Jumping Violet

I was hoping for good weather today so that I could head down to the arena and do some jumping on Violet. As it turns out I woke up to pouring rain and puddles everywhere, but figured I'd better get off my bum (I guess they're called "all weather" arenas because a little rain isn't meant to be the end of the world!). I was rewarded for my enthusiasm though, as the rain stopped as soon as I got on, and didn't start again till I was driving home - yay!

I took Violet and Neo over to Gray's Rd. They've become fairly attached, and I wanted to see how they would cope travelling together and then not getting to hang out together. I was a bit concerned to begin with as they were calling out to each other non-stop and Vi wasn't listening to me at all. But after about 5 minutes they both settled and we were able to begin a proper warmup:

It was also my first ride on Vi wearing spurs, and I found it made a few things easier (like transitions), but other things harder (like controlling bend, as I think my aids were a bit too strong and I wouldn't always get exactly what I thought I was asking for). But Vi was very patient while we tried out different thing and was certainly attentive at all times.

She's got a lovely easy canter - I can see how she would be a good ride over crosscountry. And she's doesn't pull either, which is nice (as she's only wearing a mullen happymouth and is a big horse!).

After about 15 minutes of warmup I trotted her into a crossbar and she seemed a bit confused! Sort of got right up to it and then realised we meant to go over it (see the pic below!), so then we came back in at a canter and she was on the ball with what was expected. I didn't want to do very much jumping as she's out of practise and I don't want her having sore muscles and deciding that jumping is no fun. So I just popped her through a simple grid two times and left it at that. She has a fab jump in her, absolutely springs over the fences! The red & white in the pic below is the middle element of the grid and is 1.10m and she barely even noticed it. She really seemed to enjoy it too:

So that was it for us for the day. Pics of me with big horse Vi, and her boyfriend Neo:

Now it's time for me to sit down and go through the local schedules and find some jumping shows for Vi! Hopefully we'll get a bit more dry weather too.