CROSS COUNTRY!!!

So today I got to school cross country on 3 horses (I actually jumped 5!). Starting the day out I knew I was schooling Millie xc but I had no idea we were going to xc school Cordi and Simply until after I was warming up. I almost put on my snaffle for Cordi because I just thought we were doing gymnastics, when I got to the ring and started warming up the other person in the lesson said she wanted to do xc with both her horses!

Cordi was just right on for her first time schooling in several months. I felt a little out of it the first few fences, I needed to get back in xc mode and "remember" what to do haha. Denny had us go do a small course with 6 or 7 fences to just get in the groove. By the end of the course I felt like I remembered what to do! I was so happy with Cordi's lock on and go attitude today while still being ridable. She was a little squirley but if I started galloping far enough away from the fences she was usually settled by the time we got to the fence. After doing some more of the galloping type fences out in the big field we went to the double up bank. Denny put a vertical one stride at the top so it was up, one stride, up, one stride jump. Cordi just bounded up and over the banks and vertical like it was nothing. I haven't done that with her before and she had no question about it. I think all the gymnastics we have done with her have helped her really figure out her foot work. We finished with the water, Cordi jumped in very boldly over the cross rail. She seems really ready to compete and this was the first school in months!! I couldn't have been happier with her!

I rode Simply right after, we warmed up in the arena over an X and a couple different gymnastics. Simply seemed pretty quiet, we went out and popped a tiny log to another small oxer, landing over the oxer she started bucking down the hill. We jumped a couple more small fences and she didn't do the bucking again. When we went out into the big field and did a course of 4 jumps spread out she was nice over the first 2 and let out a huge buck and leap a few strides after the third fence. We totally got off the path to the fourth fence but I managed to turn and quietly jump that one. She isn't usually much of a bucker but did it again when Denny started his car when we were moving to a different field. It was funny because she would be ok and then explode a few strides after landing. She is very bold though, she gives you the feeling that no matter what you put in front of her she is going over it. We took her to the double up bank (which she hadn't ever done) and walked her up and off the bottom part and then trotted her up the 2 in a row. She just popped up them like it was something she has done everyday. Same thing with the ditch, she acted like it wasn't even there! We again finished with the water, we walked in and out a couple times and then I trotted out over the cross rail. When I turned around to trot back in over it Denny said "Now don't trust her, she may quit," she jumped right in so positively, I was really happy with her. I am sure the exuberance was just because she hasn't been out in the open jumping in a long time!

I rode Millie later with Denny on Skybreaker, we did a bit more warming up in the ring. We did some bigger gymnastics before heading out to the xc course. Millie wasn't as high as she tends to be, I think the heat was a big help :). I found the running martingale helps a lot, when she wants to spook and throw her head between fences it helps keep her more together. I rode her in a full cheek Dr. Bristol slow twist which seems to be a lot better. She does NOT like anything with leverage or poll pressure, I learned that after trying lots and lots of bits haha. So we did the same course that I did earlier with Cordi, I felt SO much more "in it" after 2 other xc schools! Millie was great, she was galloping well and being very positive about the fences. There are 2, not skinnys but pretty narrow, fences on a bending line out in the back field we did. I would guess they would be a training question, Millie was a little wiggly to them but jumped right over both in a row. This makes me feel so much better about having Southern Pines 1 in two weeks! We popped the ditch and water on the way back in, both things she jumped really well. We ended up cantering into the water and she just felt great! I can't wait to event now!!!!