2/24/08
Nero Schooling Cross Country

Nero and I went to our first cross country schooling day.
It wasn't a complete success (I had a case of nerves and
had to get off at one point), but in my favor, I got my nerve back
and we finished up by jumping a small line consisting of a jump
to a bank. It had been my goal to do that combination, so
with only a slight hiccup, we had a great day.
Not too many pictures, because my trainer had to do a lot of hand
holding to get us through. She ended up very pleased. It went better
than some XC schoolings have gone for me.
We had a dressage warm up away from the course. I got off and we led him around the course and the jumping horses. Here is where I got back on and we started to do some real work.
 

There is a jump below us. Not that big, but a good start. This is the first time I've cantered and jumped in an actual jumping saddle with Nero. I feel more secure in the dressage saddle, but after I worked through some issues, I got my seat back in the jumping saddle and away we went.
He's done water before. Just a little hesitation on the way in.
 
Every time we trotted in he felt the need to put in a jump. It was just a half hearted plunge.
We're sticking to the small stuff. He's got a good jump, but occasionally he forgets to jump in time and then sort of crawls over. It was nice that he never tried to run out or stop, but he's like my other draft crosses who needed time to learn to jump properly.
 
We achieved my goal. The smaller stone wall jump to the...
Bank up. We did this combination a couple of times. Nero always made it up the bank, but it was the third try where he figured out how to jump it from his canter stride, and not just climb up it awkwardly and lose the canter.