Cross Country Schooling

Today we went to the Carolina Horse Park for their cross country schooling day. Caitlin Romeo trailered us over, she rode her Intermediate horse Jake, Hannah Mayer rode her Morgan mare Viz and I rode Millie. It was not only a cross country schooling day but also the first Pipe Opener (a combined test) so there were lots of horses there. Millie has never been anywhere like the horse park, she has only been to smaller venues. She handled it very well!

After the last time we jumped I wanted to try a different bit, Denny suggested the "Timmy bit" which is very much like the "wonder" bit. It is a loose ring with a fixed slot for the check piece and a fixed slot for the rein so it has some leverage. This is often the first thing we try when a snaffle just isn't cutting it. Some people feel if you can't ride in a snaffle you can't ride while other think there is a right bit for every horse. Denny is all about finding the perfect bit for the horse, to do that you have to try a lot of bits! I don't think the Timmy bit is the perfect bit for Millie so we will have to keep playing with different bits in the future.

We warmed up in a big flat field, when I started trotting around Millie seemed a bit fresh, she was very alert and kept trying to look around at what the other horses around were doing. Sometimes Millie likes to stick her head right down and crow hop a bit so I worked her with her head a bit more up. For this reason I sit in the canter at the beginning with her, once she felt alright I got off her back and let her move on a bit. I then warmed up over some logs and she was pretty good. She tends to want to get flat the last few strides, I need to sit earlier with her to get her back in a more packaged canter before the fences. I felt like she was opening her mouth and putting her tongue over the bit when I was trying to set her up so I asked Denny to tighten her flash a hole. The next time I came around she shook her head badly before the fence and I had to pull her out. I asked Denny to try just taking the flash off since she was pretty good with the hackamore with no flash. This made a world of difference she was not arguing before the fences at all, she still wanted to get flat but was more rideable.



Caitlin on Jake, Me on Millie, Hannah on Viz

 We ended up doing the training up bank one stride to a log with a dropping landing. Millie wasn't too sure of her foot work the first time but came around again and did it very well. We played a little with the water, the water complex at the horse park is MUCH bigger than anything Millie has seen. I wasn't sure how she would react to it but she just went right in! We wandered around in it and then did a jump a few strides away from the water, went into the water and cantered around the island. Then we trotted into the water, cantered out and over a jump a few strides away. Millie did really well, I was very happy with how she handled everything. I am very glad we went to school because I think it would have been a lot for her to take in at her first event of the season!