Jump All the Things!

Happy Tuesday!

Yesterday I wanted to ride SO bad. It had been like three weeks since I last rode. Ries has been out and was ridden by my wonderful friend Crossfit. 

Someone told me once I work too damn hard to afford my horse to not enjoy my horse. And they are right. I get caught up so easily in trying to make money and do things for other people I don't do things for myself. So I said SCREW IT to the animals I'm house sitting and figured they could wait an extra hour and a half to have dinner. Because I deserve to ride, damnit! 

So I hopped aboard Ponykins in our new Ogilvy set up. And wouldn't you know that my schooling boots are still at my house. My Monaco's hurt like a bisnatch right now because they aren't broken in..which means I really did need to ride in them. Pain is worth doing the things you love!

There was this lovely little set up of jumps in the arena ranging from 2' to 2'6. I knew Ries was MORE than capable of jumping any of them, but since we are both out of shape it wasn't fair to ask him to do a lot. 

But guys, I DID IT. I jumped ALL THE JUMPS. There was no coursework because I'm out of shape but Ries was SO happy to jump again, just like me! 

Here are the jumps from left to right. 

2' Red vertical one stride (or two. Ries has a long stide and we either would get a mega long spot or chip) to 2' white fence to a full two stride 2' fence. Going towards the middle of the arena there is a green/red/white oxer that was maybe 2'3 but it seemed super little. The next "outside line" (tracking right) was a small 2' two stride to a green/yellow brown box 2'3 jump two strides to a SWEDISH OXER. I made that thing my bitch. It was maybe 2' but it was wide (compared to a vertical) and omg it rode like a DREAM. It was by far the funnest one. And the last jump you can see between the standards to the swedish oxer was a yellow/green/white vertical. I believe it was around 2'6. It seemed like the "biggest" jump out there. 

We had a few fumbles but my horse is a freaking saint. I jumped all the jumps once. I rode through the outside line on the left side twice just because the striding was so awful the first time. But I threw my leg on and immediately after the jump trotted away before walking. There were a lot of walk breaks. Ries didn't get very sweaty, I think I give him less credit for his fitness than he deserves. On the other hand, I need to get my ass in gear. 

After the first jump all I could do was smile. It was fantastic. I was just smiling the whole time. Welp, back to DQ land!