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On the evening of May 20th 2002, armed with my brand new digital camera I decided it was time to get some shots of William jumping. To begin this story, William was afraid of colored jump poles when he arrived almost one year ago. He didn't even want to walk over or go anywhere near them. So began the process of desensitizing... Watch the actual jumping video. |
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| I finally got him pleasantly going over ground poles at all gaits and moved up to multiple trotting poles and then small (12") cross rails that I had to lead him over at a walk before he would consider jumping them. The last couple of sessions have been over really easy 2'3" verticals at both a trot and a canter which he mastered wonderfully. However, I needed pictures of BIGGER jumps so tonight I decided was the night...besides that it was a good excuse to take that new camera out again. |
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 A split second before the next pic |
The wall to the left of the jump is 4' and the dirt is slightly lower than the barrels and wall so the actual jump is about 3' tall. Needless to say he cleared the jump...and then some! |
| I warmed him up on the lunge line and sent for a helper (whose only job was to stay with the horse and not catch him in the mouth). We started over a 2'6" crossrail then I decided to attempt a vertical set up between two barrels (see picture) and he jumped it wonderfully! Of course it is known that Cleveland Bays are natural jumpers and the Holsteiner breed was founded on some CB blood (I've always thought many of my CB/TB crosses looked more Holsteiner than CB or TB) |
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