Liberty, Free Jumping and Bareback

I have been without a voice the past few days and finally felt up to doing something other than being a sloth. Initially I was only doing some playful lunging with Boss, starting out with the short line then progressing to liberty work. Sadly, I don't have a round yard so I made a template with my jumps across the arena.

Bareback with the Boss

I haven't concentrated enough of my time to doing my natural horsemanship bonding with Boss as I had with Rion. He is a quick learner though and has taken to his education well and enjoys his jumping. So much so that he jumped out of my makeshift round yard whilst doing liberty.

I didn't even expect to ride yesterday but ended up having a bareback jump out. Here is the best photo I got and a video.

Enjoy!

Jess|x

Ola amigos

Everytime I get on here I seem to be saying that I have made a return.. trend forming? I think so..

Alas, I have been kept away form my horses for quite some time now. My last competition was the 9th of July. I travelled 6 hours north to have to come home early with a lame horse. Such is life in the world of horses. Although, I think it could have been an elaborate plot on Rion's behalf to go home.

We had a few troubles, with his rearing in the warm up, once in the ring though he was a star and we almost posted 2 clear rounds on the first day had it not been for my pilot error that led me to take a fall. Nothing hurt but my pride and a nasty bruise on my hip. I couldn't have expected anything else considering my preparation was limited no thanks to school work which haunts my every move. School and the HSC will be a distant memory after the next week and a half! I couldn't be more excited. I have been riding the past few days since our last comp and everything had just clicked for me. I have my yearling, Dart coming home in the beginning of December.

He has grown so much! The warmblood is really showing in him now, his chest is widely set and is standing at about 16.3hh. He will be 3 when he comes home and he still has some growing to do, should be a strapping lad when he finishes spurting up, and out. Myself and my coaches are going to start him in January/February which gives me some time to play and get to know beforehand.

Here is a photo of him the last time I visited him which was in July, on the way home from the competition with Rion: Since then he has bulked out quite a lot. 

kisses for mum 

When I should have been studying instead I was making this video from the last few days of Rion and I

Enjoy :) 

Watch this space, I don't intend to be kept away for much longer. 

Jess|x 

George Morris Clinic

It has been almost a year since the clinic and I can't believe I haven't posted about the great George Morris and my 3 training days with him.In January this year I spent my 3 best equestrian days in the heat of the Australian summer at a Clinic with Mr Morris.
At first I thought that he would not be a fan of my crazy thoroughbred, with his racehorse tendencies to rear, which there was no shortage of at the clinic. However it was quite the opposite, George was a fan of my "easy and straightforward jumper" as he soon became the 'teacher's pet' in my group which very much came as a surprise to me. Each day our lesson began with flatwork, using it as an aid for our later jumping exercises. The flatwork was tiring, as expected. George's goal with us was to attain perfect straightness in our horses, to achieve this we were made to start in shoulder in up the track, then into haunches in and again into straight, repeating the exercise around the arena.

Each day we began with new exercises, all focusing on the straightness and later implication on our jumping.Our jumping began each day with small grids, getting larger and more complex each time. George's favorite exercise was 3 jumps in a loose 'z' formation on the arena, the point was to continue what we had begun in our flatwork, bending in the air and making the horses listen to our aids, we would go down through the 'z' then half turn back to reverse the order of the jumps. George used this exercise with all the groups at the clinic as a warmup for the later courses and grids. It is an exercise that I have implemented into my jumping warmups.

The hardest part of the clinic would have been our flatwork and jumping warm up without stirrups. The flatwork was all fine, that I am used to but as soon as the jumping began I forgot the importance of my legs again and Rion went up in the air on yet another racehorse rearing spree. As much as I didn't want him to show his bad side to George but he helped me greatly in avoiding and getting out of the situation; stating that "this horse will teach you equestrian tact," and indeed he has.

I can honestly say that this was the greatest clinic I have attended and am lucky enough to be attending another this coming January. A big thank you to Vicky Roycroft for organising the clinic, without her I would not have had the chance to meet the man himself. George is a master of his craft and thoroughly instilled the importance of the leg to us and also safety and correct care for our horses which he called 'cavalry'. I will definitely be writing a longer, more thorough post after the next clinic.

Click here to watch videos from the clinic.

David Green, Colleen Brook, George Morris, Team Brook riders and Vicky Roycroft