I feel like the above photo wouldn’t look at all out of place in the 70’s. It just has such a 70’s horse feel to it. Something about her (our) pig-like body, and the color tone, it just screams it.
But I digress.
Keeping my motivation going, I trailered back out again, this time taking Shelby with me. We went to the ring again for some gentle riding and a few jumps, emphasis on the gentle. I’m trying to get them in shape, not murder their will to live.
Apparently I took for granted Berry getting the right distances the day before, because she wasn’t finding it easy the next day. I also wasn’t helping her at all. In addition to still having that loose leg, I was tipping forward before each jump. Knock it off, Courtney!
Enjoy my latest attempt at editing a video, complete with draw-ins. I haven’t gotten the hang of this new-fangled technology, but I’ll be sure to keep annoying everyone who watches my videos with my clumsy attempts. Maybe one day I will have the finesse of a professional YouTuber.
https://youtu.be/5ARv37EcEGo
I am theorizing that Berry thought the shadow was part of the jump – but that only excuses the second jump, not the first. My excuse for the first jump is that I’m a terrible jumper who hasn’t had a lesson in months and doesn’t know what she’s doing. Berry reminded me of this by getting upset right after the second jump, and did a little crow hop to express her displeasure. Sorry, Berry. I’ll work on it.
Vintage didn’t care about that barrel today though. Yaaaaay. But she did continue to exert way more effort than required over the jumps. I have a good feeling about where this could go as she gets more in shape… Although there’s only so high a 19 year old horse can go.
After some gentle jumping, we were off on a trail ride.
Shocking, they kept pace with each other this time. That meant actual conversations could be had instead of being 30 feet apart, screaming back and forth: “WHAT??”
In our exploring, we found downed trees. At the first log, I was too nervous to attempt it. It was kind of on an uphill, and it looks intimidating. It was also super simple to walk around. Shelby wasn’t intimidated though, so at the next log, I decided I was capable of it. We ended up passing the same log several times on our route, and while we stepped over it the first time, we decided to jump it the other times. It was nice and easy. Then we came to another one blocking the trail, and Shelby and Vintage popped over it, and I had to hold Berry back so she wouldn’t rush it. That log was no problem at all! I dominated those three single logs.
Basically, what I’m saying is I need more natural jumps to jump. Three logs just isn’t enough.
No log jumping photos, unfortunately, but here’s another trail photo!
Now it looks like snow is in the forecast, thus ending my short lived impulse motivation… or will it!? Tune in next time for the thrilling answer.