Aiken Part 4
Day 10: Wednesday - XC Lesson with Sally Cousins at Sandy Hills Farm
Alyson, Becca and I trailered the horses over to Sandy Hills Farm on the south side of town. It was a gorgeous farm - huge track around a lake and a stadium jumping course and large pastures. But we were there for the xc schooling. They had beginner novice to prelim fences in a large schooling area. I was feeling pretty darn good after the jumping lesson the day before and was excited to create the surge while going cross country.
Leo was fantastic! Sally had us practice things that would prepare us for the competition on the weekend. There wasn't any focus on new concepts or trying things related to the next level up. She focused on positive riding and concepts appropriate for the level each of us were competing over the weekend. For Leo, we started out with a small natural gate (which was a stadium jump) and circled around to a single log. He was great and he felt like the horse I knew from last year.
We went on to jump 3 more substantial BN fences as a mini-course. Leo was great with everything - whether it was a single fence or a mini-course of obstacles. Sally would yell - "Go on!" as we were approaching a fence. It drove us to ride more competitively, as Becca explained it, and jump the fences out of a more forward pace than we were naturally inclined to. Let's face it, at the end of the day cross country jumping is about jumping fences at speed, out of a gallop. Not a show jumping canter. It's so easy to forget this.
We worked on jumping fences before and after the water crossing, which will likely be on the beginner novice course at Pine Top. We schooled a small ditch and jumped on and off the bank. Leo was so great - now I'm excited for the weekend.
We had dinner with an amazing group of equestrian lovers, thanks to our friend Gabrielle. Her brother, Nicholas, is a polo player, who used to work for the US State Department and was based in the Congo! He invited several friends to dinner - including a local member of the Aiken Hunt and owner of several farms around Aiken, Mike Rubin; Justine, a local rider who brings along young Hanoverians (also Mike's girlfriend); Jerry Hagaman, a combined driving competitor who grew up logging in the western mountains of North Carolina. The conversation was fascinating! Mike had bizarre stories about a jumping cow; Jerry told us all about combined driving and finding his morgan driving horse when he was just 2-days old; and Nick told us about a girlfriend who rescued a chimpanzee in the Congo who then lived with them for a while. We had a fabulous dinner and tasted local moonshine!
Day 11: Thursday - Hack around Jumping Branch
I kept it easy today - just a simple walk around the property. I myself spent the afternoon napping.
Alyson, Becca and I trailered the horses over to Sandy Hills Farm on the south side of town. It was a gorgeous farm - huge track around a lake and a stadium jumping course and large pastures. But we were there for the xc schooling. They had beginner novice to prelim fences in a large schooling area. I was feeling pretty darn good after the jumping lesson the day before and was excited to create the surge while going cross country.
Leo was fantastic! Sally had us practice things that would prepare us for the competition on the weekend. There wasn't any focus on new concepts or trying things related to the next level up. She focused on positive riding and concepts appropriate for the level each of us were competing over the weekend. For Leo, we started out with a small natural gate (which was a stadium jump) and circled around to a single log. He was great and he felt like the horse I knew from last year.
We went on to jump 3 more substantial BN fences as a mini-course. Leo was great with everything - whether it was a single fence or a mini-course of obstacles. Sally would yell - "Go on!" as we were approaching a fence. It drove us to ride more competitively, as Becca explained it, and jump the fences out of a more forward pace than we were naturally inclined to. Let's face it, at the end of the day cross country jumping is about jumping fences at speed, out of a gallop. Not a show jumping canter. It's so easy to forget this.
We worked on jumping fences before and after the water crossing, which will likely be on the beginner novice course at Pine Top. We schooled a small ditch and jumped on and off the bank. Leo was so great - now I'm excited for the weekend.
We had dinner with an amazing group of equestrian lovers, thanks to our friend Gabrielle. Her brother, Nicholas, is a polo player, who used to work for the US State Department and was based in the Congo! He invited several friends to dinner - including a local member of the Aiken Hunt and owner of several farms around Aiken, Mike Rubin; Justine, a local rider who brings along young Hanoverians (also Mike's girlfriend); Jerry Hagaman, a combined driving competitor who grew up logging in the western mountains of North Carolina. The conversation was fascinating! Mike had bizarre stories about a jumping cow; Jerry told us all about combined driving and finding his morgan driving horse when he was just 2-days old; and Nick told us about a girlfriend who rescued a chimpanzee in the Congo who then lived with them for a while. We had a fabulous dinner and tasted local moonshine!
Day 11: Thursday - Hack around Jumping Branch
I kept it easy today - just a simple walk around the property. I myself spent the afternoon napping.
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