Progress Over Fences

It struck me when I was writing the recap of our XC school the other day that Mo has come a very long way indeed in his jumping. He's still green and will be for a long time, but he's such a natural that jumping really is easy for him. Especially if I'm riding half-decently.

So below are some pics from an early jump school very soon after I bought him, followed by some that my mom got for me in early May. It might be awhile before I have any more good schooling pics, but I'll take what I can get. It's so much fun to see pictures of him because I know he feels incredible, but I didn't really see how good he looks until I took the time to closely watch these videos a few days ago.

Early intro to the liverpool, which he jumps reliably now

DON'T TOUCH THE POLE

It's hard to look great over jumps this small with a horse this green

OMG his neck was so scrawny

Love those happy ears

And here are some from May 8, also video stills. I'm so glad my mom will come tape things for us when she can. It's easier to get people to tape/photograph a horse show, but right now he's jumping well below our schooling level at shows, so those pictures aren't as fun (except the Sandstone ones, I love those still). That'll change eventually, but watching him plop over crossrails isn't thrilling.

Not unhappy with my lower leg here

Those knees tho

He loves his job.

Still like my leg, hating my upper body and lack of release.
The green horse excuse is there but I can equitate better.

I suck here but he looks PHENOMENAL to me. Holy crap.

His whole body has changed a lot, thanks to all that free choice alfalfa and just getting in shape. In those early crossrail days, there was good reason to feel optimistic but not a lot of hard evidence of his ability. And while these jumps are not enormous by any standard, he's showing that he knows just what to do to get over them, and using the same spring off the ground and shape in the air will make the actually big jumps easy for him. He'll be a 4' horse, he might even be a 5' horse, but here's the thing--there won't be any rushing him. We have a lot of work to do to get him more broke at the canter, and all he needs right now is to feel successful in what he's asked to do. It's not my last year in the juniors, so we'll take our time. I know M is on the same page as me, because while she'll sometimes put a jump or two up to 2'9" (and we've jumped those barrels up at least one more hole from that), that's still stuff he's happy to trot over if things get weird. She hasn't done anything like build a grid with a gigantic oxer at the end of it--that stuff is a blast, but not for a horse like this yet. He's a baby. We'll get there. And it'll be seriously fun.