First Jump

M rode Barokko in the outdoor on Monday. They warmed up playing mikado - a game I have my students play, riding patterns over and around poles scattered all over the arena. They played in walk and trot, and in trot Barokko really perked up, pricked his ears toward the next pole and really looked like he was enjoying it. I decided to let them do some more pole work, and set up a line of trot poles for them, which Barokko flew over expertly, beautiful rhythm and swinging over the back.

He was energetic and seemed to be having a lot of fun with the poles, so I decided to set up a teeny little jump with a trot pole leading in, just to see how he'd take it. He hasn't jumped in AGES, so I was expecting maybe a little hesitation or over-jumping, but no. He knew exactly what he was doing, adjusted the approach perfectly, cleared the jump nicely without any hype, and landed in a relaxed canter. I gave him a little more height (75cm) to bring out some more bascule, and he slipped over smooth as silk :) I had them go over a few times each wat, and then I did a little bending work with him at the walk before finishing off with a big hug and a carrot. Good Boy :D

Today I worked him in-hand. I've been training M and her horse in-hand the past 6 months or so, so after I'd warmed him up I let her try to work with him a bit as he's much more experienced with the work than her own horse. Barokko was initially very confused as to what she wanted him to do, as she wasn't quite sharp enough with her signals, which lead to him trying out some interesting new lateral movements :P It was really fun to see him as an in-hand "schoolmaster", it reminded me of the feeling the first time I got to ride my instructor's horse when I was still riding lesson horses, he kept running around sideways with me because I inadvertantly pressed a bunch of buttons I didn't even know existed, and that's exactly what was happening with M and Barokko today ;)