Monday, March 4, 2013

Trust, continued

To follow up yesterday's post, the 3rd miraculous moment in our lesson last weekend shows me that Bohemian is game for cross country. 

Here is the water complex corner of our event arena:

We handle water just fine and have done the shortest banks on both sides without issue several times.

So Laurie said we should do the middle bank on the left, down to the stacked logs. Yes, those novice sized logs on the right of the photo. It's not that tall of a log, but for some reason I was still nervous about it. Its just so solid. and we haven't jumped even a baby log in over 6 months! She saw the trepidation in my eyes, so Laurie says "Ok, come down the other middle bank and hop over that black tube jump instead."

0.o  Uh, not much better is what I thought. I was nervous about it, but for some reason didn't say anything. Its almost as high as the log and to a horse it looks pretty darn solid. I walked him by it so he could get an eyeful. The plan was to come down the middle bank (the first time doing that size of a bank, by the way), come to a walk, then trot out over the black tube jump.


Well, down banks have been a challenge for me (dating back to Spirit days), but I was sure to stay back and have long arms and reins. Hemie just stepped down like a pro. He came to a walk right away, but I was slack in picking up my reins and getting our act together. Instead of a trot we were at a quasi-jig (a walk+, really) by the time we reached the tube jump, and you know what happened? He. jumped. it.


He must love to jump, because I thought for sure he was just going to come to a nice straight halt in front of the jump, and instead he put in a great physical effort to lift his body and jump this thing from a walk. I was so proud. He loves his job so much, and he understands his job, that he took me over this thing. We came around to do it again, and I would say I marginally improved my performance and we had a slow trot going on. I got left behind but that's okay. 

I am coming to see more and more what a great horse I have - and that its okay to start trusting him to do his job. I still need to be the best rider I can be for him, but I just really appreciate having him step up to the plate and help things go successfully even when I haven't done my full share. Good boy, Hemie.

13 comments:

  1. Wow, that water complex looks crazy. Good job sticking with it. I would have been completely scared! Hemie sounds like he is being a super boy.

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    1. Thank you! The water is a really cool feature of the barn - so good for practice!

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  2. wow, what a good boy! I'm impressed with your facilities, let alone that you are brave enough to jump it.

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    1. Thanks - I'm proud of myself for doing a jump that intimidated me. And yeah its is a real blessing to board at this place!

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  3. Don't know where you're located but that place looks awesome. I may be moving out to la/ Newport beach area (somewhere outside of both) to be closer too my family after graduation and if that farm is near those places I'd totally be interested haha. What is turnout and such like for you guys out there? I'm spoiled here in KY.

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    1. We're in Moorpark, CA, which is in Ventura County, north and east of LA along the coast. There's excellent boarding all around the LA area, including Newport (but expensive!!). Let me know what specific areas you're looking at and I may be able to give you more info or connect you with a friend or two who does! Turnout is practically unheard of in so cal, by and large. My barn does 3 days a week of turnout, 4 hours each, and the turnouts are basically 24x48 paddocks, not a pasture or anything. You can pay extra for 5x a week. This is the only barn I know of that does that out here.

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    2. Thanks! I will definitely get in touch with you if that turns out to be a real possibility for us!

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    3. Just following up... Looks like I would most likely end up being in Cali... I would be working in Playa Vista probably and have really no clue where I will actually live (probably at my parents house in Beverly Hills short term) I would love to have boarding recommendations or any help you can offer. My email is equestrianathart @ gmail Thanks in advance! :)

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  4. Nice! But first, I love the photos - much easier to see what you mean, and you're right; that log looked very solid to me, too. Funny though, as a teenager, with no formal lessons ever, we jumped big logs out (including a fallen redwood) in the woods all the time bareback. What was I thinking?! Oh yeah ... not thinking is sometimes teh best thing to do. I am so glad Hemie is working out for you. Here's to more of those moments!

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    1. Photos definitely help explain. And I too recall some crazy fearlessness as a kid...whatever happened to that, eh? Thanks for the warm words!

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  5. All I can say is wow (also sorry I'm behind on blogs!) +

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  6. Okay, totally random comment on an old post by a new reader but I KNOW that place! I have friend who lessons out there and she took us for a ride around the property when we were in the area last Breeders' Cup. It is such an awesome arena and I am very very jealous.

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    1. Yeah, it is a very neat facility and we're really enjoying all of the amenities. =]

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