Curio had a fun time in the jumping chute this morning! I introduced him to it like I do everyone their first time, leading them through all ground poles, and a cookie after going over each obstacle. Once he had the idea, I raised each jump to be a small cross rail, and walked through with him a few more times, dispensing cookies as we went. When it was clear he knew what to do, I then unclipped my lead rope and sent him through the chute on his own.
These trotting photos are of him coming back to me to have a cookie after he went through the chute. He sure is a fancy mover.
Here Curio is going over the oxer while it's set very small:
And here he is going over it when it's set higher:
Once he figured out how to make his body do it, Curio became very careful with both front and hind feet so he wouldn't hit anything.
I set up the arena with a free jumping chute this morning to get some photos and videos, and decided to send Note through. I couldn't remember if I'd done it with him before, but he definitely remembered! I walked him through once with all ground poles, and he very clearly knew what we were doing. So I set everything up as small jumps and let him go! Kimberly Hale Photography took the photos and video.
This first photo I love because he poses so nicely over the small oxer of crossrails. Head down, knees up, ears forward. It's a very small fence but he makes it look classy.
The vertical was also fairly small, but he jumped it nicely.
When I realized he definitely had done it before, I made the last fence larger.
Note happily cleared everything I set up, he's a very tidy jumper.
Here is the video of his last run through the chute:
It's fun to see what my horses can do all on their own. To my chagrin, when I went to save these photos in Note's 2021 folder on my computer I realized I didn't have any other photos of him this year! He's quite out of shape since I haven't done anything with him, but at least he enjoyed himself over fences today.
This week Curio and Faline were introduced to the saddle pad and surcingle, as well as starting to work on a lunge line in the round pen rather than just at liberty. I keep the routine as similar as possible, so that they know exactly what's coming and it always happens in the same order. That way, when I introduce something new they focus on only the new thing because everything else is old and familiar.
I took Faline out of her paddock and tied her by the barn. I groomed her with the curry, hard brush, combed out her mane, picked up and cleaned her hooves. Then I grabbed my extra equipment (saddle pad, surcingle, girth, pocket full of cookies) and we walked to the round pen. I let her loose to play a little, and set up some poles for her to start experimenting with free jumping.
I love the engagement she has in her hind end as she begins to take off,
she really sits and bends all the joints of her hind legs to create
springs with which to take off.
I was also impressed with her use of her back and how she lifted her knees well. Often when I first introduce jumping to horse they sort of climb over the poles, and there was some amount of that, but both Faline and Curio figured out how to actually jump the cross rail fairly quickly.
Here is a series of short videos showing the progression Faline made from slowly thinking about each foot over the poles, to just hopping right over.
Here is Curio's first introduction to free jumping video:
After each horse had played with the cross rail for a few minutes and expressed some of their "ye-haws" I started introducing the tack once they could focus.
Curio stood quietly while I put on the pad and surcingle, even taking a snooze at the beginning. I then put him on the lunge line and gave him a chance to walk and trot while wearing it in a controlled manner. He was great at the walk, when he picked up the trot the girth surprised him a little, and he did some crow-hopping at the funny feeling of having a belt on. He only went around a circle or two with the hopping, then settled in and trotted nicely each direction.
Faline also was quiet and confident once she had on the tack. She did a very nice walk and trot each direction on the lunge line.
It was ridiculously windy this morning, so instead of a riding lesson, Gillian and I reset the jump chute and put Silver through it. That horse is so quiet, confident, and athletic, he looks like he's barely trying and he easily clears everything we set.
The last oxer at the end is 3'3" tall and 4'6" wide, but you can see him clearing the orange jump standards, which are 4' tall. I see so much potential in this horse, including the ability to do upper level work in eventing. Once he relaxes when traveling and rides away like he does at home, he is going to be phenomenal.
This week Jury has been increasing in confidence, as well as really beginning to look to me for security. We've done some free lunging (really more like playing at liberty) in the round pen. I love that when we first get to the round pen and he's nervous, if I take off his halter he stays as close to me as he can get comfortably. He bumps me with his nose as so many of the youngsters do like he's checking in, saying, "Hey, Kim, just making sure you're still there."
Once he's feeling a little braver he did venture farther away from me. I encouraged him to trot and canter around a bit, then he decided it was pretty fun to cut loose and run.
I had to save these three photos of his baby moments, just for reference when he's older we can look back at how silly he was. I'm pretty sure as a kid I had a breyer horse in this exact pose, but it was called Spanish Barb.
I also let Jury play over the jump at liberty. First I walked over them with him following me, and each time he went over I'd give him a little cookie. He was happy to go over the jump with me, and when I backed off and sent him over by himself he was eager to show us that for a quarter horse he might have some hops! He's never jumped anything before, this was his first time free jumping and he seems to have a knack for tight knees. He is only four years old, though, and while it's ok to free jump a youngster on occasion to see if they have any natural talent, I won't start jumping him under saddle until he's at least six. That gives his body, skeleton, and joints a chance to mature before they take on that stress.
So far Jury's future is a blank page with a fun story waiting to be written. I do have him listed for sale on my website in case the right person comes along, but because he can be so reactive I haven't really advertised him yet. If I sell him I want him to go to just the right home that will let him progress at his own pace so he grows up to be a confident athlete. There's a ton of potential in him to do just about anything, we watched him slide and spin in the round pen and he clearly has the haunches for those jobs too. However, with natural jump form like this he could be a super fun eventer. This is the fun part about baby horses - finding out what they like to do and helping them grow into their chosen careers!
I needed to do some work in the jumping chute with Sam, Joan's new gelding, to help him slow down and just jump whatever fence is presented to him, instead of going faster and faster and jumping larger and larger when going through a line of ground poles. To get him to slow down and think instead of rushing through, I put him in the jumping chute with a long series of bounce distance cavalletti. The small fences encourage him to jump conservatively, and the 10' distances between them encouraged him to slow down.
After Sam had figured out he was working way too hard and finished for the day we sent a few of the other horses through. Rain thought it was great!
Beauty also enjoyed her trips through the chute!
Dewey started out slow as molasses, as usual, but eventually figured out that he needed at least a LITTLE impulsion to clear the jumps rather than just walk through them. In this first photo Sara is asking him why he won't just jump it?
Lastly I brought Ferriana down to the arena and let her warm up over the fences on which the other horses had finished.
It didn't take her long to get her head in the game, so I raised the last oxer to about 4' high, with a 4' wide spread.
No problem - she cleared it with minimal effort.
This was a fun morning, everyone enjoyed watching their horses' form over fences without riders! Thank you to Jasi for the photography and Sara for taking the videos.
