredith this afternoon. The lesson didn't look too promising when we first got there - the arena had recently been dragged and all the jumps were in a heap. Not to worry though - Mere's working students SWIFTLY created a jumping ring that anyone would be proud of, haha. Shannon has an event this weekend, so it was her turn to set the bar for what we worked on. She wanted more scary stadium stuff, and that she got!

I want to make another brief aside to tell a little more about Shannon, as it really pertains to this lesson and blog entry. Shannon and I go way back - 1999 - I think is when we met. She has always been an incredibly beautiful rider to watch - she has great rider's conformation AND she is graceful. She got "Kisses" about a year ago after he had some "naughty" issues at his old farm....and she's been reschooling him ever since. Shannon has always said he has a naughty stop in him, but I am HAPPY to say that I have only ONCE seen it (and that was at a ditch)....but every other time she proves herself wrong. I know that's ONE time that someone doesn't mind being wrong - since I've been there and done that myself! Anyways, that little pony of hers is QUITE the cute little jumper!

Anyways, back to the lesson. So I've been working Buck now in the KK Ultra French Link bit (whereas we were in a french link boucher a while ago). I've also been working with the DQ down the street....So today I decided that I would jump in the KK bit, but use the Figure 8 bridle, and see what happens.

Well, WE HAVE A WINNER. We started the ride today with a bit of walk/trot/canter warm-up, as always. Buck felt very soft and supple. Yay for Buck. We then started our jumps - first a x-rail, then a x-rail two strides to a vertical. Then a vertical two strides to a vertical. We continued the same line, and Meredith started adding "filler" for the jumps to test our ponies and their spook factor. We started making courses out of all of the jumps they had set.

I'm not going to begin to try to remember the sequence of all of our little courses, but I'll describe some of the lines we did. We typically rode a line to another line, to sometimes a stand alone jump, and then changed the flow to add or subtract or move something...if you get my jist.

Our first line we always started with was a gymnastic line. This one always rode funny for me because of the end part. We trotted in over a small x-rail, one stride to a 2' vertical, and then two BENDING strides to another vertical. The bending part was the part I had problems with. It wasn't that the horse can't bend, but it was hard for me to get my brain around trying to RIDE and jump that quickly. It was great practice, and thankfully by the last round I *think* I got it right.

We also had the two stride line - one fence was a flower box and the second fence was BARRELS. Now barrels were not a huge deal for Buck, as he has jumped other "barrels" before (mainly whiskey barrels, haha!). But this was a HUGE accomplishment for Shannon. Apparently last summer she couldn't get Kisses NEAR barrels, let alone OVER the barrels on the FIRST try!!!! YAY Kisses!!!

Another line we had was maybe a 5 stride line - brush box to a vertical (which in the end Mere made a 2'4.5" oxer, hehe).

Finally we added the dark blue "Scarlet Hill Farm" panel jump and a SKINNY vertical!

Buck was VERY good to almost all of these jumps. The parts he got in badly were rider error. The, uh, rider had some technical difficulties at one point CIRCLING because said rider LOST HER STIRRUP?!?! That NEVER happens, so why it happened THEN was beyond me, hehe. If we were in competition I would've gone for it and we would've been fine, but no need to kill either one of us. We did pull 2 rails at some point, but again I think it was more to do with crappy riding and learning when to walk the fine line of putting the pedal to the medal vs just cruise. Both rails were when I misjudged and just tried cruising.

The overall and most EXCITING thing I took home today was the feeling of ADJUSTABILITY I am FINALLY getting in Buck's canter. There were many spots today where Buck either had to lengthen or shorten his stride to jump properly and by far and large, he did it! I have had days where I thought I would NEVER have that kind of ride on him, and to have it come so quickly was really exciting. I think a lot of this comes from a. me remembering how to ride, b. me trusting him more and c. his strength building so it's easier for him. Oh, and I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that he is soft in his jaw and neck - which makes it EASIER for me to ride him!

Our final course was the gymnastic line to the panel, to the barrel two stride line, to the 5 stride line with big ass oxer, to the skinny and then Mere had me add back the yellow brush box. This would've been a bending line from the skinny, but when I landed I didn't feel I had the pony to work the bending line, so I decided to jump it on an angle - which went very well!

Interestingly enough, that last course was, I think, the best course we have done to date. Also the most technical, the most looky, and THE MOST HUNTER-ish he has been to date as well! Now I'm not aiming for a hunter pony. But I would like one that knows his job, does it with relative ease and enjoys it. I had that today, so I'll take it!

I was originally going to take him to the Apple Knoll Jumper show tomorrow....but I think I'll scratch that idea. He was fantastic today, and I want to reward him by not tiring him out too much over the jumps. He felt a little tired today - and I need to buy more oil for his feed because I think it makes a big difference.