November 14, 2013

Project – Get Poe Ripped, already had a minor set back while I battled the flu for a few days, but now we are back on course. 

Today, I set up two small cross rail jumps to add to our hill work.  This is actually a pretty big branch out for me.  I enjoyed jumping when I was younger.  I had a fantastic pony, Berry, that loved to jump and we jumped all over the place.  At the end of high school, around the time I retired her and purchased Osh Kosh, I just lost interest.

In my junior year of college I did take riding lessons for my gym credit which included a mini show for the final.  I took Osh Kosh and did a dressage test and two stadium courses.  Then a few years ago I went on a hunter pace with Carol Ann, and we were told you could go around all jumps.  Unfortunately that was not the case and I took my mare, Maya, over a couple jumps against my will.  Other than that, the only jumps I have really been over in the past 15 or so years have been fallen logs on trails.

But I thought, what the heck, I still have some standards and jump cups, why not.

After setting up the two jumps, I hopped on and warmed up.  Poe was feeling sluggish and was lacking attention so I moved into a little hill work until we were both lightly puffing and wide awake in the brisk evening.  Then we popped over the jumps a few times, mixing in a few hills.

Poe is an honest little jumper and moved into the fences eagerly but with out rushing.  It was a really good experience for both of us, and I think I’ll mix in a few more jumps during our future training.  I might even whip Simon over a few.  Yea.