Training Rides for Highboy and Zora

As we stretch out into the dog days of summer the training rides on the horses here hum along at a good rhythm, and I manage to fit in a few rides on my own horses as well.  This week Amy was able to get some video of Highboy and me jumping in the arena.  It's a little tricky to get good video with so many jump standards set up, but I was able to get a few decent stills from the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38d_TxegnEE

This course was full of odd distances and difficult angles.  I have to make it hard otherwise Highboy doesn't try, as he feels great disdain for small fences.  So this small vertical was set only about 20' from the side of the arena, so Highboy had to not only jump it at an angle, but turn in the air to get the correct lead and land aiming the right direction.  The first time over it surprised him, but he very eagerly figured it out and had it mastered the next time.
 

Highboy hopped over the big barrels just fine as usual.

 

\I love this one because you can see Rizzo running with us, at top dog speed!

They may not be top quality photos, but I absolutely adore the shots with my dogs running with me.  This is truly my everyday life, riding a thoroughbred with two border collies assisting.

Highboy liked the swedish oxer best, likely because it was the tallest and widest fence I'd set for the course.  He is such fun to ride over fences.

 

Zora is coming along really well, too.  All the time out in the back fields thinking about long strides and stretching has helped her to become light and forward in the arena, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0oSayAY1Yw

Some of the stills from her videos came out nicely, too!  Hill work and stepping over logs creates some great butt muscle!

 

I'm very pleased with how Zora reaches through her topline to round out her frame, and is looking for the contact with my long reins.  I generally ride with long reins on green horses to encourage them to find their own balance, and this is especially important with a draft cross like Zora who would have a natural tendency to get heavy on the forehand.  I don't want the rider to have to work that hard to hold her up and balance, so out to the field we go to get the impulsion and movement all the way from her haunches through her back to her shoulders.  It creates a beautiful frame and a balanced horse who can carry herself nicely not just in the flat level arena, but also up and down hills.