Jump Chutes!

I've had the opportunity to do a lot of cool things with horses over the years, but one thing I'd never done until this past weekend was put horses through a jump chute. It was a really cool experience, and I got to meet Teddy O'Connor's breeder and put her pony Cash through the chute several times!

Teddy!

We took Fynn and Zephyr to the clinic. Fynn showed some talent but got really nervous. Zephyr crashed through a bunch of jumps for awhile and then seemed to figure it out.

It was a well-run clinic. The lady running it had me walk the horse through to sniff all the poles and see what he was supposed to do, and then she started building crossrails - there were three jumps, and the first one stayed a crossrail, the second became a vertical, and the last an oxer. The heights varied according to the horse's fitness and abilities. Neither of our horses got to jump anything huge, which is fine. They'll get there.

Me and Zephyr waiting for our turn in the chute ring.

There's nothing handsomer than Zephyr.

Fynn overjumps a bit.

Fynn is adorable but it took us like 10 minutes to get this shot.

Zephyr eventually figured out how to tuck his knees. Good boy!

The photos above seem to be choosing their own order, so sorry if they don't make sense.

Lex is doing well. She enjoys her handful of minutes of hand-grazing every day, and tomorrow she's getting cleaned up. She's pretty gross from lying in her own poop all night, and sometimes brushing just isn't going to be good enough. I took her stitches out yesterday, though, so I can finally give her a bath. Also, I haven't seen a return of the puffy leg. YAY.

Without taking away any of the snuggling I'm giving Lex, I think I'm gonna commit to bringing Zephyr along, especially while she's on layup. He's a very nice horse, and he can be my project for the next few months. Maybe he'll be an eventer, who knows.