Magic and Ferriana School at Sunrise

This morning the great folks over at Sunrise let us go school on their cross country course.  Merri brought Magic, and I rode Ferriana.  Both horse are entered in the mini horse trial next weekend so this was a perfect opportunity to get them both out on the course.  Merri and Magic are really starting to gel over fences, Merri's balance has gotten good and as a result Magic is very steady and calm.

I had the Gopro on my helmet and got a few videos.  I was really sure I'd videoed the work in the water jump, but apparently it wasn't recorded because I cannot find it on the gopro.  After walking around in the water a little we practiced first going up the bank, staying in two point position and going with the horse as he make the effort to hop up the step.  Once that was going really smoothly, I talked to Merri about how to slip the reins and get them back so we could practice going down the bank.  

 

I teach this by having the rider try it at the halt first.  When going down a bank like this, the horse needs to be able to drop his head as he steps down into the water.  To make sure he can lower his head without getting bumped in the mouth with the bit, you gently let the reins slide through your hands until you're on the buckle (which you have tied in a knot, because it's the most fragile part of the reins and less likely to break if its been knotted).  To shorten the reins again once the horse has the full length of them, you hold the buckle in one hand and then slide the other hand along the reins from the buckle towards the horse's neck.  When you are at the length you want, you place the buckle hand in the correct place next to the had that slid. This is a very fast way to shorten the reins from full length to a working length.  

Occasionally there are questions on course set up in such a way that you don't have time to even recover the reins this way, so eventers eventually get good at jumping on very long reins, steering with both hands low and wide so as to still have contact with the bit on a very long rein.  But it is important to know how to quickly shorten the reins after you've slipped them so the horse can jump down.

Here is a bit of the warmup from today.  Merri is on Magic in front, and I've got the Gopro on my helmet as I ride Ferriana in back.

 This is the little course Magic did at the end of the schooling session.

This is a short video, but it's close up enough that you can really see what Magic and Merri are doing.

Here is Ferriana schooling the tires jumps

 

 

Here is Ferriana doing her small course at the end of the ride

Here is Ferriana ready to go ride.

This browband was made by Chameleon Browbands, and matches the yellow pad perfectly.  Go check out the designs and find your favorite color.  She also does custom bead strings (they are interchangeable and snap in/out of the leather channel) so you can get exactly the colors you want.

I cannot resist a good yellow outfit, so when this color became available in a saddle pad brand I really like (Lemieux - they wear like iron) I ordered the pad and the shirt.  It took a little bit of trying, but I eventually got the right angle for a selfie that showed the browband, my shirt, and the saddle pad.