Jack Fontaine
Jumping Practice
A little practice goes a long way. While I haven't been doing much practice in the saddle this past week because of spraining my shoulder, I've still managed to get some training done with the baby boy. He's been worked in a Pessoa to encourage him to work deep, because as a big, long, horse who has been used to thundering around on his forehand, he needed to work more on rocking onto his hindquarters and engaging properly underneath. I've also been free-jumping him over cavaletti, particularly focusing on bounce jumps for him, because nothing teaches a horse to get back onto his hindquarters and stay there like having to jump a grid.
It seems to have paid dividends, with our practice session at Evergarden over the jump course coming in at what I think is a very respectable 62.09. I've no idea how it compares to everyone else, but I think it's around the fastest Foxtrot and I are capable of completing the course - in this case, I think his being as tall as he is works against him, as the distances in some of the double elements are a bit more than a bounce, and a bit less than a stride. With a smaller horse, you might get a stride in, which can help your horse center himself, but I think for Foxtrot, I'd have to ask for a longer, shallower, jump on the first element to land him in bounce distance for the second elements.
Either way, I'm super proud of the progress Foxtrot has made in such a short period of time, and I'm excited to see how he improves with more time to train him.
Jumping Practice
A little practice goes a long way. While I haven't been doing much practice in the saddle this past week because of spraining my shoulder, I've still managed to get some training done with the baby boy. He's been worked in a Pessoa to encourage him to work deep, because as a big, long, horse who has been used to thundering around on his forehand, he needed to work more on rocking onto his hindquarters and engaging properly underneath. I've also been free-jumping him over cavaletti, particularly focusing on bounce jumps for him, because nothing teaches a horse to get back onto his hindquarters and stay there like having to jump a grid.
It seems to have paid dividends, with our practice session at Evergarden over the jump course coming in at what I think is a very respectable 62.09. I've no idea how it compares to everyone else, but I think it's around the fastest Foxtrot and I are capable of completing the course - in this case, I think his being as tall as he is works against him, as the distances in some of the double elements are a bit more than a bounce, and a bit less than a stride. With a smaller horse, you might get a stride in, which can help your horse center himself, but I think for Foxtrot, I'd have to ask for a longer, shallower, jump on the first element to land him in bounce distance for the second elements.
Either way, I'm super proud of the progress Foxtrot has made in such a short period of time, and I'm excited to see how he improves with more time to train him.