Cross Country

By far the best part of Eventing. Anyone can tell you that.
I am extremely fortunate to have Theo, because he is completely point-and-shoot in low-level cross-country courses.
Which I love.
For a Novice level event, about 2 months of consistent work has him ready. Each week he would get 2 days dressage, 2 days hacking/conditioning, one jumping day, one interval galloping day and one day off.
6-8 weeks of this and he is ready to go!
Boy, it is so nice to have a horse that's low maintenance.

galloping at our first event together

Bits

ow, Theo is quite a big guy, and it takes some strength to get him off his forehand and moving forward properly. I've gotten him to the point where it is easy enough to ride him in a snaffle on the flat and over fences, but now that he's ready to move up I'm switching him back to some other bits. I like to switch things up, never letting him get too dull to one bit in particular.

Right now for dressage he goes in either a loose-ring french link or a Myler single-joint eggbutt snaffle, both do just fine.
            


For jumping I tend to rotate more, between a Dr. Bristol full-cheek snaffle, single-joint pelham (I'd like to replace it with a french link), and a french link 3-ring gag (also called elevator, dutch gag, or Pessoa bits)

  

For hacking/trail riding/conditioning I use the full-cheek mentioned above, a french link eggbutt, or a square-twist  full-cheek depending on how full of himself he's feeling. Also, I use another elevator-type bit on him for jumping and whatnot, it has just a little more control than a snaffle. However I'm not sure exactly what it's called...

I'm thinking about getting a french-link true gag bit for cross-country and upper-level jumping, just for that extra touch he needs sometimes. Especially at competitions where he tends to get more excited.
Also, note that with the elevator bits I always use rubber bit guards because they do have a tendency to pinch lips pretty badly.

Go Eventing!

Green Jumpers

Today's topic:

Green horses! And how they jump. Not just that they jump, but HOW.
Bunny-hopping
Superman-style
overjumping
sliding to a halt AND THEN jumping
sideways jumping
twisting in the air
and the list goes on....

They really are good learning tools though, since working with my little Appendix gelding and his green-ness over fences (and lots of other things for that matter) I have a much better appreciation for my tried-and-true buddy who I can ride *without* holding my breath over the jump.
The Appendix gelding is much better now, I assure you, but after 2 months off some days it feels like we're back to square one.

Go Jumping!

First Post!

Here we go-

blogging about horses and riding and all that.

I think this will be a grand little adventure.

This post is going to be about something simple: Why Eventing?

WELL. In my opinion, it is one the better sports for the horse. It keep the animal in shape and well-rounded both physically and mentally. The rider has to be able to adapt to the situation- soft and precise in dressage, courageous and agile cross-country, bold and accurate for stadium -as well as being a good horseperson in regards to proper warm-ups and cooling out and travelling to events and good conditioning of the animal.

It just seems to have balance. I like that.

ta-ta for now!