XC Schooling at FENCE

After surviving 3 rounds of show jumping the day before it was time for XC!!! Trainer had a group of  6 meeting up that ranged from barely getting over starter sized fences to me running Novice (in theory) so it was a very diversified group. But the good thing about FENCE is the small jumps are next to the big jumps so each person can do what they need to do without having to move to a different location.

We started warming and practicing our "squish point". Trainer has coined that term for the spot where you say yes we are jumping that (aka where you would half halt, sit up, etc before the jump) Chimi was feeling quite dull and nonchalant so I'm not sure if he was a little tired or if he was just being his normal lazy self that he is at home (no joke he is the laziest horse at home!) But once we started jumping Chimi perked up and had plenty of energy for the day. I think he's finally maturing :)

You can kind off see the chipped pieces of the log on the left side, scary stuff I'll tell ya

First warm up fence was over a little Starter log pile and no joke this was probably the scariest jump to Chimi on course. Every single time he jumped it he cracked his back extra and twisted his front feet to the right b/c there was a chip in one of the logs that he did not like. What a weirdo :) But I'm still happy that he jumped it, even if I felt like I had to contort myself to stay in the saddle. After warming over the log pile Trainer had us start to string jumps together. First we started out with the chipped log pile then up the hill to the green coop, left turn and back around and down the little bank. Chimi was really good for all of this though he did question a stick that was off to the side of the drop and sort of glanced at it as we were dropping down. Again what a weirdo :) After that we headed over to the water and played around with the various jumps around the water, which was basically nothing. Kinda disappointing that a lot of the jumps had been moved off the XC course and it felt sort of empty. There was stuff to jump but I'd say at least half the jumps were gone from the HT. Oh well, at least we still got to play around something!

As a side note, for Christmas I got the Cambox helmet cam and this past weekend was my first time really getting to test it out over jumps. I played around with it at home on the trails just to make sure I knew how it worked but otherwise this was the test run. Overall my only complaint was I'd forget to turn it on when I was riding so I missed most of the XC schooling, whoops!

After playing around in the water we moved up to the top of FENCE hill (which is massive, pictures do not do the hill any justice, it's something that needs to be experienced!) At the hill's peak there is a bank complex and the ditches for Beginner Novice and Novice and various jumps around it. I was getting a bit nervous about the top b/c I knew what was coming next, the dreaded Bank to Nowhere.

Pictures never do terrain justice, but this gives you kind of the idea of Jumping into Nowhere, but it's defiantly more daunting in person (if you're me at least)

The Bank to Nowhere really isn't that big but it feels big b/c you're basically jumping off a cliff and you have a huge view of the vista below. You do land on flattish ground but it does start to slope off down hill just 1 stride after you land so that also creates the feeling of dropping off to Nowhere. Plus on top of all of that Chimi would either stop and dance around at the top or leap off the bank leaving me praying to all the XC gods that my butt would somehow land back in the saddle and I'd stay on. And even add in fears of the days when Chimi was a real shit during XC schoolings and would spook at everything and freak out that there were horses somewhere else on course (schooling XC use to be scary as hell with Chimi). All of this together is probably what turned the bank into our nemesis and therefore the feeling of doom when we headed up the hill b/c I know Trainer was going to make us do it, and sure enough, she did.

The mountain views from the top of FENCE Hill never get old

Thankfully it was the last jump in our little mini course so I could get a good rhythm with Chimi leading up to the Bank to Nowhere. For the first course she had us head down one of the newer paths (they've bush hogged a few new paths to extend the cross country course. It'll be really nice once the grass finishes growing in but right now its a mix of grass and red clay) come up over the little gray roll top, over the ditch, and then loop around and up the ramp and down The Bank. I gave Trainer a look and she just said "you'll be fine, remember to look where you're going and go do it". So off we went. Chimi was feeling great and made easy work over the roll top, nice little gallop stretch to the bank, and then it was time to drop off the face of the world. I started to relax my elbows, count in rhythms of 4 (I was in band to long and can't count past 4 in a rhythm) brought Chimi down to a trot, and closed my leg, prayed to the gods of XC and banks, made sure I was looking down where I wanted to land (b/c if i look out into space Chimi leaps out into space but if I look where I want to land on drops he lands there, it's kinda cool actually!) and plop! Chimi just softly dropped off the bank. Well damn, WE DID IT ON THE FIRST TRY!!!!!!!! In the video you hear me cheer b/c I wasn't sure what to expect so when I tried to come back to the group Trainer said "Do it again!" so we did and it was another easy plop down, and then trainer yells out to us "Now canter it!" So canter it we did and another easy plop down to the ground! WOOOHOO!!!!!!! It's amazing how when you ride something correctly it can become pretty easy :)

We weren't quite done yet and had one last little course to do before calling the day over. Trainer sent us down to the far end of the field and had us come up over the little Novice house, turn right and jump the gray roll top down hill, turn left, up the ramp and off the bank, and finish up over the Novice ditch. Chimi was feeling great at this point and made easy work of the red house and roll top so when we were on the newer path I decided to add in the other rolltop b/c it just looked so nice and inviting. Trainer couldn't see it b/c it was hidden by tall grass otherwise I know she would of had us jump it too, so I just took the liberty of adding it into the course. After that we came up the hill turned left to the bank and I got a little cocky about it. Whoops. Chimi still jumped off of it but I didn't use my eye to tell him where to go and sort of stared off into the distance which made Chimi leap off of the bank and me land in a heap on the other side, sorry buddy!!! You can here me say Whoop! when I land on his neck, but thankfully I was still pretty secure in the saddle and we finished up over the novice ditch. (skip to the 3:10 mark in the video below if you want to watch the last "mini" course)

Video evidence of XC, please excuse the breathing, I probably should of muted it but I didn't. More cardio is in my near future!

Overall I was really happy with how the XC schooling went, especially b/c we successfully dropped off the Bank to Nowhere!!!! I'm not saying all down bank drama is cured but I feel much better about have the tools to successfully navigate drops, especially visually scary ones. I used to love drop banks and always found them really easy so I hope that I'll be able to get back to that feeling soon. But after this weekend I feel like it's actually a possibility in the near future!