The Gray Wonder
Go hither? Go thither? There is no right answer, only the art of training.
Last Thursday, we finally got back to Falcon Hill Farm for the group lesson. By the time we arrived, the others were jumping the big sticks. Okay, medium sticks, but too big for us. So, Milton and I chilled in center ring. This is good practice for him. We had our lesson after.
The original plan for the weekend had been shipping to Full Circle Horse Park to begin work on riding in the open.
Stay with plan or take more lessons?
At FHF we would continue to work on cantering and jumping.
At FCHP we would be adding a new skill. Mostly strolling around, maybe trotting. Definitely not ready to thunder about.
Method 1: Consolidate canter and jumping in the ring. Then add riding in the open. Downside, if we wait until we are ready, we may never start.
Method 2: Start small. Even if we have to keep it to a walk at the far edges of the cross-country course, we can at least introduce the concept. Variety is good. Downside, why ship and pay money to school somewhere when we can’t happily hack in our own pasture?
Deciding that repetition was good for horse and rider, we opted for FHF.
Jumping Diary
All at Falcon Hill Farm.
Thursday. Lesson. Cantered crossrails.
Saturday. Schooling on our own. Mostly sets of ground poles. One crossrail. Rode outside of the ring, down the hill in the trailer area [Winning The Warm-Up]. Cue nerves.
Sunday. Lesson. Lots of time, too much time, on flat work, mainly canter transition problems. Coach Molly got on for remediation, whether for horse or rider was not clear. Got back on. Got both leads. Cantered crossrails. Ended with two-foot vertical. Twice. PR for Milton & me!
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
Virtual Brush Box 
Excellent!
🙂