Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2014 16:04:05 GMT -8
Cora has been training Sophie for nearly eight months now, and the mare was definitely making progress. They had graduated from ground poles, to cross rails, to verticals, and she was now working the mare through small courses. The mare hadn't been completely clueless, as she had been free jumped a lot and had good judgement, and was a very bright horse, enabling her to pick skills up quickly. The most difficult part had been for her to get used to jumping under saddle and connecting aids with jumping. Once she had figured that out, Cora had been able to focus more on building her muscle for higher jumping and molding the mare into a suitable hunter.
After tacking the mare up in her usual burgundy schooling tack, Cora rode her out to the hunter ring where she had a course set up from a class she had taught earlier. After her students had left, she'd lowered the jumps to Sophie's current comfortable height so that she could return to it later. Entering and closing the gate behind her, Cora began to warm the mare up, enjoying the warm air that was still in the early evening air. The students' equine classes had finished so most of them had left the barns and arenas to shower and go to their extracurricular activities. She had gotten into the habit of using this lull to school her horses, since she was now riding three of them, and she could usually only ride one or two of them during the morning.
Once Sophie was warmed up, Cora planned out a simple course from the jumps that were set up and began, starting with a low line of verticals. Cantering towards it, she set the mare up for the first jump and was pleased when Sophie responded as asked, taking the spot that Cora had asked for. Her head was a bit higher than Cora would have liked through the line, and she asked for the mare to stretch down, but the mare wouldn't comply. The second jump went find as well, but the mare still wasn't entirely in the correct frame. Cora had been contemplating getting a standing martingale for the mare, but she preferred to try to work through it more first.
After tacking the mare up in her usual burgundy schooling tack, Cora rode her out to the hunter ring where she had a course set up from a class she had taught earlier. After her students had left, she'd lowered the jumps to Sophie's current comfortable height so that she could return to it later. Entering and closing the gate behind her, Cora began to warm the mare up, enjoying the warm air that was still in the early evening air. The students' equine classes had finished so most of them had left the barns and arenas to shower and go to their extracurricular activities. She had gotten into the habit of using this lull to school her horses, since she was now riding three of them, and she could usually only ride one or two of them during the morning.
Once Sophie was warmed up, Cora planned out a simple course from the jumps that were set up and began, starting with a low line of verticals. Cantering towards it, she set the mare up for the first jump and was pleased when Sophie responded as asked, taking the spot that Cora had asked for. Her head was a bit higher than Cora would have liked through the line, and she asked for the mare to stretch down, but the mare wouldn't comply. The second jump went find as well, but the mare still wasn't entirely in the correct frame. Cora had been contemplating getting a standing martingale for the mare, but she preferred to try to work through it more first.