Highboy's Hops

I've known for a long time that Highboy misbehaves to amuse himself when he's bored.  I also know that the more complicated the angle, the bigger the jump, the trickier the footwork, the better he rides.  That's why at the saddle club he creates such drama over a six inch flower, because he needs to do it for entertainment since a regular cross rail should be more complicated to be interesting.

Today I was jumping Highboy in the arena, after a brief warmup at the walk, trot, and porpoising (Highboy's entertaining version of a canter).

 
My eleven o'clock riding lesson showed up and was willing to set fences for me.  Jasi was here as well and asked if she could photograph Highboy's shenanigans.  I had a course set in the arena, which could be taken from many different directions and made as simple or complicated as I needed it.

I had done the course as ground poles and cross rails, and Highboy felt he had mastered that.  We raised a couple of the jumps to about 2'6", and he decided that he should experiment over those.  He played with jumping them high, jumping them low and long, all kinds of body contortions.  I asked my jump crew to raise them again, hopefully to a height that would cause Highboy to pay attention.  We put one at about 3'3", and another at 3'9".  Finally, something Highboy was interested in!  He just launched himself over the sunflower fence set at the greater height, easily clearing it even without having to fold his limbs very much.

When I sent him through the line on the other side over the tree jump, he stepped over the crossrail, then rocked back on his haunches and jumped the bigger fence.  Upon landing, he assumed the demeanor of a football player who has just scored a touchdown.  He spiked the ball, jumped up and down in the air a few times, and did a little victory dance.  What can I say, the horse loves to jump!

In the photos you can see the focus he has, and the laser beam vision he gets when he locks onto the next fence.  He is always calm and thoughtful on his approach, it's just the after-party that gets out of hand.  Hence my face in this landing photo as I brace for the celebratory bucking that will ensue.

It's not a big deal to me, I'm glad he enjoys his job.  I have full confidence that he is going to outgrow his touchdown tendencies.  After he has cleared a new type of fence or answered a technical question well and he understands the principles behind it, he does settle right down.

I am also really pleased with my position in this photo, despite the fact that we missed catching a bunch of the horse's body.  My stirrup leather is perpendicular to the ground, my heel is down, there is a straight line from my elbow through the reins to his mouth, my eyes are up, and my back is parallel to Highoy's back.  A great position, especially considering I knew he was going to start frolicking once we landed!  Most of the time I'm my own worst critic when I see photos of myself riding, but this is one to be proud of.

Despite jumping in the morning, Highboy was still put out that I took Fason out to the back forty acres to ride with Jasi and Cosmo.  If he had his druthers Highboy would be the horse I ride all day every day.

Fason did well out in the field, this was his first time out there mounted.  I've ponied him from Tao the haflinger out there several times, but today I rode him while Jasi schooled some of the cross country fences with Cosmo in preparation for the pair pace this weekend.  Fason did well, but when Jasi and Cosmo trotted an approach to a log, then Cosmo gave a little hop over it, Fason was sure that we were all going to run and play together!  He was pretty disappointed when I said we were only out to walk around and step over the small logs.  It was good for him, though, because I want him long, stretchy, relaxed, and swinging in his walk up and down hills and over small obstacles.