Free Jumping

We started back into jumping training today by setting up a jumping chute. The jumps consisted of a starter cross rail, then one stride to a vertical then two strides to an oxer.



Brego jumped back into jumping with all four feet (har dee har har). I must say I was pretty happy with his performance considering he hasn't schooled jumps in months. He went down the line with much more impulsion and confidence than last time around and jumped everything with relative ease. The striding was once again too short, but he really got some air time over the oxer. I would love for him to use himself more and power over the fences from a longer take off point, but he seems to be more comfortable to moving up to the fence and then making a compressed bound over it.

The next step is to add bounces to the grid, to see if I can strengthen him a bit. He's already proven he can play the "I can stuff my enormous body in a 12' stride" game, I now want him to really stretch and get the confidence to use his size to make his life easier. He's not quite fit enough to make his jumps look effortless, but the size of the fence is certainly not a problem.



One of these days, I am going to get a jumping lesson and start to work on myself. Brego's talent is started to show off my own inabilities, so I need to rise (and ride) to his level and really support him.