Jump Chute

Gillian, Kola, Mike and I went to the barn today. Robert had to fix Luca's waterer so we turned him out and chased/free lunged him around the arena. Then we decided to freejump him and set up a small chute with a small crossrail (he's out of shape). As soon as we finished the chute and jump, he walked over to the beginning of the chute and just stood there until we asked him to trot, then hopped over it. He'd turn around and walk over it the other way just to prove it was easy. After a couple rounds we let him stand there and he walked over to the jump and stared at us. I'm pretty sure he was daring us to make it higher. He's a pretty good boy.

And hey, since we already had the chute set up, we basically chased horses around most of the day. Colonel was pretty pleased with its existence-- we took the jump down and just turned him out first, and he SOARED over the ground poles. Silly guy. Keno was not particularly entertained by this whole jumping business, but he wasn't terrible either. We trotted in-hand to the base of the jump and did it backwards and he was very nice about it all. I'm always impressed how cute he can make his face when he wants you to pity him.

Star was excellent, it turns out she can actually jump like a real horse. She jumped over the ground poles moderately willingly, and did a vertical without much issue either. So we set up a cross rail just to traumatize her and she tried turning and running out of the chute (and failed) and went over it like it was a foot higher. Silly mare. We also chased Mike over the jump, but Star was more entertaining.

I grabbed Nicky after we disassembled the chute and leaned over her successfully- she did one back hunch and backed away so I sent her out once but she was fine after that. After letting her stand there while I flopped over her, Robert led her around (Gillian missed the whole thing). She did really well. The only moment where she felt uncomfortable with the situation was when I started sliding off the first time and she felt me being unbalanced. The second time I slid off, no response. She seemed pretty happy with herself. Then, walking back into her stall, she ran her head into the door and was very surprised, but I refuse to take responsibility for that. It was pretty funny though. Robert says he'll call Chuck and suggest they stop cart training because she was just so much better with this. I hope it works out for her. I need to find a saddle to use, since we have mostly wide trees and that is not what she needs. I'm real excited though. I like finding things horses are good at. Maybe I'll even trail ride her.