Working on Wednesday

I'm not entirely sure how Lynx knows what I want when we get to taking selfies, but somehow he manages to turn on the charm and smile for the photos!

We were working at home this morning with some of the gymnastics.  Lynx remembered jumping at Lena's over the weekend and started out strong over the blue crossrail.  

I'd set up a bounce (no stride between the jumps, just land and then jump again), but it was a little confusing for Lynx.  The first time through we did what I like to call "jumping by braille", where he hits every pole in order to determine where they are.  This is super common as I start horses with this kind of work.  

Because his eyes are on the sides of his head, the jump actually moves into the blind spot immediately in front of him, just as he needs to take off.  Sort of gives new meaning to the expression Flying Blind!  You can imagine how he might feel the need to hit every pole if three jumps repeatedly appear then disappear right when he needs to takeoff!  This is why I always try to walk the horse around the jumps first, with his side parallel to the poles, so he can actually see and assess the jumps before I ask him to go over them.

https://youtu.be/adePUhpdsTY?is=jp9mimszKNvLxvJw

As I go back over the video and photos from today it's also remarkable that Lynx tries SO HARD to do this jumping thing right.  He is still determining whether things are cavalletti to be taken in trot stride, or a jump to be hopped over.  He's athletic enough that he can lift individual legs quite high!  Once he figures out that he can canter these jumps much more easily than trotting them, it will be a real game changer.

Look at how high he lifts that right hind to clear the pole!

Check out his right front leg, knee to nose, hoof to chest! And note how high the sides of this crossrail are.  I often set this up so the jump will look bigger to the horse and he'll clear it easily in the center. Lynx is smart and attentive enough that he was trying to get over the oddly angled poles at the trot, not realizing it was ok to canter in and jump.

Here he's stepping equally high with his left front- this is some serious athleticism and try.

This crossrail's sides are a little smaller, and you can see him "sitting" more in his hind end with this jumping effort.

This is the bounce, after I changed it to be ground poles to a vertical because he needed something simpler.  I'm always happy to simplify an exercise for him, I want him to end a session feeling confident and accomplished.

Now he's getting the idea!  Next I'll set some fences on a long straight-away in the fields.  I'll let him pick up a little speed and see if I can get him to break into the canter and go through the bounce that way.  In this little ring it's difficult to get much impulsion before needing to turn, and he happily canters in the pasture all the time.  

This small ring/round pen has been useful for getting him started because the smaller space has made him think about his balance, without him ever needing to pick up much speed. Lynx has terrific brakes with a breathing halt, so if the rider exhales and shifts her pelvis into a more posterior tilt, Lynx will shift his pelvis and slow down then stop in response, doing the same thing with his body as the rider does. He'll quietly halt like this anytime, after a jump, when trotting downhill, it's a great tool to rebalance him when riding on terrain.  I also use a variation of this method to teach my western horses how to slide.

Not bad at all for a horse who's only been under saddle and riding for five weeks!