Just a quick post to note that my barn got its jumps up (well, all three of them, lol) this weekend, so Certs and I finally got to jump yesterday. Woohooo!
As a teenager, I jumped 2-3 times a week (usually 3'6"-3'9" and occasionally 4', which just seems ridiculous and damn near impossible to me now), but that was quite a long time ago. Since I moved to Miami, I've only ridden sporadically, usually on very green horses. I do recall popping a bratty pony over a couple crossrails about seven years ago and I hopped Mac over a vertical a few times the first time I rode him...but, other than that, I haven't jumped in almost EIGHT years!
Obviously, we kept things simple since Certs and I are both out of shape and out of practice. We trotted a single crossrail a few times (the first time, I was slightly behind the motion and Certs crow-hopped all the way to the corner when we landed, but luckily it was nothing ugly!). Once I got my position secure, we added another X and trotted into the line & cantered out in three strides. Since he landed on the lead, I just kept him going all the way around and cantered into the line, cantering out in two strides. By that time, we had both settled into the rhythm and the line was smooth, so I gave Certs a well-deserved pat and called it a day. It felt so good to finally jump again, even though it was just a few crossrails. That totally made my week -- I'm still smiling! :-)
No photographic proof yet, but I'm sure we'll get some eventually. Red Hills, here we come (ha!)!!
3 days ago
