Ferriana and Rizzo Jumping

Today we rearranged the jumping chute a bit to try and get better photos and video of Ferriana going through.  Big thanks to Jasi for not only helping move jumps, but also taking both the photos and the video!

This smart horse had clearly thought about the task all night, because today she marched down to the arena ready to rock and roll.  I led her through the first time over ground poles like yesterday, then sent her through the cross rails.  Then I raised the jumps to 3'3" and she went right down the chute systematically, but today she was jumping much more conservatively.  This is a mark of an intelligent horse, that she thinks her way through the obstacles and puts forth the minimum effort to get the job done.  She also is naturally super careful and very tidy with both her front and hind ends over the fences so she rarely hits a pole.

Some video of Ferriana going through the chute can be seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4s--CfiQSA

 

Rizzo my new dog thought this was a super fun thing to do with the horses.  She has figured out many of the tasks she needs to perform here as a horse training dog.  She will run the length of the chute while the horse is going through, and she'll jump the jumps if she feels the horse needs guidance.

If the horse needs to be shown how to walk over the bridge, Rizzo is happy to oblige and demonstrate that as well.

Because she's working so hard, Rizzo takes every opportunity to rest between training sessions. As it turns out Rizzo is also a ham when having her picture taken.

Rizzo has taken to heart her job of demonstrating, and extended her influence outside of the arena to cross country fences as well.  Ferriana has started some in-hand work over the logs in the front pasture outside the arena, but Rizzo wanted to make sure Ferriana was aware of the particulars of jumping technique.

First you go over the jump....

Then you land on this side!

Now you've got it!

I'm so pleased both with how Rizzo is learning her job, and with how Ferriana is coming along with her training!  I of course would love to be riding Ferriana already, but it's never a bad thing to spend extra time on in-hand work.  Ferriana is learning to do all kinds of things, enjoying herself and thinking that going over these obstacles is her own idea.  The more she loves the job, the easier it will be to get her to do it with me aboard.  Who knows, maybe we'll have a Rizzo/Ferriana liberty jumping act before too long!