I ain't afraid of no jumps!

Today we rode to the jumping field (we haven't ridden in there before) - well, I got on as we neared the field. I wanted to make it as easy as possible for Sammie as he hasn't been out, ridden on his own for some time now and he can get a bit 'sticky' when he starts worrying.

Basically I wanted to make success easy for him. When he came into my life, it was as a show jumper; he'd made a bit of money doing that, but somewhere along the line it had gone wrong, and since we've been together, his aversion to poles and jumps in a school has been pretty hard to miss. I don't like to think too much about what caused his fear of all things jumpy. My imagination could go wild! Was he "knocked"? Was he pushed too hard? What happened to make jumps a thing to be afraid of?

As we got near the field on foot, I noticed the cows were in the next field, but that didn't bother Sammie one jot. He has already demonstrated his cow herding skills on the farm!

I found a log and hopped on half expecting (bad, I know) for him to want to do an about turn and head home. There was nothing of the sort, he strode out bravely towards the jumping field causing the cows to rustle about a bit. Somebody had put up some pretty large jumps but there was plenty of room to walk, trot and canter in between them. There were also a few poles on the ground (more on that later)

Sammie was a very fresh boy. He really comes to life very quickly when he feels the grass under his feet. So we took off at quite a pace, but it wasn't him being scared of the jumps - he can often get very fast when he's feeling scared and I know that feeling very well; he was just up for some action.

So we weaved in and out of the jumps at trot on the left rein and right rein, went into canter, back to trot and did some lovely lateral work with practically no rein contact at all.

As I said, there were some poles on the ground (normally Sammie's worst fear) but these were nicely nestled in the grass so they didn't glare out at him.

When we first went in, just walking around he was avoiding them for all he was worth so I just ignored it. Then as we did more and more work and he was more and more switched on to me I kept wondering if he might just go over one.

So as we were doing a very nice walk (really in my hand) I just pointed him at it and over he went, no problem at all. Big click/treat moment. Then he did it again and again and again (more treats). I left it alone for a while and did some trotting. As we came across the field in trot, I pointed him at the pole again and he took it all his stride. Big, big treat moment.

We did it a couple more times and on the last one, he took a wee little jump over it! Not a scared, rushing jump. Just a hop and a skip and then broke into a gentle canter. Big hug and big treat moment with lots and lots of praise.

So where did that come from?

I thought it would wind him up just being in a field of jumps, but that didn't bother him at all. I thought he would really hesitate at the pole on the ground, there there was nothing of the sort. I even had a few doubts in my head, but that didn't put him off either. He felt so relaxed and happy to be moving around that field with the cows as his audience.

I was quite gobsmacked as we rode back to the yard and Sammie just pootled along on dangling reins. Then I thought maybe I "feel" different when we're not riding in the school, which he might link into. Whenever we put poles in the school we always seem to go into leap and crazy rush mode.

It could be something very deep down - maybe because his many jumping competitions (and probably his early training) were always done in a school/arena. I don't know, but he felt so willing and free out there in the jumping paddock.

So that's another place to do some work now. I really think it's good to vary the environment, especially in Sammie's case. It helps build up the variety of work as well.

When we got back I decided to take advantage of the weather and give him a bath. He just stood there soaking it all up. That was followed by a bit of hoof rasping (which he was very good for), then dinner and out to the field.

I don't think Sammie will ever cease to amaze me.