Small Gymnastics

Other than working on dressage this past weekend, I decided to make some jump standards.  I made 4 in total, and the new farrier knows how to weld (he made his own hoof stand) and has said he'd be able to make me jump cups!  Not the ones with the pin, but the ones that just go over top of the standard.  Yesterday the fiance and I took the newly stained standards out to take Koda for a spin over them.  The BO has a few pairs of cups like the ones I want made, so we borrowed those for the evening.  I ended up making a simple 1-stride combination instead of a true gymnastic since it has been a bit since Koda and I have jumped anything with real height to it.  I did a quick warm-up where he was lightly favouring his left front (flat sole) but nothing too drastic.  Plus the ground was soft, so I wasn't concerned.  Even though we don't have a real arena where I board, the remnants of one is still there and keeps the ground relatively flat and well drained so that it's soft footing but not greasy or slippery.

The warm-up was short and sweet, just got him going on a loose rein trotting and cantering in both directions, kind of clearing the pipes sort of deal.  Since new round bales were put out, Koda has had a snotty nose, nothing huge, but definitely there.  While we're warming up, he'll have a couple good snorts then he's good to go.  I think it's just from the dust build up in his sinuses from these new bales.  These ones were wet when baled, and rather dusty as a result.  No mold, thankfully, but still not great.

Anyways, back to the ride.

I put him through the gymnastic with it set as two cross rails.  I don't know why, but I was getting nervous about jumping him during our warm up so I decided to start small and go from there.  Well, we ended up jumping higher than we've ever jumped together and it was absolutely fine!  Koda didn't find any issues with the height, and since he jumps rather flat (his bascule isn't very exaggerated or developed) it's really easy to stay with.  I found it kind of funny since I was riding the larger fence in the gymnastic better than the smaller first fence.  The fiance was kind enough to grab a couple videos and be my eyes on the ground (along with fence crew!).  It's a pretty good deal we have, he comes out to the barn and goes for a run through different terrain while I set the gymnastic/exercise and tack up.  By the time I'm in the saddle warming up, he's back and stretching :).  Everybody wins!

Here are the couple videos we got.  The first fence is about 2', the last measured at 2'10".  Wished I'd known it was at 2'10" while we were working (the standards don't have a scale on them yet) or else I would have told him to bump it up the extra 2 inches to make it 3' even.

Off the left lead, not the best...

Off the right lead, a little more balanced

He seems to favour the left lead after landing, but that is the direction of his buddies.  Will have to investigate this with more jumping in our "arena".  Figure out if I'm leaning or twisting in that direction, or it's both of us...