Back on Track!

It's hard to admit that my eventing horse hasn't jumped a thing since Easter. I'd like to blame it on his lameness issues, but that's not 100% it. The other side of the story includes my dislike of setting up and tearing down jumps. Ugh.

But yesterday, I was inspired. After giving Guinness 3 days off and lots of Keratex to help his sore feet, we decided to tackle the cross country fences in the field across the street. And what fun this was! Only a few little bobbles (and my crappy position ... ) but all in all, good experience and good fun! Highlights below!

Guinness 1st XC School from Austen on Vimeo.

GP's XC Schooling 2 from Austen on Vimeo.

Hilarious Run Out from Austen on Vimeo.

I love to watch video of my riding. It makes me really take notice of how my riding directly effects my horse. While painful to watch, it's a good learning experience. After viewing the rides from this weekend, I've decided it's time to buckle down and start improving. That means lots of riding without stirrups (at least twice a week, 1 hour total per week!) and keeping my damn shoulders back. I also need to start practicing lots of jump position over cavaletti to get my folding technique DOWN. Right now I'm still in the fetal position most of the time. Everyone loves watching someone gallop and jump while they are curled up on top of their horse and sucking their thumb ... am I right?