The Moose Goes Public

This morning we continued with Project:  Take Jabby New Places. Holidays usually don't mean anything for me, but since my boss recently reminded me that I DO actually get a few vacation days per year, I decided to take advantage of the fact.  A group that usually holds hunter/jumper shows was hosting an open schooling day at the Horse Park, with a full course of well-decorated fences set up in the indoor.  For a small fee, you could trailer in and have full use of the facilities -- so long as there were no private sessions booked, anyway!  I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to expose Jabby to both new jumps and a hectic schooling area, plus give him even more ship-out mileage.  I know he showed a bit before, but we still haven't trailered together all that much and I want to know what I might be in for before taking the plunge and signing up for a show, low-key atmosphere or not.

Even though it was a "day off" for me, I actually had to wake up earlier than usual to get dressed, feed myself, feed the little barn, and make it to the Horse Park with enough time to sign paperwork before our 9AM start time.  The world was still dark when I rolled out of bed, and when I checked the forecast, the current temperature was in the teens -- just barely.

Jabby wasn't thrilled with the idea of another outing so soon, or so early in the morning.  When I went out to retrieve him he turned and walked away from me!   He wasn't too hard to grab, though, and once again I saddled him up before loading him into the trailer, this time with two heavy coolers to combat the chill.  With the dashboard thermometer still providing a dismal reading, we headed off to the park.

For once in my life, I overbudgeted my time, and arrived with half an hour to spare.  I signed in and took my time getting ready.  Dom and her boyfriend Mike were coming out to take pictures, offer moral support, and serve as ground crew if I needed it.  By the time we walked down to the indoor, the ring was freshly dragged and things were ready to start.  As it happened, Jabby and I were the first ones in, which was exactly what I had wanted.  We had the ring to ourselves for a bit, so he got to walk around and take in all the sights without the other horses' antics rubbing off on him.  We took our time casually brushing past every single jump in the ring so that he could get a look and possibly kick sand at it without actually approaching head-on.  There were a few worried ear swivels, but other than the jump with a liverpool bunched beneath it, which got a healthy snort and a side-pass around the perimeter, nothing caused him too much concern. We had even trotted and cantered both ways of the ring by the time everyone else started trickling in, though I'm not sure if we were just over-prepared, or everyone wanted to gawk at the ungainly pair of creatures tromping around the arena.

Not quite relaxed yet, but attentive

I probably should have taken the opportunity to get him going over fences while we were alone, but the truth is, I chickened out a bit!  As I mentioned, all of the jumps were fully decorated, which is exactly why I came, but I had visions of Willie's first formal jump outing lodged in my head and I was afraid of crashing through a jump while we were the sole focus of those in attendance.  So Jabby got a nice walk break, and stood around next to his puppy buddy for a bit.  Once other people started trotting and cantering, we started again, too.  I did my best to stay out of everyone's way while gauging how he would react to other horses passing him head-on.  Once again, I have the distinct advantage of a horse that has sort of done this before -- entered a warm-up ring, anyway! -- but it was the first time we were doing it together.  I was happy to find that he really didn't react to the other horses at all.  He's a social butterfly, unlike standoffish Willie, and the sessions were being capped at ten horses to keep them from being too crazy.   I think we had a bit less, maybe 6 or 7 besides Jabby, and the Horse Park indoor is quite generous.

Finally, someone else started tooling over the smallest and most inviting jumps, so I put Jabby in line a few horse lengths back and let him play shadow.  His first jump was awkward, as he trotted up and only seemed to remember at the last second that his job was going over.  The second had people standing next to it that probably distracted me more than him, and when he felt my attention waver he faltered.  I clucked and brushed his shoulder with my crop and he tumbled over.  Grace, thy name is Jabby.

That hesitation was the only one, and while it took a few more fences to get him really picking his feet up, he kept the forward motion over everything.  By the end of it he was cantering down to the fences and finding better spots to them, though I didn't package him quite as well as I should have so he got in a bit long to most.

We didn't hit every jump today, but I was honestly not sure we would even be jumping at all -- I just wanted to get him out and about and into the chaos of a jump-filled warm-up, and walk/trot/canter in company.   The jumps were just a bonus.

At the end of the hour we finished with a hand-gallop in each direction and a few loops of stretchy trot to undo my "yes-maybe-okay-sorta-this-one" riding.  The organizer had offered earlier to deconstruct the liverpool jump so that we could walk over, and I decided to go for it.  Jabby walked right over in each direction, no snorts, no panicked leaps, no drama.  It seemed like the perfect note to end on.

We hacked out to the cross-country fields to cool down, and I decided to take advantage of that opportunity, too.  We walked down through the big water complex (now drained and crusted with ice) and up the "island" in the center.  The ground was too treacherous for jumping, but I thought that a fun social hike with our friends would provide the perfect excuse to let him get a look at the sort of things we might one day encounter on cross-country.

Obligatory Thumbs-Up Horsemanship™ endorsement

We  wandered to the back field and found our way into the small water complex.   Some of the steps up and down looked inviting enough, so I pointed Jabby at the smallest.  He started to walk around it, but when I put my outer leg on he realized what I wanted and hopped right up.   We came around again and he offered to trot the approach on his own.  He missed the distance ever so slightly but we still got up, and we repeated the manuever one more time from the walk.  We threw in a few baby down banks, and he surprised me by being totally chill and "plopping" over the edge the way Willie does, like he's done it a billion times.  I'm really glad he doesn't seem to be one of those horses that launches off a drop like he's being driven by Thelma and Louise!  

One last cruise before calling it quits.

We stopped by one of the driving hazards, just because it's one of those odd things that some horses don't know how to approach, and then casually brushed past some of the giant, permanent XC fences.  He couldn't have cared less about any of them.  On the way back to the trailer, we took a detour up and down the ramps of the bank complex, all on a loose rein.

All in all it was a positive outing.  There's certainly room for improvement but he listened well and the mistakes of the day were all mine -- the only way he could have jumped better is if I had ridden him better.  I have my homework and will set better goals for both of us next time.   But that's why we're doing these schoolings now, to get them out of the way before investing in an entire day of competition!

Much kudos to the Moose for tolerating his pilot errors with aplomb, and thanks again to Dom, Mike, and Herbie the Wonder Pibble for recording the experience and keeping us company.