Day the First, Part the Second

When we last saw our heroine, she was facing a very great conflict in her head about jumping a horse she'd never ridden before.

Er... make that a pony. She's a little brown and white pinto and looked pretty unassuming and simple, and overall behaved except for sometimes drifting towards gates if her rider doesn't pay attention. My boss also told me (AFTER I was on the pony warming her up) that she likes to take long distances to jumps if it works out.

Oh GREAT! A too long distance to the jump is what threw me off over a jump like a lawn dart last year (for the nonhorsey readers... seeing a "distance" is being able to find an appropriate takeoff spot before a jump and make your horse get there). But, I reminded myself of my promise to kick my fear in the teeth this summer and went on with my head high.

Riding a pony when you're more used to a large, lanky and lumbering warmblood is quite a culture shock, but I adjusted well, felt fairly secure in the saddle. This pony liked to motorcycle around corners a little at her little jackhammer canter, but that only required staying up tall, balanced and opening a little outside rein to keep her where I needed her to be.

Then came the jumps. *dum dum DUM*

It was an eensy weensy itty bitty (no yellow polka dot bikini here) crossrail. This pony would most likely trot it. I first trotted to it and just glued my eyes on the far wall, ignoring that there was a "jump" as much as appropriate. We hopped over, I remembered how to release and that was that.

Cool! Then I had to canter it. Six months ago, I would have begged to just trot the jumps for today, but with a schooling show looming tomorrow, I just nodded, picked up a lead, sat up tall and went for it. And darn it, my boss had gotten sneaky and moved it up to a vertical.

She took the long distance. Anytime in the past year, it would have completely wigged me out (my fall was on a similar height brown pinto pony too), but I could tell when she was going to leave the ground, and I was able to read that from her. I got my heart back under control, and did it again, sat up taller this time and we nailed the perfect pony distance. Then we switched directions, with the same result. All I had to do was make sure I wasn't hanging onto her face, sit up and keep her quiet to the jump, and she would tell me precisely when and how far we were going when we got there.

I was feeling a tad more relaxed at this point, but I could tell by looking at my boss that I was far from done. She told me to take a line (two jumps with five or six strides between them) and just take them the exact same way. The only difference was that I needed to get organized with myself and the horse between them. I will not deny that my heart picked up a little, but I still bashed my inner self over the head with my promise. We took the line, no muss, no fuss. I landed a tad sloppy over the first jump and it took me a couple strides to get ourselves together, but we got through it without slinging around like orangutans. Then we switched directions and took a slightly bigger line on the other side of the ring-

OH, the ring! This outdoor covered ring is fantastically beautiful in a subtle and elegant way. At the far end of the ring and down both sides, the way the hills are situated around it have you looking DOWN from the ring, right out at treetops bordering the pastures surrounding it. It's a breathtaking view and made me feel very elite for some reason.

Okay, back to the regular program. So we got through the second line, and this time it only took me one stride to get organized and my boss said we were dead on almost instantly, so that was encouraging. I was starting to get the feel for how this mare worked in terms of keeping her forward enough to get us somewhere, but also keeping her quiet and organized. Then my boss said "Let's do a course!"

My heart hit the saddle, but I just nodded, thinking she'd use just the jumps we'd done. She set us up to take one line, circle and switch directions, take our first vertical, circle, take the second line, then ride around the far end and finish off with the big wide gray box covered in flowers.

WHAT??!! It was only a 2' jump, but it looked enormous to me. It was wide, it was solid, it was colorful, it was a new jump, it was...
It was part of my course. I took a deep breath and off we went. Halfway through, I was feeling great; the mare and I were either nailing our distances, or she was clear enough to tell me when she was leaving the ground that I could stick with her and make it look pretty still. But there was still that wall to get over...

Some may think me a coward for getting worked up over a relatively little jump, but it was a big deal to me. Here I was, on a brown pinto pony very similar to the one that had shaken me loose, on a similar summer day, headed straight for a VERY similar jump that had started this whole thing in the first place! I got the more pointed at it, sat up tall and drove for it, but I could barely draw in air through my closing throat. I breathed as deeply and calmly as I could, remembered "tea" (my boyfriend will get it). The mare leaped over with all her heart, and I can guarantee that my smile has rarely been bigger than it was by the time we landed.

Both my boss and her husband broke out cheering and clapping, and I was shaking with relief and joy as I brought the mare down to a walk and hugged her, so grateful for her pluck. I'd had trepidations about this first lesson; I haven't ridden intensively in quite some time, this was an unfamiliar horse, with an unfamiliar instructore, and unfamiliar jumps and surroundings. Good grief, I hadn't been over anything bigger than a trot pole in almost ten months!

So needless to say, I feel very good right now, and ready for tomorrow's show. Even though it's a very casual and laid back affair, I'll probably stick to doing an 18" jump course (the rule of thumb is usually show one notch under what you're training at). The day went smoothly, I'm getting along with both my boss and her husband (who is quite a character and micromanager, but I think we've struck an understanding that I want to do well, and he's very kind about corrections), and I'm ready to see what tomorrow holds. Hopefully, it'll go just as well (heck, I'll even take half as well) as it did today :)


~J