XC schooling for Beginner-Novice

There were highs!

this is my new favorite photo!

And there were lows...

first time through a ditch...

Lets talk about what happened after we warmed up!



warming up... logs are easy...

We warmed up over some super easy-peasy logs, and she was fresh and ready to go.  We took turns playing in the starting box before heading to what would be our first fence if we were running the BN course...

 

Fancy Pony stood in the start box like no big deal.  She could have gone to sleep.  Then Coach starts the countdown...

"10... 9... 8..."

Pony gets "up"!

"6...5..."

Pretend to start my watch, and now she is definitely ready to GO!

We've been on exactly ONE xc course. And she already knows....

 

"2...  1...  Have a nice ride!"

Away we went to the inviting log over a box!  We had canter, then right before the fence, I felt her suck back... She had peeked at it... and decided it needed a closer look...

...at which point she FELL INTO the first jump.

 

Seriously.  Legs went into the box.  Chest hit the log.  Head and neck went OVER the log.  And I prayed I didn't go between her ears...  I stayed aboard!

She scraped her knee.

After a few more attempts, I insisted coach get her over it.

When I got back on, she was back in the game and literally DRAGGED me to the jump!

Look, Mom!  I know what to do with it now!!

Coops are great!  Benches need a little more practice...
Logs are cake!  More logs are great!  Houses are fun!
Tiger trap!  HUH??
Oh, yeah, Tiger Trap is easy, too!

Roll-top combinations?  She just needs me to tell her where to go!
Where are her legs?

Flamingo Pony!

See, FP has so many meanings...

Ever onward, we expolred some ditches for the first time!  These took a little getting used to...

walk with the front end... JUMP with the back end!

I get it!

Yup, that's me holding my pommel and giving her all the rein she could possibly need...  I use this technique on banks, too!  I will have no shame in using this technique in competition, either, until she has figured out exactly how she will jump them!

Speaking of banks, we did those, too!  She loves them! (I think...)

We arrived at the water complex after we thought we were pretty much done for the day.  I had decided no more fences...



See?  No fences!





Banks aren't fences, right?

She went into the water willingly...  And slowly!
Why are her eyes closed??

Yes, she WALKED off the bank!

...like it's no big deal...

Then you know what we did?
Oh, the fun we had in the water complex!!
I asked her to trot down the bank, and she obliged.  But one of my friends missed getting pictures and wanted to see her do it.  So, I asked her to trot to the bank...

The Fancy Pony said, "We don't trot to down banks into water...  We CANTER to them!!"

...and we gleefully cantered off the edge of the world!

Not bad for a Beginner Novice pony, huh?