Week 21: A Leap of Faith

                In the last three weeks Finn has improved immensely. Although we are still working on our dressage, after talking with my trainer, we decided it was time for Finn to start jumping. After schooling what seemed like endless ground poles of various colors, we decided it was time to make the leap of faith. We started with a small cross-rail at the trot. Finn calmly trotted right over the cross-rail and seemed to figure out the exercise quickly. We jumped a couple different cross-rails from the trot during the lesson, switching colors and directions to give him a varied experience. By the end of the lesson he was trotting calmly through a line made up of two cross-rails.

                After another flat lesson that went splendidly and another cross-rail lesson, we decided to venture outside to the outdoor ring and try some more jumps. Finn was amazing once again and he easily popped over various cross-rails and even one or two verticals. We placed flower boxes and colored poles under the jumps to help him get used to fillers. At the end of the lesson we set up an oxer made out of two cross-rails and Finn happily jumped it!

               Because Finn was doing so well we decided to take a lesson with Sally Cousins (USEA Leading Lady rider for 2012). The day before the lesson, my normal trainer had me trot Finn over a couple new jumps, including a gate and a vertical with a brush box underneath. During the Sally Cousins lesson, Finn was on his very best behavior! We jumped a bunch of verticals and were able to put two of them together in the canter. At the end of the lesson I jumped Finn through a four stride line with a cross-rail to an oxer. Finn jumped flawlessly over the oxer and we decided to call it a day and shower him with attention.

            Finn really seems to be improving. His feet are in great condition (pictures to come in the next post) and he has gained weight and muscle. At the canter, Finn no longer loses the lead behind and he is beginning to carry himself very nicely. We have decided to switch Finn to a different bit in hopes of eliminating his head shaking. We will be working on our flat work over the weekend and preparing to go x-country schooling at Plantation Field the last weekend in April.