Sunday, January 22, 2012

The Boy Can Jump

It was cold, cloudy and breezy this morning.  Since it wasn't friendly outside, we went down the mountain for lunch at Mollie's.  I had my usual - a reuben.

Brett had a cheddar bacon mushroom burger and fries.  No lettuce, no tomato, no redeeming ingredients.

From there we went to the tack store where I bought Winston a new halter and some other things that I probably don't need, but wanted anyway.  Me and tack stores... an expensive combination. 

When we got home, the sun was out but the weather was still a bit cool.  All the animals were napping in the sun and mud.

Kalvin: I love you Flash.  You're my best friend.


Jackson: Public displays of affection.  Yuck.

Since it was a lazy kind of day, I thought I would let Winston run around the arena and let off some steam.  He's just a baby and I'm a firm believer in play time.  I set up some low jumps in case he felt like showing me some moves.  His trainer said he trots over 2' jumps easy peasy and has never refused at 3 feet.


I've been working a bit with Winston on manners.  Being a gregarious kind of guy, he can border on being pushy.  I don't like pushy horses and I don't think it is safe.  The horse is happier and calmer when the alpha role is firmly established with the owner.  So, from the minute he got here we have been working on respecting my space and moving away from me when I step into his space.  I invite him into my space, otherwise he stays a respectful distance.  Winston is smart and a pleaser so he got that all down lickity split. 

In the arena, I turned him loose but stood in the middle with a longe whip.  I just used it to define my space, the space he couldn't invade with his ricky-racing around.  He wouldn't go over my jumps; he just shied at them and went on his merry bucking way.   After a few minutes, I walked over to the side of the arena to get another pole.  He immediately "joined up" with me which caught me by surprise.  Happy surprise.  He walked right behind me, with his head just behind my shoulder, licking and chewing, all the way across the arena. 

Brett joined me in the arena and I asked him to stand close to one of the jumps to herd Winston over.  Instead, Winston jumped out of the arena.

Right at that corner.  He was sliding to a stop, changed his mind, and cleared it -- easily.  He trotted off to some grass behind the barn and started grazing.  I took his halter and went off to retrieve him.  Brett measured the fence.  4 feet.  I guess he wanted a real jump and not the little things I set up. 

I just hope he doesn't start jumping out of his paddock.  I've never had a horse with real jumping ability before.  Yipes.  (hee hee).  I said to Brett "He could be an eventing horse!"  Brett said that there is no way I am going to do eventing.  Not to worry, I'm a happy dressage person.  Jumping that high scares me to death.  ...and cross country... I'd probably pee my pants.



15 comments:

  1. holy smokes! yikes, indeed! sure hope he doesn't make this a habit!

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  2. Pretty impressive! I'm glad to hear he's settling in so well.

    When we built our place, I insisted that the fences be 5 ft tall even though everyone said that no horse would jump out of 4 ft. Now I feel validated for my over-compensation!

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  3. Oh no! Another Bella on your hands.

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  4. Uh, you're in trouble. ;) Let's just hope there's never anything he wants on the other side of the fence. Wish you could have caught in tape!

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  5. I hear you on the tack stores. :) and good luck with Winston. it seems he loves to jump. :)

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  6. Holy cow! You better keep an eye on him!!!

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  7. Looks like you have a show jumper on your hands! Haha!
    It takes a brave horse to clear 4ft without urging from a rider. A very SPECIAL brave horse!!

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  8. Wow! Sounds like he wants a career as a jumper. I wonder how often you'll end up waking up to Winston's empty paddock!

    ~Lisa

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  9. Oooo la la! Michaele is right...Bella has a jumping buddy. Let's hope he doesn't find it too easy.

    By the way, that sandwich looks mighty good!

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  10. We're taking Bella and Winston on the road as a "jumping act". I guess I have to start putting up new fences.

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  11. Wow! I'm impressed. Too bad it wasn't caught on video hehe.

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  12. oh my gosh!!!! I always worry about Rosie crashing through, and Bonnie is the jumper, but I've never had her jump out of an arena.

    Tack stores - our local one - greets me by name when I walk in the door.

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  13. Ha! That's a good jumping horse you've got there. Let's hope he decides to stay in the arena when you're riding him.

    We boarded at a place once and all three of our horses jumped the fence and took a tour of the neighborhood. Not fun.

    I love a good Rueben and that looks delicious. It's lunchtime here and now I'm hungry. Thanks a lot I'm supposed to be dieting.

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  14. Uh-oh! I hope that he doens't make it a habit! With a horse that good at jumping, you just might have to add it into your cross training program. Fun!

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Thanks so much for commenting!