If you’re born on an island, the ocean heals you

Another jump lesson recap!! Oats and I warmed up really nicely last night, so nice in fact that I am wondering how I can capture that magic for our next jump lesson? He was soft, forward, responsive and very fluid. It was just lovely.

Last winter was very snowy.

I was feeling confident after that warm up, more confident than I usually feel about jumping! Lucky me because last night was the night to start being challenged with height a bit more (it was not a complex lesson, compared with the last few weeks of very technical coursework).

We did a trot-in one-stride gymnastic (x-rail to oxer) and by the end of the warm up over the gymnastic, the oxer was up to 2’6” with nary a peep from me! I did feel a bit anxious about it but you know what? It was riding fine.

We then made a small course of 6 jumps, incorporating the gymnastic into the course. That rode fine, so the jumps went up (another panel jump went to 2’6”) and we worked up to a course of 12 fences total. Oats was a tad surprised by the bigger fence and was like wait, woah and had to really lift his hooves to clear it. Good boy!

In the course we did the gymnastic twice and the 2’6” fence three times. That’s a lot for me, hahahah. The course rode quite well though, and I was very pleased with Oats making the effort.

I have been saying it’s time to be challenged and here I go- it’s time and I am ready!

BANG! A week of bad luck?

I got rear ended yesterday, not that hard but still hard enough to make it a scary, frightening event that left me in shock and crying at the barn.

I was on my way to watch my friend do a jump lesson on Mr. Oats (for fun, for me to watch him do more challenging work, a training ride for him) and that’s when I got nailed. I got a headache instantly, and the person who did it drove away?!!

I was so frazzled and scared and felt powerless. It only takes 1 incident like this to make you realize how fragile you really are and how little it takes to rock your comfortable life. Anyways, when I called the cops about it later, they said there was pretty much nothing I could do unless I got a license plate number, and I didn’t (see in shock, frazzled, shaken)…So yeah…

I have a bit of a headache today and feel stiff.

Everyday

The lesson itself went really well, Oats was moving. He was a bit like WTF? And was breathing hard, with his little nostrils flaring out! He got worked, and hard. They went through a gymnastic after a short but very forward warmup, and the gymnastic went up to 3′! I have never ridden him that high, and watching it was funny- he is very economical with his jump, he jumps ‘just’ enough but NO higher!

Then they worked over a course that had some bugs- a runout due to a bulge (he can be very tricky with his bending, so not a surprise there) and 1 awkward jump due to striding (again not a surprise with Oats, these are all common things). It was very good to watch and I was very impressed at his pacing through one of the outside lines- they got 6 in a line that pretty much everyone was getting 7? Oats is a pony! haha.

Then the jumps went up to about 2’6” I believe and they really shone. Go pony go! It was great to see him step up to the plate and give his rider that much. Even when things got bumped a bit- she gave him his head, and he was like no sweat I got this! Even when he TOTALLY could have taken advantage and been a jerk. He didn’t even seem to think about it! He was totally locked-on to the jump, and seeking the next fence in the course.

It was good to see and makes me feel more confident in his abilities as a partner. Now, to get this pace thing figured out…

Ugh. Feeling physically fragile and stressed still today though. That car thing really shook me.