Cross country day. And we conquer "the bank."

We went out cross country schooling again today. I feel SO lucky that we are right across the street from this eventing barn with a full course.

Hampton started out ... um, frankly being sort of a prick. He has figured out this cross country game and now gets really excited about it. Plus, we were with a group this time and so when one horse would take off for their jump, Hamps would want to as well. The first 10-15 minutes or so I had a lot of bucking, head tossing and hopping up and down from the Hamper. Even when we were just standing there watching, there were a few times when he would leap up and toss his head wanting to be next!

After a few times through the water complex, he settled and was a good boy the rest of the time. :)

Here's what we did:

• Started out hopping over a  BN hanging log. We kept landing in a heap ... buck, hop, buck. I needed to land and then kick on so we didn't get stuck in napping around.

• Trot through the water and over the little house.

(Photos are from last time, but you get the idea)

• Through the water, over the BN house, left hand turn over a novice house, 2 strides back into the water.


• Then DUN DUN DUN ... a bank.
You may remember our little incident back in October with a bank. We can go up them fine, but going down scared the crap out of both of us last time. And I ended up with a majorly bruised ass.

So this time it was a pretty small bank and I let Hamps take his time. I was ok with him stopping to think, just as long as he did not go backwards. ... And eventually he was brave and stepped down! YAY! We did it 4 or 5 more times just to build our confidence. Then, it was down the bank, down a hill, into the water, out over the BN house, turn to the novice house, back through the water (we cantered through this time! Yes ma'am!) and back up the hill and up the bank.

• A BN scary railroad ties jump that Hampton jumped like a pro. Down a hill, to a little starter rolltop. So our ONLY runout/stop (other than the bank issue) today was this simple little rolltop. Second time around he jumped it great. I found this ironic because at the end of the day we jumped a NOVICE rolltop that he didn't blink at. *sigh*

• Our day finished out with jumping a BN rolltop, left hand turn to the Novice rolltop, right hand turn and gallop to the broom jump (which I NAILED), then straight ahead to a little coop thingie.

Broom jump!

Things I need to work on:
• Ride in the back seat. I did a little better job of not jumping ahead today, but still needs work
• Land and kick on. Don't get stuck.
• My lower leg has GOT to be more solid or I have no hope of jumping anything bigger or technical.
• You don't always need to shut your horse down when he bucks or gets squirrely (like Hamps was at first after jumps). USE that energy and gallop forward.

Cross country is the most thrilling and also most terrifying thing I have ever done. We walked past some of the training and prelim jumps and I laughed at loud because they were crap-your-pants-terrifying! This sport is not for the chicken, that is for sure. Even though a lot of us CLAIM we are chicken, it takes some serious guts to do this.

Back to dressage land tomorrow. :)