The last time I can remember the jumps going up in the show ring and my riding improving I was fourteen. Something had possessed me to enter the high jump competition at a local show having already eaten stone dust at 2'6". Ben, my trusty steed, was a massive 17.3 h Selle Francias/QH. What he lacked in good conformation, he had in heart. We cantered down to that big cedar fence, my mom freaking out because I refused to gallop down to it as the other competitors did, and my horse sailed over the fence time after time. A rub knocked us out at 4'2".
Fifteen years later, the heights I'm jumping aren't glamorous and my horse is a 16h OTTB I picked out and rebacked myself. But, I don't think I could be having more fun. I went to Tamarack for the jumper show on the 31st. Suki was a good egg at 20". She was a better egg at 2'. She was better than I could have hope for at 2'3". A few people were surprised I entered her at 2'3" in the end. I think the quote was, "I know you said that you were going to, but I wasn't sure if you actually were." But, I did. I did because, for the first time I can remember in a long time, when the jumps got a little better, everything got a little better.
When I let my mind clear, and somehow when I'm on her it actually does, I get a little bit hypnotized by that feeling of 3-2-1-jump you get when it all comes together. This is the wonder of having a horse that jumps like she has crosshairs, of a horse that sight sees a bit around the ring, yet isn't fazed by the shock of "suddenly" facing a jump. If Suki were a human team mate, she'd probably have been happy I finally gave up and drank the Kool-aid.
Speaking of that Kool-aid, I wandered by Denny's today and I watched a XC school.* He was joking with an older male rider about how he, the rider, had gone to type-a rehab. Suki is my type-A rehab. Cause, g-ddamn it, she's going to jump the jump and if I want her to jump it nicely I need to relax. And relax is the one thing you can't do on command unless you make a habit of it. The only way to make something a habit is to repeat it over and over again. I guess I'll just have to jump my horse. Darn.
*This to could happen to you, if you're willing to give up whatever world it is you understand, move to VT, and pick a brand new career so you can stay like I did. I just hope you like your winter to potentially go from October until May with some odd extra season called "mud season" crammed in there.
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