Cross Country Schooling @ Wingreen...

I made a decision just over a month ago to change disciplines...again...at least until my reining filly comes back from the trainers, that is! I am lucky to have had the opportunity to experience many different disciplines over the years...hunters, jumpers, western pleasure, barrel racing, goat tying, reining, working cowhorse, and even some low level eventing waaaaay back in my youth....making the long hauls to the AQHA shows like I have in my recent past just doesn't mesh with my life anymore though....OUR life, I should say...so I've made the decision to go back to Eventing....are you familiar with eventing? Horse Trials, also known as "Eventing," are competitions held in three phases. The same horse and rider ride tests in dressage (a precision ride in a flat arena), show jumping (a round over eight or ten fences/jumps with rails that knock down), and finally a ride cross-country for one to two miles, while jumping over fences/jumps (that don't knock down). Originally, the sport was a contest between cavalry riders to test the horse and rider's ability, stamina, and training for combat. Now, civilians do it for fun!

I just want something fun, low key, and local to enjoy with my pony, Woodie! So, the decision was made....We started lessons with Nicky Vogel. We see her about once a week and she's giving us the guidance we need to make it happen...we are both out of shape and out of practice, so we need all the help we can get! This past weekend Nicky had us (along with a few of her other students, including boarder Abby) meet at a local farm that boasts a wonderful cross country course for us to practice on...it is called Wingreen...

We started with some warm up fences...we had a couple spooks and bobbles, but I stayed in the saddle...that's a good thing...

Then we mozied on over to the bunny hill...we found some great small fences to work on...like this log! This is the greatest part of Eventing: Cross Country jumping...you make just about anything into something to jump over!

I love my pony...

And then we crossed this ditch!

My pony ROCKS!

We had lots of time to work on entering and exiting the water obstacle too...

What a champ!

Finally, we jumped up some banks....

...and then we jumped DOWN...Yeehaw!!! This was a tummy tickler!

What a great experience...I'm heading back in a couple weeks to give it another go...can't wait! Although I am enjoying the precision of Dressage, and the challenge of jumping a course in an arena, I am ALL ABOUT this cross country experience...it really gets my adrenaline pumping...and Woodie seems to be taking to it great as well...I think we are going to have a lot of fun with this...looking forward to our first competition at the end of the summer....stay tuned!

Happy Trails,

Leah