Instructions to jump Gody...

I jumped Gody for the first time today. It has been interested to buy a horse that I had never ridden before, and had only seen under saddle on video. Basically trusting the integrity of the seller.

Today I decided he was fit enough to pop over a few jumps. He is simple;
Step 1: Make sure he is awake
Step 1a: No, really, you have to make sure he is awake
Step 2: Pick up suitable canter stride
Step 3: Aim him more or less at the jump
Step 4: Grab mane three strides out and leave him alone to do his job (but don't drop your body at him or you will get popped!).
Step 5: Find the saddle again, and get the outside leg ready to ask for the change if needed (yes, he has fairly simple flying changes!).

The only downside I could feel, was that he likes to use that long neck of his over the jumps (which is a good thing), so he will likely do best with long armed riders who can consistently give a release, but I think he will be a nice addition for rider's ready to move up a bit. His jump has a little too much pop for a complete beginner, but then he hasn't jumped for a while either and was perhaps putting in more effort than needed...not sure. Will be interesting when Emma jumps him next week!

I have also made some good progress with Coregel; I started her back under saddle mid October and she has been progressing nicely. We are now able to do some lateral work at walk, some nice working trot, and can canter each way. She even walked and pooped today! She seems to think cantering is never more than one lap though, and takes it for granted that she should trot when we get back to the starting point, but I am ok with that for now as it may be all she is able to balance for.

For those of you who weren't around last year, Coregel's journey has been a little different than I wanted it to be. Last August something happened in her pasture, and the gate ended up broken. The other fillies were just over the hill eating grass near the neighbour's horses, but Coregel took off to rejoin her mom, and was found about as far south as she could go before hitting a fence. Sadly, along the way she twisted her ankle enough to rip a ligament right off the bone, taking a chip with it. So Coregel spent last winter on stall rest (and she was NOT pleased), and then hand walking and trotting and so on.

Her injury is healed pretty well, although the ligament won't reattach, so she will always be missing it, instead we used ultrasound and controlled exercise to help scar tissue hold the joint together more securely. As she has this weakness, I have not done the typical lunging I would normally do to start a horse and develop its fitness for training, so my usual routine of training had to change to just be ground work and riding. Interestingly it does not seem like she really missed any steps by missing lunging, and as lunging (or any repetitive work) is hard on joints in general, it has made me question the usual training routine of doing lunging with a young horse.

I plan to post an x-ray of her leg in the barn this week for those that are curious, and hope to get an under saddle video of her soon!

Karen