So... heres the video from my helmet cam of Lilas cross-country round on Sunday. She jumped so boldly from a gallop for so much of the course -- until disaster struck! -- and then we recovered to complete the course nicely. That bold jumping is exactly what Ive been struggling to get from Lila, and her hock injections, plus some changes in how I rode her, made a huge difference. In particular, I was so proud of her (and me!) for how we jumped the trakehner. Trakehners are logs set over ditches, and this was a max height log (211) over a deep ditch. Lila isnt great with ditches, and Ive always been freaked out just by the thought of these fences. Weve not ever schooled over them, although we jumped a log with a half-ditch under it in the horse trial at Santa Fe. (We didnt do that very well, however.) Over this trakehner -- which youll see right after the white fence -- I cantered her into it with plenty of gusto and determination, and I kept my eyes above the horizon. She jumped it without hesitation, and you can hear just how pleased I was by that. Not too long after that, we had our minor disaster at the log fence headed into a gully. I was quite tired heading up the hill into the pasture. (My stirrups were a hole shorter than theyd ever been, which was good, but extra-tiring.) So I didnt sit her down in the way that I should have in the few strides before the fence. As you can see on the video, she stopped suddenly in the stride before the fence, and I was thrown forward, hard. I ended up in front of the saddle, arms wrapped around her neck, with my face looking close-up at her ears. I really really didnt want to fall off, so I shimmied backwards when she raised her head and neck. That took just a second or two. As soon as I sat up -- still in front of the saddle -- Lila decided that shed had enough. She began cantering back up the hill, and I started getting pretty scared as she went faster and faster. I realized that I could have a pretty bad fall unless I stopped her pronto, so I put on whatever brakes I could, stopped her with some difficulty, and then wiggled myself back into the saddle. You can hear the panic in my voice during that segment. Yes, that is funny! Laugh away! Then we jumped the fence properly, and we finished the course just fine. (Well, the ditch to the brush was a bit rough, but we got through it.) The only casualty was my glasses, which I never did find. Despite that bit of craziness, Im soooo proud of Lila for jumping so well. Obviously, I need to work on my balance and endurance in my cross-country two-point, and that will get done in the next few months. We ended up in last place, but thats fine. Lila showed me a whole new level of potential on this very difficult course -- the most difficult novice course weve ever done -- and that pleases me greatly. https://youtube/watch?v=Rlu915tHq4Y
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 14:15:14 +0000
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