The Jumps Get Bigger

Lynx and I took another trip to our friend's place and used her jumps again, and cooled out with another trail ride.  Lena took the video and photos again too, because she's awesome and we're so grateful!!

https://youtu.be/2SkkTefLl6A?is=-3bh9FrjVg45UTav

Lynx has the idea now about jumping, and while he's athletic enough to trot over some substantial crossrails, we raised a vertical to (I think) 2'3", which was big enough that he had to actually jump, using both hind legs to push off.  It took a few tries, the first time he hit his hind legs.  On the next attempt he tucked up his hinds but wasn't thinking about his fronts, so hit the those on the pole.  A little frustrated but determined to get it right, the next try he cleared it with all of his legs.  

It's remarkable how he rarely makes the same mistake more than once.  He may take a few tries to get it right, but he makes different mistakes each time and learns from them and makes corrections every time.

This was a little coop, a cross country style jump that didn't have any standards, which makes steering very important!  He looked at it the first time or two, then figured out it was just another kind of jump and hopped on over.

We're getting some great canter strides after landing over the larger jump, too!

Hooray for Lynx getting better with his jump form all the time!

And a trailride to cool out afterwards.

Some glamour shots with the newly painted Hermes jump standards.  

Lynx is kind of hilarious, he's very particular about who he likes and who he doesn't.  There's no in-between!  He pins his ears at Dylan like in this photo, but doesn't make faces at Lena's horse, Blaze.  I don't know why, since Dylan is one of the easiest "go along to get along" creatures I know, but I have to admit, I don't like everyone I meet, either.