Jumping Therapy

Our house is still a place of chaos. J is finally feeling better, but Jasper had his surgery and is not thrilled with the exercise restrictions.

Woe is Jasper

He is healing well so far, but multiple weeks of one locked down cattle dog and a second dog who doesn't understand why her buddy can't play is not something to look forward to.  Neither was the unwelcome news that at least 50% of dogs who go through TPLO surgery end up needing it on their other leg.  Super.

Needless to say, on Sunday I was very much looking forward to getting to the barn and doing some jumping.  And Fawkes was supportive, he was great for our ride.  Trainer rode him first as she wants to a) get a feel for how he is under saddle and b) try and help install some of the buttons she wants.  Sounds good to me.

I never get to see anyone else ride him so that was pretty exciting.  And she able to demonstrate how she wants me to ask certain things, which was helpful.  On the other hand, and maybe I am a bad person for saying so, but it was also nice to see that he pulls some of the same crap for the trainer that he does for me. Esp his nose wiggle.  He knows how to steady in the contact but always starts out with the over-exaggerated waggle.

Then it was my turn.  And the worst thing - the thing that makes you want to softly bang your head against a wall while crying - was that he didn't spook at all for her.  But as soon as I got on and asked him to trot, he immediately started spooking in the one corner.  WTF horse!  Or, more realistically, WTF can I possibly be doing to make him spook?!?  Ugh.  At least it was short lived and mild.  Still food for thought.

Jumping was one of the hardest exercises for me, just one single fence on a circle, keeping the same rhythm and getting the same jump.  My brain quickly gets bored, over-analyzes, and makes me do stupid things like start to rush. Luckily, my horse rocks this exercise.

Because I am a miniature human the stirrups on my trainer's saddle were too long even on the shortest hole, so my eq suffered some but I was mostly pretty pleased.  Fawkes was so relaxed that his form was definitely on the lazy side, but I am ok with that right now as relaxation > snappy knees on spooky horse. Plus we can easily tighten him back up, no worries there.

After our lesson he got his first bath of the season.  He still hasn't started shedding but at least the dirt from November is gone!