Taking The First Steps

Jumping

Average height: poles & cavaletti on low.
Both horses, walk & trot, ridden & long lines.

Maximum height: Caveletti on high.
Milton at a trot on long lines.

I know jumping isn’t only about numbers. One can jump high by the skin of one’s teeth, or low and competent for schooling purposes. I promise not to chase raw numbers. Meanwhile, they make good metrics for the blog.

At the dressage show [For This I Cleaned My Tack?], my ground crew was of the opinion that if I had been jumping, I would not have cared what happened in the sandbox. He was not wrong. At our debriefing, we decided that if I want to jump, let’s get to it.

First step is ground poles. Teaches horse to pay attention to their feet. My clever carpenter built cups to rest the poles in, preventing them from getting kicked all over the ring by careless hooves. At it turns out, raising the poles a mere two inches has caused consternation in the ranks.

Lots of walking and some trotting over an endless sea of poles.