Wednesday already?

How did that happen? There I was, enjoying my Sunday...and here I am, looking at a Wednesday afternoon.

Tomorrow I'll have a jumping lesson with R. It feels like a long time since the last one...I did take J. over a tiny little vertical last week, just to get over the psychological hump. I set up an exercise from Practical Horseman, adapted to our boma, which is quite small. I set up two ground poles on the long side of the boma separated by a slightly long five-stride distance, then a turn to a small jump with a ground pole 9 feet in front and another 10 feet behind.

The idea was to have J. canter the ground poles in five strides -- therefore going at a good forward pace -- then come around the corner to the jump. The exercise requires me to apply some gentle brakes to J.'s canter, and the pole 9 fee out requires J. to take off less than 9 feet from in front of the jump.

This is an excellent theory, and I thought it would be a cinch for J. I wanted to start our re-introduction to jumping with something that would make her feel calm, successful, and in control...

Not so much.

I was prepared for the possibility of her taking off from the far side of the pole, turning a little vertical into an Olympic long-jump. I was prepared for her to take off too close and chip the jump. But I really couldn't imagine another way to mess it up.

There is, though. It takes a combination of athleticism and wrong-headedness that not every horse has at his or her command. But J. managed it... taking off after planting her rear hooves ON TOP of the pole.

The feeling of the pole rolling out from under her hooves as she left the ground was, I think, a bit unnerving. A lot of tail swishing, ears back, head shaking. So we did it again, and this time I tried my favorite calming trick. I learned this from a trainer who only had time to give me one lesson before she left Kenya, but that one lesson just keeps on giving. The trick is simple: sing a completely idiotic, totally rhythmic song while riding the jumps.

(Our song is "The Itsy Bitsy Spider.")

It always makes me feel a fool, and yet it always takes up just enough of the part of my brain that worries and makes J. nervous that it settles us both right down. Try it!

We did, and the second try was perfect (mostly).